Checkpoint #6 Cjs/200
CJS/200
Checkpoint #6
November 4, 2012
According to the textbook the courtroom work group is the professional courtroom actors, including judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorney, public defenders and others who earn a living serving the court. The jobs of the courtroom work group vary from person to person. The courtroom work group interacts in many ways on a daily basis. All of the different professionals have their specific jobs to do. First I will start off with the one who has all the authority, the judge. The judge is the one who makes all the rules. Next is the prosecuting attorney. The prosecuting attorney may also be known as the district attorney, state’s attorney, county attorney, commonwealth attorney or solicitor. The prosecuting attorneys duty is to conduct criminal proceedings on the behalf of the state or the people against those accused. The three main roles of the prosecutor are investigating crimes, to decide whether or not to instigate legal proceedings and to appear in court. All of the duties of a prosecutor may become too much for one person to handle so they supervise a staff of assistant district attorneys who do most of the work in the courtroom. The prosecuting attorney determines which cases to pursue by the amount of evidence that they gather. If the attorney cannot find enough evidence to get a conviction then they may make the decision to drop the case. Next is the defense attorney. The defense attorney is the one who represents the one being accused of a crime. Public defenders also represents those accused of crimes, however they are state employed lawyers. If the criteria for taking cases lessen then a lot more cases would be taken to court. This could be a bad thing because it would cost the state more money and also it could mean more of the serious crimes could be pushed aside. I do not know what changes I could suggest to improve the court system because it already functions very
Checkpoint #6
November 4, 2012
According to the textbook the courtroom work group is the professional courtroom actors, including judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorney, public defenders and others who earn a living serving the court. The jobs of the courtroom work group vary from person to person. The courtroom work group interacts in many ways on a daily basis. All of the different professionals have their specific jobs to do. First I will start off with the one who has all the authority, the judge. The judge is the one who makes all the rules. Next is the prosecuting attorney. The prosecuting attorney may also be known as the district attorney, state’s attorney, county attorney, commonwealth attorney or solicitor. The prosecuting attorneys duty is to conduct criminal proceedings on the behalf of the state or the people against those accused. The three main roles of the prosecutor are investigating crimes, to decide whether or not to instigate legal proceedings and to appear in court. All of the duties of a prosecutor may become too much for one person to handle so they supervise a staff of assistant district attorneys who do most of the work in the courtroom. The prosecuting attorney determines which cases to pursue by the amount of evidence that they gather. If the attorney cannot find enough evidence to get a conviction then they may make the decision to drop the case. Next is the defense attorney. The defense attorney is the one who represents the one being accused of a crime. Public defenders also represents those accused of crimes, however they are state employed lawyers. If the criteria for taking cases lessen then a lot more cases would be taken to court. This could be a bad thing because it would cost the state more money and also it could mean more of the serious crimes could be pushed aside. I do not know what changes I could suggest to improve the court system because it already functions very