"The U.S. Branch and Criminal Jury Court of the Court of General Sessions occupy key positions in the criminal court system of the District of Columbia. Nearly 90 percent of all adult defendants charged with felonies or serious misdemeanors enter the judicial system through the U.S. Branch, and a large proportion of these cases are ultimately disposed of either there or in the Jury Court. In the past these courts have received relatively little public attention, and no detailed analysis of their operations, problems, and needs has been made. This study is an initial attempt to fill that gap. It is not an analysis of the entire system, but deals only with those aspects which touch the work of the two branches under study"--Page 1.
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
Allen Steinberg brings to life the court-centered criminal justice system of nineteenth-century Philadelphia, chronicles its eclipse, and contrasts it to the system -- dominated by the police and public prosecutor -- that replaced it. He offers a major reinterpretation of criminal justice in nineteenth-century America by examining this transformation from private to state prosecution and analyzing the discontinuity between the two systems. Steinberg first establishes why the courts were the sources of law enforcement, authority, and criminal justice before the advent of the police. He shows how the city's system of private prosecution worked, adapted to massive social change, and came to dominate the culture of criminal justice even during the first decades following the introduction of the police. He then considers the dilemmas that prompted reform, beginning with the establishment of a professional police force and culminating in the restructuring of primary justice. Making extensive use of court dockets, state and municipal government publications, public speeches, personal memoirs, newspapers, and other contemporary records, Steinberg explains the intimate connections between private prosecution, the everyday lives of ordinary people, and the conduct of urban politics. He ties the history of Philadelphia's criminal courts closely to related developments in the city's social and political evolution, making a contribution not only to the study of criminal justice but also to the larger literature on urban, social, and legal history. Originally published in 1989. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
Offers clear, comprehensive and authoritative treatment of all aspects of the criminal justice system. The Criminal Justice System, completely updated, covers the most important aspects of criminal justice in the United States. It details the commission and frequency of crimes through the investigation, apprehension, prosecution, and punishment of wrongdoers.
From an award-winning lawyer-reporter, a radically new explanation for America’s failing justice system The stories of grave injustice are all too familiar: the lawyer who sleeps through a trial, the false confessions, the convictions of the innocent. Less visible is the chronic injustice meted out daily by a profoundly defective system. In a sweeping investigation that moves from small-town Georgia to upstate New York, from Chicago to Mississippi, Amy Bach reveals a judicial process so deeply compromised that it constitutes a menace to the people it is designed to serve. Here is the public defender who pleads most of his clients guilty; the judge who sets outrageous bail for negligible crimes; the prosecutor who brings almost no cases to trial; the court that works together to achieve a wrong verdict. Going beyond the usual explanations of bad apples and meager funding, Bach identifies an assembly-line approach that rewards shoddiness and sacrifices defendants to keep the court calendar moving, and she exposes the collusion between judge, prosecutor, and defense that puts the interests of the system above the obligation to the people. It is time, Bach argues, to institute a new method of checks and balances that will make injustice visible—the first and necessary step to any reform. Full of gripping human stories, sharp analyses, and a crusader’s sense of urgency, Ordinary Injustice is a major reassessment of the health of the nation’s courtrooms.
Many students learn about criminal justice from introductory texts that are crowded with descriptions of criminal justice systems across the country in an attempt to reach a national market. Examples of police departments, court structures, and corrections agencies are drawn from major urban areas that bear little resemblance to the majority of jurisdictions within North Carolina. These texts contain current events of major media interest but not those most relevant to North Carolina. The majority of graduates from colleges and universities in North Carolina with criminal justice degrees will work in North Carolina's criminal justice system, yet the typical curriculum provides very little information about that particular system. North Carolina's Criminal Justice System surveys criminal justice in the state, including crime patterns and trends, the state constitution, state and local lawmaking, prosecution and defense, police agencies, court structure and criminal procedure, corrections, juvenile justice, and victim services. The book also covers the presence of federal law enforcement in North Carolina. Knepper explains how each aspect of North Carolina's system developed as it did, and how North Carolina's system developed as it did, and how North Carolina's institutions and practices compare with the rest of the nation. It also charts African-American firsts, from the first black correctional administrator to the first black justice on the state supreme court. North Carolina's Criminal Justice System provides essential information for anyone planning a career in the state's criminal justice system, and for professionals currently working within an agency who could benefit from an understanding of related agencies and services. It is specifically designed to provide NC criminal justice students with essential knowledge of the state's system. The book can be used as a main text or as a supplement. A teacher's manual is also available.
