Chapter 12: Trials and Sentencing

This chapter is all about what happens at a trial. From how they prepare for a trial, to what goes on and the consequences after. It all begins of a story or case about a plastic surgeon who was placed on trial fifteen years later after charges of killing his wife and disposing her body without any trace. An important term found earlier in the chapter is corpus delicti or providing the crime, which has proof of the act and the act resulted from the illegal actions of the defendant. I learned that actually more than 90 percent of cases are resolved through guilty pleas. The chapter then explains the process of a trial. What happens first is jury selection. Here usually 12 members of the community are chosen to come in and observe the trial and decide on who is right. Then, after the prosecution and defense makes their opening statements and prosecutor’s evidence and statements of witnesses then the presentation of the case of the defense. Then depending on who won the case, the judge decides on a sentence. In order to do so, he or she chooses sentences within a range established by law. Punishment is applied simply depending on the seriousness of the offense. To help the judge decide on the right sentence, a presentence report is written by a probation officer after an investigation of the offender’s background is submitted before the case or trial even begins. Next is how the Eighth Amendment restricts sentencing. The Eighth bars excessive bail, fines and cruel and unusual punishment. It was in fact the Supreme Court who ruled that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment except in murder cases. One notable debate besides abortion is the death penalty. Up until this day critics are claiming that it is imposed arbitrarily against minorities. Another thing is to remember that the United States are spending lots of money building facilities because of too much criminals like murders. Not that I am taking sides for capital punishment but I believe that serious punishments should be made for murders and other crazy people!

Chapter 11: Trial Defense and Prosecution

This chapter basically emphasizes on the duties, rights, and roles of those involve on a trial defense and prosecution. The Six Amendment has to do with the rights of the person who is accused of a crime. It basically guarantees him the right to a speedy and public trial, impartial jury, and the right counsel. The right to counsel has expanded in many known famous cases such as Gideon v. Wainwright 1963. It wasn’t until 1970 when the Supreme Court ruled that defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel. But if you think of it really good, imagine how difficult it is to demonstrate when the outcome of a case without counsel’s errors. Cases can actually be settled without having without a trial. This all depends on the prosecutor who decides whether to drop some or all the charges. there are several problems explained in the chapter about the court system. Some examples are increasing arrests and higher caseloads, a much more litigious society, and over reliance on pleas. What these problems done was just delay the adjudication process, claims of unfairness the way cases are being handled, and increasingly backlogs of cases to be heard. Two important vocabulary terms I found important were the due process model (which treats the preservation of individual liberties as the most important function of the criminal justice system.) and the Speedy Trial Act which was past in 1974 saying that the legislators all require that all criminal cases be brought to trial within a hundred days or they will be dismissed. Again, the Speedy Trial Act falls under the Six Amendment.

Chapter 10: Origins and Organization of the Courts

Criminal courts are similar and different in several ways. Before, many cases were only on occasion where also the lawyers were absent on trail. However, today the processing of felonies have been more formal as it was in the past. I never knew that before defendants could not act as witnesses or even take the stand to their own defense. Today, defendants can but must testify under oath. Another topic discussed in the chapter of the book was the participants in the judicial process. They talked about prosecutors who represent the community in bringing charges against an accused person, while in the other side the defense attorney who represents the legal rights of the accused in criminal proceedings. The Judges duty is to keep order in court and to rule on issues of law and procedure. Victims and witnesses and jury trial are explained too. Jury trial are selected “expert” witnesses who help a jury understand technical issues. The decisions of the Supreme Court are made by the nine justices who voted. Again, the justices are appointed by the president or can be with the consent of the senate. Their term can be for life.

