The courtroom and the courthouse
The courtroom and the courthouse
Introduction
For the administration of justice to be effective as well as efficient, the various parties involved in the whole process must execute specific roles assigned to each of them. In this text, I will review the roles of the law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys as well as the judge’s structure, process and issues.
The courtroom and the courthouse
As the words law enforcement denotes, the chief role of law reinforcement is to simply enforce the law (Neubauer et al. 2009). In the framework of the criminal justice system, law enforcement plays a very critical role. The various officers in the system are trained and have a wide range of skills in law and more specifically, in criminal justice. With these crucial skills, they execute quite a number of duties including but not limited to criminal investigations, traffic citations, prevention of crimes as well as response to emergencies. According to Neubauer et al. (2009), the government formulates the various laws which are then enforced by the law enforcement. In court, law enforcement officers may be called in to give evidence after which they may be cross examined by defense lawyers.
When it comes to prosecutors, their roles and duties differ in more than one way from those of law enforcement. Neubauer et al. (2009) notes that prosecutors have additional powers in the justice system as compared to lawyers. Primarily, a public prosecutor is charged with the duty of looking for and ensuring that justice prevails and hence their significance in the administration of justice cannot be overestimated. In criminal proceedings, prosecutors have a number of roles which include but are not limited to supervising the investigations legality, supervising the various decisions of the court execution as well as acting in the best interest of the public.
According to Neubauer et al. (2009), a defense attorney is that attorney who in criminal prosecution or lawsuit acts a representative of defendant. The primary role of a defense attorney is to represent the best interests of his or her client. With that in mind, the defense attorney may in some instances collect evidence and avail it in a court of law, source for and negotiate bail for the client, control publicity as well as the attention from the media by way of issuing out relevant information with regard to his or her client etc. Neubauer et al. (2009) notes that in instances where the jury is involved in the case, the defense attorney is charged with the responsibility of creating an element of reasonable doubt in the jurors mind by a variety of ways including questioning the authenticity of the witnesses or coming up with exculpatory evidence. Defense lawyers may cross examine witnesses which include law enforcement officers called upon to give evidence. A defense attorney may communicate with the judge off the record by asking for permission from the judge to approach the bench.
When it comes to judges, their roles are numerous and well defined. Their responsibilities generally include the interpretation of the law, assessment of the presented evidence and in one way or the other regulate the courtroom trials and hearings by ensuring order prevails. Basically, judges are required to be impartial when it comes to the formulation of various decisions while enhancing justice. The judge in the execution of his or her duties and roles must be independent and show impartiality in the examination of facts presented. The insistence of impartiality on judges according to Neubauer et al. (2009) is brought about by the existing adversarial system of justice. Here, there exists a legal contest between the victim and the accused which means that in one way or the other, the judge must seem to be and indeed be fair in the execution of his duties. The judge may communicate with the defense attorney by asking him or her to approach the bench after which what they discuss is put off the record.
Conclusion
It is important to note that the procedures with regard to the administration of justice change from country to country but the function of judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, as well as law enforcement remains the same. For the administration of justice to be effective, these individuals must work together within the laid down procedures and structures.
References
Neubauer, D.W. & Meinhold, S.S. (2009). Judicial Process: Law, Courts, and Politics in the United States. Cengage Learning
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