Submitted by: Submitted by shorty007
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Category: Other Topics
Date Submitted: 12/24/2012 01:08 PM
Courtroom Players
Tamara Manning
CJS/200
Robert Winkler
August 3, 2012
According to Criminal Justice Today, a courtroom work group is “the professionals are the official
courtroom actors and include judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, public defenders, and
others who earn a living serving the court,” (Schmalleger, 2009, pg. 323). These individuals must follow
legal requirements as well as having an ethical demeanor. They must also conduct themselves in a civil
manner, recognize a need to cooperate, and have shared goals. They work together too successfully
bring a trial to an end.
The role of the prosecutor is that they present the case against the defendant. Prosecutors introduce
the evidence against the accused person. They argue in favor for conviction. The prosecutor is the main
representative for the people. They have beliefs that violation of the criminal law is affronting the
public. The prosecutor supervises their staff or assistant district attorneys who do most of their work in
the court room. The prosecutor will also make recommendations at the time of sentencing. The
prosecutor will determine which cases to pursue by the sufficient evidence they have. While doing this
they team up with the law enforcement to see if they have enough evidence. A prosecutor determines
which cases to pursue by working with other law enforcement officers that are collecting the evidence
once the evidence is collected they then will review it and make a decision to see if they have a
sufficient amount of evidence to keep going with the case.
A possible change to the work group is to add some type of professional juror. The idea is not to
replace the jury of peers but to have an additional player in the court. This individual would have a
better understanding of the juror’s role in the court and could possibly educate or advise...