Courtroom Players Response
A courtroom work group can be described as the key individuals in a courtroom environment. They include the judge, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, public defenders, bailiffs, court clerk and other members who help serve the court. The judge has the main authority in the courtroom and has all of the authority. A prosecuting attorney is someone who represents the government or the interest of the community in a criminal trial (Schmalleger, 2011). The defense attorney is a trial lawyer that is hired or appointed to represent a person accused of a crime and to make sure the rights of the defendant are not violated by the criminal justice system. If the defendant is unable to afford their own lawyer, a public defender will be appointed to them during court. The role of the bailiff is to maintain order in the court, call witnesses, announce the presence of the judge, prevent the defendant of escaping, and to supervise the jury. The courtroom reporter handles all of the records of activity that takes place during the trial. The courtroom clerk is someone who maintains all records of criminal cases, including all pleas and motions made both before and after the actual trial. The clerk also prepares a jury pool, issues jury summonses, and subpoenas witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense. During the trial, the clerk marks physical evidence for identification as instructed by the judge and maintains custody of that evidence. The clerk also swears in witnesses and performs other functions as the judge directs (Schmalleger, 2011). The interaction between the players in a courtroom work group involves an implicit recognition of informal rules of civility, cooperation, and shared goals. Hence even within the adversarial framework of a criminal trial, the courtroom work group is dedicated to bringing the procedure to a successful close (Schmalleger, 2011, p. 312).
The role of the prosecutor is to conduct criminal trials on...