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Criminal Justice System The three different branches of the U. S. government are the executive, legislative, and judicial. The purposes of the three branches vary but over the entire goal are to run the country effectively and justly. The executive branch of government is lead by the president of the U. S. and makes sure that the laws of the United States are obeyed, is the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, can vetoes laws, and is in charge of appointing government leaders. The legislative branch consists of Congress, and the Senate House of Representatives.
This branch is in charge ok making laws, approving or disapproving of the president’s appointments, they can declare war, and they approve or disapprove treaties. The Judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court, and the other Federal courts. There job is to explain the meanings of laws, and decide if a law or action agrees with the U. S. Constitution. The main role of law enforcement is to enforce the laws. Law enforcement is considered to be a part of the executive branch and consists of local, state, and federal police agencies.
Law enforcement will typically be the starting point for some ones journey threw the criminal justice system. The legislative branch makes the laws, and law enforcement ensures that these laws are being followed by every one. This is done by arresting those who do not follow the laws, and sending them further into the criminal justice system to prosecute the offender. The role of criminal courts within the criminal justice field is to settle disputes and to try to determine if a suspect or offender is guilty or not guilty of what ever crime they are being tried for.
This would typically be the second step for an offender entering the criminal justice system. You typically have a judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, and/or a jury. The offender faces trail and the evidence is told to the judge or jury and they figure out from there whether or not said offender is innocent or guilty. If found guilty the judge than can set a fine, give probation, or send the offender to jail, depending on the type of crime committed. The role of the correctional agencies in the criminal justice system is to detain and try to rehabilitate offenders found guilty of crimes by the courts.
Correctional agencies take the guilty offenders and place them in a prison were they stay until they serve the time they were sentenced to. The prison systems offer many types of things to try to rehabilitate offenders so that they can live a normal live after release from the institution, many offer GED programs and other types of certificates, or even job training. All three of these components are very important, but none would be effective on there own.
With out law enforcement you would have no one to catch criminals, with out the courts, you would have no fair way to try the offenders and get some sort of justice, and with out the correctional agencies we would have no place to put criminals, and they would be released back in the public to only cause more crimes. So all in all with out the three different systems in place are society would be a lot more dangerous than it already is. Works Cited Schmalleger, Frank. Criminal Justice Today. 10. 2008-02-10, 2008. Print. Thomas J. Gardner, Terry M. Anderson. Criminal Law 10th Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2009. Print