American Criminal Court System

American Criminal Court System

Many years ago our forefathers came together in order to form the Constitution and along with that came the Bill of Rights. The Constitutions states our general right to freedom in America but the Bill of Rights is the specific rule book for what freedom is in this country. The 5th Amendment is created to protect citizens from the abuse of government authority in a court of law because the majority of people do not know how the court system works so we are provided with the right not to incriminate ourselves. Many of the Amendment rights, such as the 5th, stem from English Common Law. Following the basics of common law set the guidelines for what was needed in the court system to ensure in justice was fair for both the accused and the accuser. Using the precedent set before the time of the Bill of Rights led to creating resolutions that were seen as justice for both parties.

There was not always a rule book on how to prosecute a builder who did not build a proper house or a borrower who did not pay back his/her loan but thanks to the things like early legal codes and common law we had a basic idea of what a crime was and the laws that needed to be established. Through early codes we also realized that there needed to be separate guidelines and eventually court systems for different jurisdictions of crime. We have two jurisdictions of court systems today called the dual court system. The first being the state courts system and the other being the federal court system. The federal court system is much less complicated than the state court system but this is mostly because the laws do not change from place to place. The federal laws apply to everyone, everywhere in the United States as to where the state laws differ from state to state depending on how the people vote on different legislation. The federal court has the ability to prosecute a crime in any state if it crosses the line from a state crime to a federal crime. For example, gun laws are federal laws and do not change from state to state therefore a gun crime can be both a state and a federal crime depending on the offense.

It is important to have both a federal court system and a state court system because there are certain rules that do not change and need to be mandated through the federal government which means that the federal government should be in charge of monitoring as well as prosecuting for those laws. The purpose of a state court system is the same. Each state creates laws and its own court system is responsible for making sure that those laws are followed and that the proper action is taken when it is not.

When I think about "criminal justice" my first thought is, "why do criminals need justice"? I will tell you why, because this is America where everyone, right or wrong, deserves the same opportunities. To be both prosecuted for violating the laws that keep us safe