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The federal court system is national in scope and offers many advantages over the individual state systems. Discuss some advantages and disadvantages to proceeding with a federal criminal prosecution as opposed to a state prosecution, providing that there is concurrent jurisdiction.
The advantage of a federal court is that the investigations are more thorough and precise. Even the smallest details will be focused on. The other advantage is that the case is not likely to be influenced by local politics or even local beliefs. This is because at the federal court only facts are used and are considered and not about peoples thoughts.
Some of the disadvantages of federal criminal prosecution as opposed to a state prosecution is that the federal prosecution is much tougher and awards higher penalties and sentences as opposed to the state prosecution. A case in a state prosecution can get a few months of prison time as a punishment but in a federal criminal prosecution, same case can be awarded five years. The other disadvantage is that federal court and state court are not separate. A murder case can be tried both in the state court and in the federal court especially if it involves the murder of a civil servant.
The determination of which jurisdiction gets to charge you for a crime, depends on what?
The determination of which jurisdiction get to charge one for a crime depends on, first the magnitude of the crime. State courts cannot be able to rule over cases involving embezzlement of millions of dollars whether it was tax payers’ money or not. The murder of a civil servant or a prominent government official is dealt with at the federal level of jurisdicti. It also depends on where the crime was committed in some states like to have their citizens to be tried within their boundaries regardless of whether they committed the crimes elsewhere
