Essay On Misdemeanors Crimes

The criminal process begins when a law is first broken and extends through the arrest, indictment, trial, and appeal (U.S Legal System, 2001). The most serious crimes in United States are called felonies. In a majority of the states a felony is any offense for which the penalty may be death (in states that allow it) or imprisonment in the penitentiary (a federal or state prison) (U.S Legal System, 2001).There is also infractions and misdemeanors known for offenses. According to Iowa Judicial Branch, misdemeanors are separated into three categories: simple, serious, and more serious and is classified form the most to the least serious crimes (2008). Sometimes the misdemeanors crimes are consider being petty in most state. The punishment for
the misdemeanors is usually county jail for couple years or less. The author describes about different types of crimes. Now the writer will explain the criminal trail procedures and the participants. First the writer will explain the role of each participant in a criminal trail.
In a criminal trail the participant are the judge, prosecutor, defense counsel, baliff, court administrator, county clerk and the jury. A judge has the power and decides questions of the law and it’s elected by the voters. Baliff control the order in the courtroom. The clerk swears in jurors and control records of the court proceedings. A prosecutor is a person that prosecutes. A jury a group that is selected who are sworn in and determine the facts. If the trial will be held before a jury a group of citizens will be selected. The group of jury usually has 16 to 23 citizens. At the federal level 12 persons must render a unanimous verdict (U.S Legal system, 2001).In many states a jury may consists of fewer than 12 persons and render verdicts by other than unanimous decisions(U.S Legal system, 2001). The citizens are selected from the voter registration list. A group of possible jurors is summoned to be come to court. Once the potential jurors are selected the lawyer and judges questioned each one of them. The reason for the questioning is to see if the person can be fair and unbiased. Once that is done and the required numbers of jurors has been chosen, the jury panel has to be sworn in by the clerk
court. Depending on the case the term may last up to a month or a year. Let’s talk about the opening statement. The prosecution and the defense make opening statements to prove his or her case. Their opening statements usually an outline of the case he or she trying to prove. Next is the presentation of the evidence which consist of the state or plaintiff presenting their evidence. There are many ways to present their evidence. The attorney might cross examine the witness by asking questions .Each attorney might bring in photographs, weapons, charts, or other things to prove the party’s case. If the defense doesn’t present any evidence usually they are claiming the plaintiff has not proved the case. The jury will listen to the plaintiff and state opening statements, listen to witnesses and look over the exhibits. Then each attorney will close the statements with a conclusion. The attorney takes turn telling the jury what he or she believes the evidence shows why its favors his or her side (County of Alameda, 2004).The judge is called upon rule on the many motions of the prosecutor and of the defense attorney regarding the types of evidence that may be presented and the kinds of questions that may be asked of the witnesses (U.S Legal system, 2001). The role of the jury is to listen to the cases presented by the opposing attorneys and later on come to decision based on the evidence that was provided. Although the jury’s job is to weigh and assess the facts of the case, the judge must instruct the jurors about the