Assignment:
Part 1
The criminal justice process is carefully organized from the initial arrest to the sentencing phase. There are proper procedures to follow for all those involved in the process to ensure that the individual rights of those involved are protected.
However, there are times, based on the circumstances of the crime, the media gets involved in covering the arrest though to the sentencing. It seems that many times people are found innocent or guilty in the media before all the facts surface. This can cause undue harm to all those involved, cause unnecessary violence in the community, and can taint the process to get a fair trial.
What is the objective of a criminal trial? In what ways might pretrial news coverage be damaging to the objective of a criminal trial? Give examples of this and give your opinion!
Part 2
Many times, during a trial there are multiple or different charges lodged against different defendants that were arrested for the same crime. Is the District Attorney legally allowed to do this? Why or why not?
Remember your initial post is due on Wednesdays and your citations must be in APA style. (minimum of 250 words)
Readings:
Criminal Justice - A Brief Introduction
By Frank Schmalleger