The Criminal Justice

The criminal justice field is comprised of many individuals working together to uphold justice while maintaining to peace. These different individuals will at some point find themselves communicating either orally or written with another individual regarding some criminal matter. Strong communication skills are required within the criminal justice field in order to assure the process moves swiftly and effectively through oral and written communication.

Officers find that they must work with many facets of the criminal justice system, be it the captain of a witness. When officers find themselves working closely with witnesses, they need to have very effective oral communication skills to obtain the information needed quickly and accurately. In order to assure the witness retains the information and does not close up or refrain from providing that material during the interview, officers need to remain within the realm of professionalism. Police need to remember that this is a trying time and many individuals react differently. Our body language speaks louder than words, and one would need to assure that their body language remains within the scope of professionalism without instilling a feeling of intimidation in this trying time. Oral communication here is required, a peaceful disposition, nurturing tone, and confidence helps the witness open up revealing the information needed to solve the case or at least lead officers in the right direction.

Officers also find the need to communicate with prosecutors in many different instances regarding different criminal activities. Oral communication and written communication are needed to effectively relay information between the two. It first starts with the police report, crime scene info, and witness statements. The information needs to be accurate and written in a manner in which both parties understand the content. The prosecutors may need to orally communicate with the officers regarding the information, or lack there of, within the report in order to move forward with the case on the fact written in the report. Also, written communication may be needed when conveying information between the prosecutor and the officer in the preparation of trial. Many different events are happening at the same time, many individuals are working together, and many pieces of paper must come together to assure nothing is messed and the case can be brought to trial. Written affidavits and written statement are needed in order for the prosecution to effectively formulate and file the documents required by the courts to prosecute the offender. The prosecutors deal with everyone involved in the courtroom both written and orally and like the officers these skills need to be sharp to produce the outcome warranted though these skills.