The Criminal Justice Process
The Criminal Justice Process is the system of law enforcement that is directly involved in
apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing those who are
suspected or convicted of criminal offences as well as delivering justice to the victims of
crimes. This process starts with a crime being committed. A crime can either fall under
criminal or civil law. Criminal law is aimed at trying to maintain law and order whereas
Civil law upholds the right of individuals. The next stage after a crime is committed is
reporting. There are many reasons why a crime would be reported such as; justice for
the victim, the return of stolen items if a robbery has been committed, compensation for
loss or to stop the criminals committing further offences including reprisals. However,
there are also many reasons as to why a crime would not be reported such as no
evidence or insufficient evidence in the eyes of the law to secure a conviction, no
witnesses or a lack of co-operation with the police force, a sense of shame or stigma an
individual may feel after reporting a crime or false loyalty. If the crime is reported to the
police, it will be followed by an investigation depending on how much evidence is
provided and how significant the crime is. One of the reasons for an investigation is to
establish who the offender may be, leading to questioning and a possible arrest. Based
on this interview the police may release the suspect without charge due to a lack of
evidence or credible alibi. However, if the police are confident they have the correct
suspect who has committed the crime and have evidence to support this including the
interview process they can charge the suspect accordingly. This is the end of the Police’s
role for now and they then hand their work and findings over to another body for
prosecution called the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Once the case is passed to the CPS they review the evidence provided including of the
suspect, with some of the evidence passed to the forensic team for testing and
fingerprint or DNA analysis. Once the CPS have reviewed the case, they may disagree
with the decision that the police have made because there is not enough evidence or it
is not strong enough which results in the case being sent back to the police for further
questioning and information/evidence gathering. However, if the CPS agrees with the
Police’s decision, they will prosecute the suspect. Once a decision is made to prosecute
we then await a trial. However, trials normally won’t happen straight after the decision
to prosecute because the number of courts is limited and they are often busy, as well as
legal preparation takes time which means that the suspect will have to wait for their
trial, either in remand or on bail.
There are two types of lawyers present in a trial; one is a Defence Lawyer who takes the
side of the defendant (the suspect) and argues that they didn’t commit the crime and
the other is a Prosecution Lawyer who argues that the suspect is guilty of committing
the crime. As well as there being two lawyers present in a trial, there are also two courts
The Criminal Justice Process is the system of law enforcement that is directly involved in
apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing those who are
suspected or convicted of criminal offences as well as delivering justice to the victims of
crimes. This process starts with a crime being committed. A crime can either fall under
criminal or civil law. Criminal law is aimed at trying to maintain law and order whereas
Civil law upholds the right of individuals. The next stage after a crime is committed is
reporting. There are many reasons why a crime would be reported such as; justice for
the victim, the return of stolen items if a robbery has been committed, compensation for
loss or to stop the criminals committing further offences including reprisals. However,
there are also many reasons as to why a crime would not be reported such as no
evidence or insufficient evidence in the eyes of the law to secure a conviction, no
witnesses or a lack of co-operation with the police force, a sense of shame or stigma an
individual may feel after reporting a crime or false loyalty. If the crime is reported to the
police, it will be followed by an investigation depending on how much evidence is
provided and how significant the crime is. One of the reasons for an investigation is to
establish who the offender may be, leading to questioning and a possible arrest. Based
on this interview the police may release the suspect without charge due to a lack of
evidence or credible alibi. However, if the police are confident they have the correct
suspect who has committed the crime and have evidence to support this including the
interview process they can charge the suspect accordingly. This is the end of the Police’s
role for now and they then hand their work and findings over to another body for
prosecution called the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Once the case is passed to the CPS they review the evidence provided including of the
suspect, with some of the evidence passed to the forensic team for testing and
fingerprint or DNA analysis. Once the CPS have reviewed the case, they may disagree
with the decision that the police have made because there is not enough evidence or it
is not strong enough which results in the case being sent back to the police for further
questioning and information/evidence gathering. However, if the CPS agrees with the
Police’s decision, they will prosecute the suspect. Once a decision is made to prosecute
we then await a trial. However, trials normally won’t happen straight after the decision
to prosecute because the number of courts is limited and they are often busy, as well as
legal preparation takes time which means that the suspect will have to wait for their
trial, either in remand or on bail.
There are two types of lawyers present in a trial; one is a Defence Lawyer who takes the
side of the defendant (the suspect) and argues that they didn’t commit the crime and
the other is a Prosecution Lawyer who argues that the suspect is guilty of committing
the crime. As well as there being two lawyers present in a trial, there are also two courts
