Criminal Justice Trends Evaluation

The Criminal Justice System Name Institution The Criminal Justice System The Criminal Justice System in America is made up of the police, the courts, and the corrections unit. The police deal with the investigation and apprehension of those suspected of criminal activities. The courts play different roles and comprise of State courts, judges, prosecutors, Federal judiciary system and other stakeholders. The corrections units, on their part deal with punishing and correcting the offenders. All of these three components have their beginnings and roots from the English law and tradition. Notably, criminal justice deals with the abuse of criminal law. Firmly interpreted, criminal justice is concerned with the procedures and the enforcement of criminal law. It is stated that, the system has two main aims: to manage crime and to guarantee due process. Undeniably, the American Justice System has evolved over time. The Colonial America experienced changes to the English Common Law, which mirrored the social and cultural disparities that were emerging in the new nation. In numerous ways, the American law became more intricate, revealing the influence of the age of “enlightenment” and, at the same time, responding to the concentration of authority and power vested in the American leaders. Shifting demographics and conflicting philosophies led to a state of checks and balances in the justice system. As Mustard (2001) puts it, the jury played the part of an informal reform of the cjs without the complex legislative process. When this trend created inconsistent and contradictory results, the facet of “rules of evidence” had to be strengthened as a counter measure. The power vested in the judge was balanced against the power vested in the jury; the federal government against the state; the state against the American citizen. When the system of checks and balances were seen to be in excess and citizens thought that justice was being mismanaged, lynch m...