Abstract
Both the Federal and state governments have their specific jurisdictions with regards to criminal prosecution. The major components of the judicial system include the police departments, the courts, and the correction facilities. Whereas both the federal and the state governments have similar functions with regards to hearing and determining the fate of offenders, various laws and agencies differ between the two systems. Most criminal laws are made by the state legislatures and enforcement is done by the police. The congress makes criminal laws at the Federal level, and enforcement is done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The discussion will analyze the importance of the final report in the work of a prosecutor, stages of criminal justice, the role of a criminal investigator in preparing a court case, and the difference between not guilty and acquitted.
The Importance of the Final Report to the Prosecution of a Case
In order to understand the significance of the final report to the prosecution case, it is first imperative to comprehend the job of a prosecutor. The prosecutor is mandated with the duty of carrying out legal proceedings and represents the state during the adjudication of criminal cases. He or she impacts every case that is presented before the court of law. The prosecutor has several powers that include reviewing charges of suspects arrested by the law enforcement agencies, decides an individual's offenses, can administer plea bargains that mitigate the severity of the allegations, and can also recommend sentencing.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The final report contains vital information that is essential in the prosecution of a case. The report includes important elements of a case and the admissible evidence that can be used in proving every element as asserted by Schmalleger et al . (2014).The final report also contains information that favors the defendant that regards the prosecution in question. Another important aspect of the report is that includes the views of the victim concerning the prosecution. In case the prosecutor relies on the witnesses, the final report must contain credible witnesses, and their testimony must be founded on their best of knowledge of the events. The final report must also be keen to contain sufficient evidence that supports a given set of allegations. The evidence can be made available through the witnesses, documentaries, or circumstantial evidence.
The Use of Evidence in the Stages of the Criminal Justice Process
With reference to figure 21.1, there are several steps in the criminal justice process that help in building a successful litigation process. The process begins with the investigative stage where the criminal incident is investigated. Much of the investigation is carried out by the police officers. The investigative process aims to collect enough information that will assist in identifying the suspect and carrying out an arrest. Neubauer and Fradella (2015) pointed out that investigation may also be carried out through searches or inspection of either a person or property. The stage that follows next after investigation process is the charging stage that may either be felony charges or criminal charges. A grand jury oversees the felony charges with the application of the grand jury system. Felony offenses are the most serious types of crimes and are usually punishable by sentences in prison that are greater than one year. Due to the severe nature of the punishments, the tenets of the court proceedings must be adhered to the latter to protect the rights of the defendant. Felony includes crimes such as murder, burglary, kidnapping, rape, and arson among others.
The prosecutors oversee criminal charges at the levels of the state. Criminal charges are considered to be less serious than felonies. They consist of crimes that are punished by a jail time that rarely exceeds a year. The prosecutors have a jurisdiction in these cases and have the power of deciding the crimes to charge, how to punish them, and if to negotiate a plea bargain. After the charges, the next step in the process is the discovery and motion stage. According to Neubauer and Fradella (2015), the discovery is the formal process where parties exchange information concerning the evidence and the witnesses presented during trial. The process of discovery is significant because it enables the parties to know the evidence presented in the court before the trial process begins. Deposition is one of the ways that discovery is administered. It is a statement given, out of the court, under oath, by the people who are in one way or the other involved in the case.
The motion practice carried out by the defense; include the appeals to dismiss the indictment, introduce extra evidence, or to suppress the presented evidence among others. Motions may also be driven by the state requesting reciprocal disclosure or in other cases asking the defendant to disclose given evidence such as the psychiatric evidence. The defense attorney may also move a motion advocating for the rights of the victim to be respected. Such motions may include protecting the defendant's right to information or to prevent the press from accessing the court during certain hearings. The final step involves the trial stage where a determination is made to gauge guilt or innocence. There are various types of trials that include jury trial, bench trial, plea bargain, and guilty plea among others. A trial can be either carried out by a judge or a jury with the participating of a defense attorney and the prosecutor. The trial is made by determining the decision whether a suspect is guilty or not at the end of the trial. If the jury finds no fault in a suspect, they are released and therefore cannot be tried again for the same mistake. If the jury finds that a suspect is guilty, sentencing may proceed. Court trials also referred to as bench trials, have a role of hearing the arguments and evidence presented and after that decide if the accused is either guilty or not.
Criminal Investigator’s Role in Preparing a Court Case
The criminal investigator has a critical role in preparing a case court. The first role of the criminal investigator is to interview statements of presented by the witness and other parties and then determines their relevance to the court hearing. Hess et al. (2016) asserted that they also review the physical and forensic evidence presented before the court of law. The investigator will go ahead to gather and process new evidence that may be substantial in the jurisprudence. Another important aspect of their job is the drafting of reports for the investigation that contain various aspects of the case such as evidence and witnesses. The criminal investigator is also charged with the duty of preparing exhibits that will be used in the trial process. They also carry follow-up investigations during the trial in cases of inconsistencies and discrepancies. All these functions of a criminal investigator help in preparation of a court case.
Differences between Not Guilty and Acquitted
The act of finding a defendant not guilty amounts to an acquittal. During a trial process, a judge or a jury may throw away the case for failing to prove that the accused is guilty beyond doubt. This is what is referred to as acquittal. However, a jury can determine that the defendant is not responsible for particular charges, but not all. Here, the scenario is referred to as partial acquittal. Not all acquittals are as a result of non-guilty verdicts. Defendants can as well be acquitted for reasons of insufficient evidence that implicate the accused of being guilty. Therefore, there is a slight difference between the two. When a person has not committed any crime, they are innocent and therefore not guilty. Acquittal means that there is not enough evidence to determine that a suspect is guilty.
Suggested Change
The change that should be used in the prosecution process of criminals should be focused more on technology to increase the efficiency of the prosecutor and the jury in determining the truth in the case. Technology can be used in record keeping, protection of evidence and during court proceedings.
In conclusion, the final report by the prosecutor is an essential tool that they use in court proceedings in prosecuting criminals brought before the court. The criminal justice process is a systematic and comprehensive process that outlines how a case begins with the preliminary investigation to a point where a trial is heard, and sentencing is given. Finally, it is critical to appreciate that the criminal investigator has a myriad of roles in the preparation of a court process and the success of the entire hearing depends on how well they prepare.
References
Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. H., & Cho, H. L. (2016). Criminal investigation . Cengage Learning.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2015). America's courts and the criminal justice system . Cengage Learning.
Schmalleger, F., Donaldson, S., Kashiwahara, K., Koppal, T., Chase, S., Brown, A., . & Marash, D. (2014). Criminal justice today . Prentice Hall.
