Courtroom Workgroup
A Courtroom Workgroup in the United States criminal justice system is an informal arrangement between a criminal defense attorney, criminal prosecutor, and the judicial officer. Participants within the criminal trial are divided in two courtroom workgroups consisting of professionals and outsiders. Professionals are the courtrooms official actors; these individuals conduct court business and are well versed in the practice of criminal trials. Defense attorneys, public defenders, prosecuting attorneys, judges, and others who earn a living serving the court fall into this category.
Outsiders consist of the individuals only temporarily involved with courts. Outsiders are non-personnel. These individuals consist of defendants, jurors, victims, and witnesses. Outsiders generally are unfamiliar with trial procedures or courtroom organization. It has been indicated aside from ethical consideration, and statutory requirements courtroom interaction of the professionals involves recognition of cooperation, shared goals, and informal rules of civility.
Dedicated to bringing the procedure to a successful close within the adversarial framework of a criminal trial is the goal of the courtroom workgroup. This means that the defense attorney, judicial officer, and the prosecutor hold meetings and assume the defendant is guilty; they negotiate a plea bargain with a sentence attached without a trial thereby saving time and expediting the court processes.
How does the courtroom workgroup interact daily? Pandemic is planned ahead by the court. Each court puts into place a set of tailored templates in anticipation of procedures that may be needed and information that should be followed if a pandemic or any emergency should occur that would require most or all employees and judges possibly for an extended period to work from home so that operations would be able to continue if he or she was required to. The workgroup