Traditional Courts and Specialty Courts

Table of Contents

Traditional courts and Specialty courts have been used in providing justice to law offenders. This essay will differentiate between specialty courts and traditional courts, loot at advantages and disadvantages of the two courts, and finally discuss the likelihood of specialty courts success in criminal justice system.

Discussion

Specialty courts

Specialty courts are as problem solving courts. Commonly, specialty courts deal with common problems that affect individuals in the day to day life. Under the specialty courts, a defendant must suffer from the problem stated and is to benefit from the ruling towards solving the problem. The first specialty court was in 1989, and since then, the number of court cases related to said causes have increased drastically. The number of specialty courts has increased to over a thousand; they create an environment that fosters different jurisdiction in respect to their setting. Despite having different jurisdiction system, all specialty courts have two main things that are common. The judge at the center of the problem to be solved must be present, and they must address the underlying problem that contributed to the criminal situation, (Huebner, 2010).

Traditional courts

Traditional courts are as the chiefs’ courts and commonly serve rural parts of most countries. They play a vital role in the administration of justice. In the current modern social setting, traditional courts are as conservative systems that do not have the potential to deliver justice to the society. Some see traditional courts as prototypes system that suits the mechanism of dispute resolutions and can be applied in the society effectively. Since there still exist the culture that differs from one place to another, traditional courts should be preserved in order to handle issues such as custom challenges, (Miller, 2011).

Advantages and disadvantages of tradition courts

One of the advantages with traditional courts lies on accessibility. Virtually most village area has their own traditional court simply because it is head by the chief or the headman of the area. Another advantage is that they are cheaper in many ways such as transport costs and normal, minimal levy fee that the society affords. People are familiar with the law which is another advantage with traditional court compared to specialty court. Language used is clear, and procedures have been kept simple for the common man. Traditional courts also have disadvantages in its use. Lack of legal practitioners prevents certain form of justice. They also lack presumption of innocence and the composition of the courts develops a lot of questions that have never been answered even today, (Miller, 2011).

Advantages and disadvantages of specialty courts

Legal representation is one of the advantages of specialty courts as compared to traditional courts. The courts have qualified and well trained lawyers and judges who have the potential to provide relevant ruling over a given case. If a person is unclearly able to articulate his position, presumption of innocence gives the ruling. On the other hand, specialty courts use technical language that other people do not clearly understand. Individuals are always not familiar with the law, and accessing specialty courts is not easy because they are not in all places similar to traditional courts, (Huebner, 2010).

The criminal justice system focus on providing justice to the society from law offered. Specialty court seems to grow in the field of criminal justice system simply because they deal with criminal activities that affect the society in day to day setting.

Reference:

Huebner, B. M. (2010). Rehabilitation: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide: Oxford University Press

Miller, G. B. (2011). Oral History on Trial: Recognizing Aboriginal Narratives in the Courts: UBC Press

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