1. Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1
Criminal justice
Armon M Williams
American Intercontinental University

2. CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2
Abstract
Criminal Justice ideally speaking is “Truth in action” within the process that we call the
administration of justice. Within this paper, I will be looking at the procedures in the Criminal
justice system. Before laying the foundations of this work, I will briefly dedicate a few lines on
what the criminal justice system is all about. A criminal justice system is a set of legal and social
establishments for carrying out the criminal law in agreement with a definite set of procedural
regulations and restrictions. In every country there is a need to shield, guard and protect people
and their properties. The creation of laws is an indispensable form of protection and the
establishment of a system to apply and to enforce these laws, is imperative (schmalleger, 2012).
In this work I will be looking at the procedures in the criminal justice system in the United
States, and show the key components and there roles in the criminal justice system.

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Criminal justice
Criminal justice is one of the largest fields of work and studies. The criminal process is
part of the state’s response to crime, part of the mechanism which the state applies substantive
criminal law to its citizens. In order to keep a safe society, it is important to establish a nation
with good education to teach people judging right or wrong, excellent police force to keep our
street safe, and most of all, a good criminal justice system to carry out the justice. The criminal
justice system is what makes our society organized when it comes to crime. It includes different
forces of police, the people working in the courts and the people working in corrections who are
the ones who completes with the sentences appointed by the courts. The system is outlined to
catch criminals and make sure they are penalized for their crime.
The police, who are also known as local law enforcements, have a big role. They are the
ones working in not only offices, but also in the streets investigating cases, ensuring safety in the
neighborhoods, and are the ones making the arrests. The courts are next on the line. They are the
people that come next in the criminal justice system with the pretrial activities. They also control
the sentencing and the overall punishment of the criminal. Then we have corrections, this is
where the criminal serves his punishment and is housed. It is supposed to be a state of
rehabilitation for the criminal.
Criminal justice has two aims which are to control crime and to assure due process. There
are three components to the criminal justice system, the police, courts and corrections. I’m going
to use an actual case to help me break down and show you the process of the criminal justice
system, and its components. The case that I’m going to use is the O.J. Simpson murder case
(officially called the People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson). This case

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was a court case in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court that went from the jury sworn
in on November 3, 1994 to opening statements on January 24, 1995 to a verdict being reached on
October 4, 1995. This will help you understand from beginning to end of the criminal justice
process.
The first step to the criminal justice phase is where a crime is being committed or had
been committed and investigated. In this phase the main personnel are police officers and or
local law enforcement. At this stage they investigate or have probablecaused that a suspect has
broken the law. For instant in (the People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson)
case the first step into the criminal justice system was when Los Angeles County police found
the bodies of O.J. Simpsons, ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman
murdered. This starts the investigation stage. In the investigation stage law enforcement
individuals gather facts and evidence to come up with a suspect (or criminal) and also to build a
case against the accused person. Most of the time, the evidence has to prove without a reasonable
doubt that the accused person committed the crime at hand.
Through, several key witnesses stating that they saw O.J. Simpson leaving the scene in
his Ford Bronco the night of the murder, plus DNA evidence, which gave law enforcement
officials probable cause to indict O.J Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown
Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The evidence places O.J. Simpson at the murder at the
around bout time of the murder. This is where the district attorney also plays its part in the case.
The district attorney office assists police or law enforcement individuals in criminal
investigations, and prosecutes criminal charges for the commonwealth against those who are
accused of breaking the law. Upon receipt of a reported crime the district attorney reviews the

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facts and evidence and decides whether or not to approve charges, and this puts us in the next
phase of criminal justice which is the court phase.
The court process can be a long ongoing process for some cases. In this process the key
personnel are the defense counsel or defense attorney, which are people that work with criminal
defendants to offer them legal advice and counsel. Although most defense attorneys work in
private practice, some are employed by government agencies as public defenders. It is a good
idea to retain counsel as soon as you think you are suspected of a crime you do not have to wait
for an arrest.Other personnel in the court phase is the judge. A judge is an official who conducts
court proceedings. Judges must be able to be fair and not choose sides on a case his main job is
to hear the case out.
When a case first comes to the court, the judge must decide whether there is enough
evidence against the person who is accused of the crime. If the defendant cannot afford to hire a
lawyer, the judge must give the accused person a lawyer. The judge also sets the bail. Once the
defendant has an attorney and his or her bail amount has been set, he or she enters a plea of
guilty or not guilty. (Walker, 1992).
The role of a judge during a hearing depends on whether or not a jury is present. In most
serious criminal cases, a jury is present and thus it is the trier of fact, meaning that the jury looks
at the evidence presented to the court and determines whether the accused personnel is innocent
or guilty. The judge is the trier of the law, meaning he or she ensures that everything happening
in the courtroom follows the rules set down by the law. If the jury is not present in a court case,
the judge becomes both the trier of fact and the trier of law. This mostly deals with civil cases.
Judges also determine the amount of time a person spends in corrections and the amount of

