What is the Criminal Justice System?

1. The Criminal Justice System (CJS) is the machinery which society uses in the prevention and control of crime. The process is the totality of the activities of law enforcers, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, correction personnel as well as those of the mobilized community in crime prevention and control. What is the Criminal Justice System?

2. Also defined as an orderly flow of managerial decision-making that begins with the investigation of aa criminal and ends up with correctional placement.

3. Crime • as a legal concept are acts that are violation of criminal laws; acts or omissions punishable by law, as enumerated in the Revised Penal Code now known as the Code of Crime • as a behavioral maladjustment they are considered undesirable; acts which are not in conformity with the accepted norms of conduct in society.

4. Criminal • A person who has confessed to or been convicted by a court of the violation of a criminal law • Man is innocent until convicted and that the burden of conviction rests with the accuser • Until man is apprehended and has either confessed or been proven guilty in a trial, he is not branded as a criminal nor can legal penalties be applied • No matter what his acts, he has the status and plays the role of a free citizen until proven guilty

5. A person can be branded a criminal under the following consummated circumstances: • He must have committed a crime • He must have been apprehended and investigated by the police • By virtue of sufficient physical evidence and testimony of witnesses, he must have been arrested • Due to the presence of prima facie evidence, the case was remanded to court by the investigating fiscal/prosecutor for trial • There was an arraignment

6. There was a trial • The offender was found guilty • A sentence was rendered by the court • The accused was confined in prison • The convict has fully served his sentence in prison

7. Consummately, it is only upon his release from prison, after having undergone the foregoing criminal justice processes, that a person can be legally identified as a criminal

8. Justice in the broadest sense consists in the ordering of human relations in accordance with general principles impartially applies Justice

9. System • Criminal justice administration is a system that all of employees are concerned with the prevention, control, and reduction of crime and delinquency • All justice personnel process individuals, who have violated criminal statutes of the juvenile code • Criminal justice workers has a continuous responsibility for processing offenders

10. Seven Major Components of CJS • Police • Prosecution • Court • Probation Officers • Correctional Institution • Parole Board • Parole Officers

11. In order to reach the next department or agency it is usually necessary to have had contact with all the preceding • The work and accomplishment of each department are heavily influenced by the number and types of cases sent to it by the immediately preceding agency. The the criminal justice system can be through an assembly line operation

12. Goals of CJS • To protect the members of society • To maintain peace and order

13. Sub-Goals of CJS • The prevention of crimes • The suppression of criminal conduct by apprehending offenders when prevention is ineffective • The review of legality of the preventive and suppressive measures • The judicial determination of the guilt or innocence of those apprehended • The proper disposition of those who have been legally found guilty • The correction by socially approved means of the behavior of those who violate the criminal law

14. To process those who have been accused of criminal activities. Purpose of Criminal Justice System

15. Criminal Justice System Patterns • The police are responsible for gathering evidence and arresting the suspected law violator • The prosecutor is responsible for evaluating the evidence the police have gathered and deciding whether it is sufficient to warrant filing charges against the alleged violator • The defense attorneys, whether privately retained or provided by the government, are responsible for defending the accused

16. The judge, during the trial, is an arbitrator in court who ensures that the defense and prosecutor adhere to the legal requirements of introducing evidence and examining and crossing and cross-examining the witnesses • The judge at the end of the trial renders decision • The probation officer conducts pre-sentence investigations, which the judge will make use of in the determination of sentences; and also supervise convicted defendants placed on probation • The defendant, if convicted and sentenced, the prison system receives and keeps them until the parole department assists released prisoners in their return to the community