The criminal justice system is nothing more than different sets of agencies tasked to carry out penalties for those who have committed a crime and broken the law. How the criminal justice system actually works depends on where and who is in charge such as, a city, county, federal government and also where the laws are effective such as, military jurisdiction. The main two systems that make up the criminal justice system are State and Federal systems. State criminal justice systems handle only crimes committed within he state that they are in charge of.
Federal systems handle crimes committed on federal property or in more than one state. Both of these systems are in place for a reason because different laws apply depending on where the crime takes place and what crime Was committed. There are also many different components that help these two systems function in an effective and orderly manner. These components are, law enforcement, lawyers and the justice system, and lastly the corrections departments. Law enforcement are mainly police officers, highway patrol, sheriffs etc.
These brave men and women uphold the laws standards and are the first line of defense against crime. They also initiate the first steps when it comes to processing a criminal, such as issuing a ticket and making an arrest. The justice system then takes the next step in deciding the persons punishment for the crime they committed. They are run by judges, whose role is to make sure that the criminal gets a fair and impartial trial. The next step in the system is the corrections phase. If the individual is found GUI. TTY and sent off to prison they ill reside in this phase for the duration of their sentence. However there are many steps that are taken before someone even makes it to the corrections phase. The three main phases of entry into the system are, report, investigation, and arrest or citation. Report is when the officers of the law take the first step and engage and report the crime. Investigation is the officers of the law simply reporting the crime and making it known and finding out more information about said offense.
Lastly arrest or citation is he result of what the officers uncover and then deliver the punishment as seen fit. If convicted the individual will then move on to a pretrial and be brought in front of a judge. The judge will then determine rather he or she will be sentenced right then and there or if there will be an actual hearing to debate if the crime was actually a crime or not, and severe it is depending on what the crime was. If the person is then convicted they will be sentenced and processed through to the corrections phase of the system.
