Parties and Pretrial Procedure
Joe Cantu
CRJ 306
Instructor: Erin Ramey
September 8, 2014
Parties and Pretrial Procedure
Most of the work done within the criminal justice system will never be seen by the general public. The reality is there is much to do behind closed doors. Meetings take place, investigations go on, pleas are made,deals are set, and this is usually all done before a trial even takes place. The criminal case is an important element of the criminal justice system with much of the responsibility riding in the hands of the prosecutor. This paper will go over the roles and duties of the prosecutor with contrast of building a case against a defendant, as well as my personal views on the morality of the justice system in America.
The work of a prosecutor is never dull. As soon as a docket is placed in front of him/her there is a choice to be made. In the federal system and in all but two states, prosecutors must present the evidence to a grand jury. Grand juries are used to bring charges against persons who are believed to have committed crimes. Grand juries are the first step in a criminal court case. Their sole purpose is to determine if there is probable cause for an actual case to go to trial(Berson, 2004). A prosecutor may choose to go to trial even if a grand jury says that there is not enough evidence, but it will only make his/her case that much harder to prove to a trial judge. A grand jury differs from a traditional jury in a number of ways. First, there are more members of a grand jury, compared to the six to twelve in a court room jury(Berson, 2004). Secondly, a unanimous verdict does not have to be reached by a grand jury, only a supermajority such as 2/3s or 3/4ths. Next, the setting that the grand jury is in is much more relaxed. They are able to hear any and all evidence provided by the prosecution. There are no lawyers other than the prosecutor allowed and no...