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money an individual have to pay. To better but this in prospect we will continue with the O.J.
Simpson case.
After the police and the defense attorneys built a case on O.J. Simpson the case was then
sent to Los Angeles County, California Superior Court. Simpson then hired a defense team.
These personnel played the role as the defense counsel. Since it was a murder case the decision
rested on the jury. Simpson was arraigned and pleads not guilty to both murders. The judge
ordered that Simpson be held without bail. The following day, a jury was called to decide
whether or not to indict him for the two murders.
Two days later, the jury was dismissed because it was to much media coverage, which
might influence the grand jury decision. After two of the main witness supposedly sold their
stories to tabloids, the case was change to a probable cause hearing. In this case now the hiring
was held to determine whether or not to bring Simpson for trial. This helpedSimpson lawyers
because they would now have public access to the presentation of evidence as it is being
presented by the prosecution in contrast to a closed- off grand jury hearing. After a week-long
court hearing, the superior court judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to bring Simpson
to trial for the murders. At this second court arraignment, when asked how he pled to the
murders, Simpson, plead not guilty to the murders. “Following thehearing the case was moved to
another building due to damages to the recent court house and security concerns.
Leading the murder investigation was aveteran LAPD detective. In 1995, the criminal
trial of O.J. Simpson was 134 days long. The prosecution wanted to give O.J. Simpson life in
prison sentence. Now we are reaching the stage where the prosecutor and the defense counsel/
attorneys argue their cases to the judge and the jurors. In this case the prosecutor argued that

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Simpson killed his ex-wife in a jealous rage. The prosecutor also played a recording of a call to
the police that Nicole brown Simpson had made. She told them that she was scared that O.J.
Simpson was going to physically harm her. The prosecution also presented dozens of expert
witnesses, on subject ranging from DNA fingerprinting to blood and shoeprint analysis, to place
Simpson at the scene of the crime.
Even though the prosecutor had what he thought was a good case against O.J. Simpson,
the defense attorney arguments is what won over the jury. A verdict of not guilty was submitted
do to the jury saying that the prosecution did not totally prove their case; they also said it was a
lot of police errors that led to their verdict. Well as we can see in the O.J. Simpson case the
corrections part of criminal justice was not put into effect, to my belief because of errors in the
criminal justice system at the time. But if the verdict did go the other way in the prosecutors was
granted the verdict for life in prison that’s where the corrections parts step in. The judge would
make the overall sentencing, and the criminal would be sent off to correction to be house for
however long the sentencing is. Corrections for the most part act as a rehabilitation for criminals.
It’s to get them away from their old habits and environment, to teach them new habits
and that the crime that committed was wrong. Correction facilities have many different programs
for criminals they house depending on the location. They have in house education program, in
house work groups, recreation and etc. It’s to try to get the individual to adapt to a new outlook
on things. Also it’s to equip the individual with better knowledge and to also show them the
consequences of their actions (Garland, 2002).
In conclusion as we have seen with this case and many cases before and after this case,
that everybody plays a key role in the criminal justice system. But it’s critical that everybody
know there time and place when it comes to this process.A prosecutor should only come about

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when, a case is going to court for a hearing (post arrest). Any foul play that an individual can
find against the system they would use it. I believe that the prosecution should be in the first part
of the investigation because they are supposed to be the legal party responsible for presenting the
case in a criminal trial against an individual accused of breaking the law. If everyone play there
part in this criminal justice system most mistakes like what happened in the O.J. Simpson trial
would not happen. Even though the criminal justice system is changing and become more
advanced as time goes on it is still room for improvement.

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Works Cited
Fuller., J. R. (2005). Criminal Justice: Mainstream and Crosscurrents. new jersey: Prentice Hall.
Garland, D. (2002). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 3rd edition. In R. Morgan, Of
Crimes and Criminals (p. 20). Oxford: . Oxford University Press.
lender, D. (2000). Orenthal James Simpson Trial. Kansas City : University of Missouri-Kansas
City School of Law.
schmalleger, f. (2012). Criminal Justice: a brief introduction. new jersey: prentice hall.
Walker, S. (1992). "Origins of the Contemporary, Criminal Justice Paradigm:. Justice Quarterly
, 9.