Review: In 1975, Attorney General, Avrum Gross, declared a prohibition on plea-bargaining in Alaska. Michael Rubinstein and Teresa J. White from National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice were assigned to study the impact of Gross’s decision. Their first task was looking at whether the policy had been carried out by the courts in Alaska, and second, was what the effects were on Alaska’s criminal justice system. This involved conducting 400 interviews of the surrounding judges in Alaska and collecting information from 3,586 case files. Overall their goal was to create a detailed description of the Alaska system during the “before and after” years.…
During the adjudicatory process, there are usually two judicial hearings that the juvenile attends. The first is the initial appearance, is the equivalent of arraignment where the juvenile is notified of the charges against them, they are appointed legal counsel and bail is considered. If the case has not been settled by the close of the initial appearance, it is held for trial. In re Gault is the case that changed the nature of juvenile trials forever. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court ruled that defendants must be afforded the same rights as adults.…
Plea-bargaining is an important process in the criminal justice system and are used to prevent lengthy trials. It is defined as “the process of negotiating a guilty plea involving either charge bargaining, where the prosecutor will offer to reduce the severity of the charges or the number of counts in exchange for a guilty plea, or sentence bargaining, where the prosecutor will agree to recommend leniency at the sentencing stage” (Hemmens, Brody, & Spohn, 2013). However, there are both pros and cons with plea-bargaining. One reason why plea-bargaining is an advantage to the court system is because it helps to relieve caseloads since the prosecutor’s workload decreases when a defendant takes the bargain. Also, when a defendant goes this route,…
The plea bargaining process is a negotiation between two parties to give information for a lessened sentence. A prosecutor will offer the defendant either a lessened sentence, dropped charge, or recommend a certain charge to the judge. In return, the defendant either pleads guilty or no contest. Plea bargaining is used often because people want to spend less time for their crime. With DNA and all the new ways to get evidence, there is a good chance of proving someone did the crime.…
Plea bargaining most often takes place before the beginning of a trial. It is the process by which the defendant and the prosecution work out a conclusion to the case, subject to court approval. For the prosecutor, the purpose of plea bargaining is to ensure a defendant gets punishment. For the defense, it is a way to get a lesser charge than if the case were to go to…
This week’s readings introduced many aspects of crime that touch closer to home. Many students may be reading this same textbook, though I expect that we relate to these topics differently, some grasp our attention more and others, standing to be more significant to our lives and fears. This week we were introduced to the economic repercussions of crimes along with the fear of knowing that some serial murders are so cunning that they simply seem to disappear. The reason many types of physical crimes are more feared for some individuals is the simple fact that it takes work to earn the things they chose to purchase.…
Children committing heinous crimes are not a rare occurrence anymore; the upsetting reality requires new tactics for dealing with young juveniles. Some Americans believe children should be tried as adults, yet others feel that they are too young to understand their wrong doings. In most conditions minors are quickly told they are too young or too old for something, however before being sent to an adult facility we need to contemplate all aspects of the case in order to decided whether or not being tried as an adult is necessary. Regardless of the crime, some people feel that an adult facility is not a suitable environment for children to serve their sentences.…
Hearings are held to see if a juvenile’s case should be transferred to adult court. At these hearings, a prosecutor has to prove two things: 1) probable cause that an offense occurred and that it was committed by the juvenile, and 2) the case is not susceptible to the juvenile system or that the offender poses a threat to public safety. If these can be proven by a prosecutor, the case will be waived(book). States having an age of responsibility or age where a case can be transferred is good because it prevents young children from facing the adult criminal court system, but it also creates a problem. Not all children mature at the same rate and because of this, just because an offender is 16 years of age does not mean he or she understands the they have committed.…
Consequently, they are more prone to risk taking and peer influence than adults; they think less about their future and express their emotions in more volatile ways. The juvenile system recognizes this distinct adolescent nature, and allows for recovery through developmentally appropriate programs, making young adults under eighteen better suited for the juvenile system rather than the adult system. However, when young law-breakers murder or rape someone, it is much more difficult call on whether they should be tried as adults or juveniles. The decision should be made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity, motive, and nature of the crimes. For example, a sixteen-year-old boy murdering his father to protect his sister warrants a different analysis than a case of a remorseless sixteen-year-old boy who murdered a mother and her two young children to steal a car.…
Around 95 percent of cases are plea bargained. Without plea bargaining, the court system would be drowning in cases and the right to a speedy trial under the 6th amendment would be virtually impossible. The court system in the United States is already overloaded with cases waiting to be heard, and the added cases resulting in the elimination of plea bargaining would be catastrophic for the criminal justice system. What plea bargaining does is allow the prosecutor to offer a lesser charge and, in turn, the defendant waives their right to a trial. It allows the court system to move along faster and deal with the offenders who commit more serious, heinous crimes.…
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that questions the wrong and right behavior. We judge people based on ethics. Ethics help us make a judgment in a situation with moral issues. The juvenile system was developed in the industrial revolution period when the children started entering the workplace. The juvenile justice system has been dealing with ethical issues since so many years.…
Plea bargaining exists in every phase of the criminal justice system. Enforcement includes being arrested and in jail temporarily until the disposition of their case. Adjudication includes the trial process and a conviction of the case. The correctional system involves jail, prison, probation, etc. When a defendant pleads guilty, the defendant waive all their trial rights.…
Then you have the judge who oversees the process and that the offender gets a fair trial, that any plea agreements are fair for the offender, and then the judge sentences the offender if found…
Today, more youths are involved in gangs, murders, and assaults than history has shown. So, if these children are capable of committing adult crimes, shouldn’t they face adult consequences? It seems that the severity of juvenile crime has risen so much, that it is hard to distinct it from adult crimes. On the other hand, most adult offenders we find today, who commit murder or assault are not first time offenders. The unfortunate thing is that a survey given by the Pretrial Services Resource Center found that an astonishing number of juveniles in adult facilities were charged with nonviolent crimes (ABCNews.com: Juveniles in Adult Jails.…
Over 100 years ago the United States established the Juvenile Justice system. In most states, a person who between the ages of 10 and 18 charged with a crime is considered a juvenile . The juvenile justice system main goal is to help rehabilitation rather than punishing the individual and held youths who commit crimes responsible for their action. Where adults who are accused and found guilty of a crime, the criminal justice courts focus on punishments. There are many debates over the juvenile justice on whether or not the system should need to focus more on proving rehabilitation or punishment like the adult criminal justice system .…