Chapter 9: Issues in Law Enforcement and Police Behavior

The chapter starts with corrupted police stories and honored “heroes” who dedicated their time and effort to bringing down criminals. The biggest issue the chapter talks about is the way people see police officers. Whether its their personality, their roles, myths, and stereotypes, and their styles. Because everyone is considered different, so are police officers. Some may be super strict and some could be way to lenient. One thing I learn in this chapter is the three styles of policing. One is the watchman style which emphasizes on the maintenance in order while the legalistic focuses more strictly on law violations than on the maintenance of order. The last style of policing is the service style which approaches law enforcement from a complex problem-solving perspective. The chapter also showed me the issues and stress police officers have to go through everyday. I learned that just about everyday during the job, you will encounter a lot of B.S from crooks and its your job to seize the scenario in a proper way while under a lot of stress or pressure. that’s why, I learned in our LW101 class that you need to build tough skin in order to best get yourself on track and away from B.S.

Chapter 8: Origins and Organization of Law Enforcement

This chapter focuses on the evolution of law enforcement from its past to its present organizations. It starts out with stories of the past of how the police take their time to respond to a scene and the use of putting people on hold without an answer or a recording. Over the years, the emergency number (911) has greatly improved by the use of computers that computerize analyses of homicide, robbery and burglary data to a nearby police department in the area of the scene of the crime. The chapter then continues of how policing evolve over time. From how the security of your home was like during the middle ages to how we have sheriffs today. What I found interesting in the chapter was when and where the first police force was established. It was in London in 1829 and what police officers did was patrol certain areas in military like fashion to maintain discipline almost to like what we have today. Also, I learned that the first real cops that work during the day in the United States was in Boston in 1838. However, New York created both day and night shift cops. It wasn’t until the 1900s when every state and city had full time cops. Throughout these years and up to now police effectiveness has become more improved through various training on both technical training and investigative techniques.

Chapter 7: Criminal Procedure and the Police

This chapter basically details what are the procedures and basic ways of implementing them as far as being a law enforcer. The chapter starts out with a case of a fifteen year old who was illegally search for a gun and was brought up to U.S Supreme Court. Next the book gave more examples of the role of police officers and reasonable suspicion and stop and frisk incidents like Terry v. Ohio and Florida v. J. L.. Many are confused with what are the differences between a frisk, search and seizure. The book gives a good example by narrowing it down. A frisk is performed by patting down outer clothing, a search is simply an exploration for evidence and finally seizures are the confiscation of sorts of property. An important term I found on the chapter was the exclusionary rule which holds that illegally seized evidence must be excluded from trials. This rule has gotten a lot of criminals from being convicted because of the law enforcement’s fault of using a search or arrest warrant in a wrong way. A good example of the use of the exclusionary rule was in the case of Mapp v. Ohio case. Another important term is the Miranda warning or rights. Which was derived from the case of Miranda v. Arizona. The purpose of it is to provide the arrestee fair notice of their basic constitutional rights so that they can remind the arrestee of what he or she can or can’t do for the moments being.

Chapter 6: The Criminal Justice System

The Criminal Justice System is broken down into agencies. Law enforcement agencies are one of them and are found at all federal, state, and local levels of government. Here they perform the four tasks of protecting people and their rights, apprehend people who violate the law, provide social services, and prevent crimes. The next agency are courts. Its their job and so it is very important that they are legally responsible to determine through interpretation of the law in relation to the circumstances of individual cases (criminal courts). There are two types of courts: state courts and federal courts. Besides the two, if a case has to go through its last resort to be resolve, it is taken to trial at the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, nine justices are appointed by the president. I learned that there are about 7000 cases a year reaches the U.S Supreme Court but only less than a fourth is actually heard. Finally the last agency are corrections. Like law enforcement, they appear in all three levels of government. More than have of them are local jails while the rest of them are rehab centers, halfway houses and prison farms. Procedural law is important especially in criminal justice because it tells people who are accused of crimes will be treated. Which brings me to another important term. The Bill of Rights are the first ten commandments of the constitution which details like warrants, searches, arrests, punishments, and so forth. Basically its purpose is to protect citizens against arbitrary use of power by the government.