CRJU1100 Chapter 9

Mainstream and Crosscurrents, Second Edition

Chapter 9

Working in the Courtroom

The courtroom work group



The participants



Prosecutor



Defense attorney



Judge



Defendants, victims, and witnesses

Criminal Justice: Mainstream and Crosscurrents, 2/e

John Randolph Fuller 2

© 2010 Pearson Higher Education,

Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.


Different levels of jurisdiction and different levels of responsibility dictate different working arrangements among the participants in the courtroom work group.






Participants

 Law enforcement

 Court support staff

 Corrections

 The public





Participants

Law enforcement

 Courthouse security officer

 Sheriff's deputy

 Bailiff





Participants

Court support staff

 Clerk of the court

 Court reporter

 Court administrator





Participants

Corrections

 Probation officers

 Pretrial services personnel

 Rehabilitation specialists





Participants

The public

 Bail agents

 News reporters

 Victim-witness program personnel

 Child advocates






Prosecutor

 The prosecutor functions as a major criminal justice system gatekeeper.

 The prosecutor is powerful because the exercise of discretion rests with this office.





Prosecutor

Federal-level prosecution

The US attorney general is a cabinetlevel officer who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the

Senate.





Prosecutor


The attorney general's office is responsible for …

 Executive direction & management offices

 Litigation

 Investigatory & law enforcement agencies

 Policy & assistance offices





Prosecutor


 Solicitor general

 Department of Justice Criminal Division

 US attorneys





CrossCurrents Courtroom work group

Prosecution or persecution?



The criminal justice process is not only about justice but about politics.



Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges all have their own agendas in addition to pursuing justice.






Solicitor general

 Argues on behalf of the federal government in Supreme Court proceedings

 Coordinates all the appeals of cases that went against the federal government in the lower courts






Dept. of Justice Criminal Division

Coordinates the prosecution of all federal criminal statutes.






US attorneys

 93 US attorneys

 Decide which criminal cases to prosecute

 Defend the US in civil suits

 Represent the US in the collection of debts owed to the federal government





Prosecutor

State-level prosecution

 State attorney general

 Chief prosecutor

 Local prosecutors






State attorney general

 The chief legal officer for a state

 Duties of this office are usually delineated in the state constitution.

 Represents the state in legal actions in which the state is a party






Chief prosecutor

 May be called the district attorney, the state attorney, or the prosecuting officer

 Chief law enforcement officer for the community

 The US has 2,000 chief prosecutors.






Local prosecutors

 Based at the city/county level

 Perform a wide range of duties concerned with either misdemeanor cases or preliminary felony cases





Prosecutor

The prosecutor at work

 Fighting

 Negotiating

 Drafting

 Counseling

 Administering





The defense attorney

 Protects the interests of the accused

 The attorney who performs criminal defense work on a regular basis is part of the courtroom work group.





CrossCurrents Courtroom work group

How much justice can you afford?



Being accused of breaking the criminal law can be expensive.



Should attorneys’ fees be capped?



Should the state provide the best attorneys available to defendants who cannot afford them?





The defense attorney

Private attorney/public defender

 Assigned counsel

 Contract systems

 Public defender






Assigned counsel

In small jurisdictions with limited resources, the judge may assign a practicing member of the bar to represent defendants who lack the financial means to hire a private lawyer.






Contract systems

Law firms bid for the business of all indigent defense work.






Public defender

 A staff of full-time attorneys represents all indigent offenders.

 Adopted by most large jurisdictions.






Judge

 Signs search warrants

 Informs defendants of charges

 Appoints counsel

 Sets bail

 Takes pleas






Judge

 Rules on motions

 Participates in plea bargains

 Presides at trials

 Passes sentences





Judge

Judicial Selection

 Executive appointments

 Election of judges

 Merit selection





Judicial Selection

Executive appointments

 Federal level judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the

Senate.

 For US district court judges, state senators are usually consulted as a courtesy.

 At the state level, governors have more effect on judge selection.





Judicial Selection

Election of judges

Nearly half of the states elect judges.





Judicial Selection

Merit selection

 Also called the Missouri Bar Plan

 A judicial nominating commission presents a list of qualified candidates to the governor, who makes the final decision.






Defendants, victims & witnesses

Defendants, victims, and witnesses bring varying degrees of experience to the court.






Victim-witness programs

 Crisis intervention

 Follow-up counseling

 Personal advocacy

 Employer and landlord intervention

 Property return

 Intimidation protection






Victim-witness programs

 Referral

 Court orientation

 Court transportation and escort

 Public education & legislative advocacy





Pretrial release decisions

 Cash bond

 Property bond

 Release-on-recognizance

 Bail agent





CrossCurrents Pretrial release decisions

Bounty hunters



Most states have few or no regulations governing bounty hunters.



Bounty hunters are legally considered to be acting by private contract rather than enforcing government laws.



More states are now pursuing or have enacted legislation to regulate bounty hunters.





Questions



Who else can be found in courtrooms besides judges, attorneys, plaintiffs, and defendants?



Why is the prosecutor so powerful?



What are the two views the public has of defense attorneys?





CRJU1100 Chapter 9

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