What Are The Three Branches Of The Criminal Justice System

CHECKS AND BALANCES The criminal justice system is comprised of individual components which play a part in the process of justice. Each of the different branches of the United States government, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, all provide a series of checks and balances meant to keep any one branch from gaining too much power over the accused (Aberle, 2014). All three of these branches work in conjunction to provide the accused an opportunity for the fair application of the justice process. The Constitution of the United States was created as the foundation for all three branches to maintain an equal relationship working in concert with one another. The Legislative Branch creates and passes the laws, the Executive Branch applies …show more content…
During the booking process an individual completes several mandatory steps in no particular order. The individual is fingerprinted, by hard card or live scan, and referenced against wanted individuals. The most common process is the live scan, because the results are accessible within minutes. The Individual is then photographed from the front and side, what is commonly refeared to as mug shots. At this time, individuals may also have tattoos, scars and other special marks photographed and added to the booking sheet. The arresting officer will complete an arrest report on the individual detailing the statute(s) violated and the probable cause the officer used to affect the arrest. At some point the individual will be questioned about basic information such as name, address, date of birth, medical problems, social security number, ect… The individual will also be evaluated by the staff nurse to assure the suspect is medically safe to be housed in the general population cells (Aberle, …show more content…
A plea bargain is an agreement entered into by the prosecution and the defendant, through his/her council, in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty for some form of lesser punishment (Aberle, 2014). Plea bargaining can happen at anytime prior to the criminal trial and is sometimes negotiated during a trial when neither side feels they have a strong case. The plea bargaining portion of the criminal justice system is a necassary evil in order to reduce trial costs and the burdons placed upon the federal and state systems as a result of trying every single criminal case. Plea bargaining has been extreamely successful having been used in 94% of all cases in 2006 (Aberle,