Key Components Of Policing V. England's Criminal Justice System

Policing plays a significant role in the criminal justice system. The system can be categorized in three key components, policing where the investigation is held, the courts for judgment to take place and corrections where the punishment is looked over by the correctional authorities. There are many different types of criminal justice system, I will be comparing and contrasting the Japanese’s and England’s criminal justice system with the United States’ system.

In Japan a police regulation was put into effect in 1947. The police in Japan are called Prefectural Police. The law stipulates the duties of the police are to protect the life of people and property of individuals; prevention, suppression and recognition of crime and arrest of criminals;
control of traffic; and other functions necessary to maintain public order and peace.

In England, the police have the same role as the Japan and United States Police. Though for England, before the Police Act of 1964, the idea of the police was regarded as “police force" to enforce the law. Over time, policing changed from police force to police service. Their policing have a different number of forces. These forces have certain territorial power, such as the Royal Parks Police, Transport police, British and the Ministry of Defense Police. In Japan there is only one force that controls different territories.

In the United States policing was developed to closely follow the development of policing in England. It was considered a watch system that was composed of a group of volunteers whose duty was to warn others of danger. A uniformed police department first emerged in the 1830s. As in England, the U S police have a different number of police forces.

The Courts

The United States federal court system is divided into three levels: US district courts, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.
In Japan there are five types of courts, the Supreme Court, High Court, District Court, Family Court and Summary Court. In England there are five types of courts also, Magistrates Courts, Summary Court, Supreme Court, the High Court and the Crown Court.

The United States and England’s criminal justice follows an adversarial system where the magistrate or a jury hears two opposing views of a case. The defense and the prosecution parties can present their case as how they see appropriate by calling and questioning witnesses as they may within specific restrictions provided. Unlike the United States and England’s system, the Japanese system follows a semi-inquisitorial scheme where a judge is present in the preparation of evidence with the police and has a say in the way different parties are to show their case in trial.

In England it is very common for private attorneys to continually switch roles within the system. This is a major difference than the United States practice. England’s private solicitors and barristers can be hired on a case-by-case basis by the government to serve as a prosecutor. It is very common for private attorneys in England to serve as a judge for a year or two and then return to private practice as either a solicitor or a
barrister.

The Japanese system does not use the jury system as does the United States and England. This system of the Japanese is called the “Monopolization of Prosecution" and gives elite power to public prosecutors only. A common characteristic in the United States, Japan and the England’s system is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and that the standard proof must be beyond the reasonable doubt. United States and England defendants both have a right to counsel. Japan right to counsel does not apply until after indictment.

Prison

After a verdict is given and the person is found guilty, apart from imprisonment there are many other sanctions that the Japanese, United States and the England’s system can impose. All have Probation Officers, Halfway Houses, Parole, Fines and Suspended sentences. As the United States, the Japanese constitution puts a good effort in Probation and Parole where the offender is put within society supervised.

In Japan, many citizens volunteer as an assistant probationer or parole. Furthermore in Japan Juveniles are given more attention in order for them to rehabilitate; Living Guidance, Academic Education, Physical and Health Education is provided. The prisons in Japan never suffered overcrowding as the rehabilitation of the offender was more vital than vengeance.

Prison in the United States is one of the key methods of punishment, rehabilitation, or both for wrongdoings.
The United States has the largest prison population in the world.
There was an estimated 1,561,500 incarcerated in the US. This number is for adults or someone tried as an adult in the US.

In England, effort is put more in community sentences, resulting in less concentration with probation and parole. Community service, Combination, curfew and drug treatment and testing orders are all an option. Curfew order controls the person’s liberty of a person to leave an address at certain hours. These different options were put into force as a solution to overcrowding in the prison system.

A difference in sentencing between the United States, Japanese and England’s system is the capital punishment. In England the capital punishment for murder was abolished in 1965. However it was kept but unused for crimes such as treason and other offences. In September 1998 capital punishment was completely abolished under the Crime and Disorder Act. In Japan the capital punishment is still practiced for homicide and treason. However the homicide must include aggravating factors and/or multiple murders. The United States still has capital punishment and it varies by
state.