Courtroom Workgroup Paper

Courtroom Workgroup Paper

Jesse Wilkie
CJS/201

A courtroom workgroup in the U.S criminal justice system is an informal arrangement between a criminal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and the judicial officer. The courtroom working group seeks to bring justice to all. It ensures that all parties are accorded due fairness and equal opportunity regardless of gender, race, age, religious affiliation nor any other factor. They also see to it that trials are completed successfully. These individuals are grouped into two categories. These are the professionals and the outsiders. Professionals are the court officers such as the judges, attorneys, public defenders, defense attorneys and court reporters. I believe that the criminal prosecutor, defense attorney, and a judicial officer make up the most common courtroom work group. The daily interaction of this group is to make sure that rules are being followed in each group. Also making sure it is given in a timely fashion. The courtroom work group needs to work in order to offer plea bargains and select jurors. A few changes that I think would be beneficial is increased security in courtrooms during trial of the violent offenders. Another recommendation is that matters that are not related to courtroom such like personal businesses and relations should be kept out of courtroom. Lastly, I feel the presiding judge should also maintain utmost impartiality to ensure objectivity in the courtroom. In my opinion these will all be highly beneficial in improving the courtroom procedure all together. There are three main roles that a prosecutor utilizes. These are as follows; investigating crimes, evaluating them to determine whether a legal proceeding should be initiation on the basis of the available evidence or not and then appearing in the courtroom. The prosecutor uses the prosecutorial discretion process. Through this process, the prosecutor evaluates filed charges and corresponding testimonies and evidence before deciding on the right case to present in the court. The prosecutor pairs up with the law enforcement officers that are gathering the evidence and then they see if they have enough evidence to continue with the case. They also have to make sure they the correct evidence that is needed to pursue the case. All of this comes from the investigation team within the law enforcement office that is handling the case. What would happen if the criteria for taking a case were more/less stringent?, Well, in that case, the courts would be flooded with many cases some without sufficient evidence, and in turn the result from this would be a lot of loop holes and technicalities in cases. Also, If the criteria for taking a case were more stringent, lawyers would specialize to a greater degree in order to maintain caseload; otherwise, they would have fewer cases. If the criteria were less stringent, they would be able to generalize their practice to a greater degree. In addition, if criteria were more stringent, fewer criminals could be tried by prosecutors. What are the effects of the criminal justice funnel and the backlog of cases on the court system and the courtroom workgroup? Some cases are dropped due to lack of adequate evidence whole others are dismissed when accused persons enter therapy or counseling sessions. This is bad because this allows criminals and offenders to slip away unnoticed when they should be prosecuted and sentenced accordingly. Backlog erodes confidence of the public on the justice system because justice delayed is considered as justice denied. Some solutions to help eliminate the funnel and reduce backlog of cases would be reviewing the justice system completely. Another way to prevent backlogs of court cases would be to not post pone cases if it is not necessary. Doing this will ensure there is time to get through all cases in a timely manner. Another way to prevent backlog would be establishing a management program for criminal cases. Doing this will prove beneficial in my perspective because it would allow You to stay more organized and on top of cases, ensuring that you are getting positive results in cases. Lastly, The back log of bench warrants need to be cleared up in my opinion. The cops can only serve so many Bench warrants In between runs. Many people do not take care of their bench warrants for one reason or another, so maybe coming up with an agency or task force who’s primary focus is to capture warrant offenders I feel will be positive in reducing backlog.