The criminal justice system
The criminal justice system is an organization that has been set up in different parts of the world to enforce the legal codes of that state or country. It addresses the consequences of criminal behavior in society and aims to protect and ensure that people enjoy their rights and safety. It mainly consists of three parts the police, the courts, and the correction institutions. Once a crime has been committed, and police identify the violator, the case goes to court to determine whether the violator is guilty or innocent. A court has the authority to make a decision based on the law by either the judge or jury. Most non-criminal related cases are determined by the judge without a jury present, while in the criminal cases, the jury and the judge are both presents. It is the jury’s responsibility to determine guilt and the judge’s responsibility to determine the punishment. However, the jury is allowed to decide the penalty in some cases.
If the jury is required to be present in a court process, a panel of potential jurors is selected in a voire dire process. Voire dire is a name of French origin, which means to speak the truth or see and speak. The attorneys present use this opportunity to determine the juror’s suitability and qualifications to sit on the jury. Prerneynary questions used by t during the voire dire process involve general things like friends, acquaintances, education, past experiences, and people involved in the trial. These questions assist the attorneys in determining the potential juror’s attitude, biases, and ability to be fair and impartial while at the jury.
At the end of the voire dire process, the attorneys determine a list of jurors that sit at the jury and also a list of potential jurors who do not make it to the panel in a process that is preferred to as a challenge. The challenges include a challenge for cause and peremptory challenges. In the challenge for cause, potential jurors are disqualified for logical reasons, which are stated. These causes include bias, prejudice, prior knowledge, or acquaintanceship with either of the parties that would prevent impartial evaluation of the evidence presented in court. Peremptory challenges, on the other hand, involve the attorneys eliminating potential jurors without a stated reason. It is mostly inspired by intuitions and enables each side to eliminate jurors’ Ibeliefswill to be extremely partial on both sides.
During voire dire vetting, the potential jurors are questioned based on the facts of the penalties accorded to each crime should the defendants be guilty. In some cases, a death penalty is issued, and the attorneys use this question to either keep or eliminate the potential juror. In my opinion, a prospective juror should not be eliminated from the death penalty case despite their beliefs in the penalty. In eliminating jurors based on their beliefs on either side, the line of neutrality is crossed, and even before the case is heard and determined, a verdict is clearly set in motion.
The voire dire has had a huge impact on the judicial system all over the world. It has led to the rise of the availability of a fact-finding trial through the jury, ensuring that the hearing is impartial and fair for both the prosecution and the defense.