The criminal justice system, like the federal government, is composed of three branches, namely law enforcement, courts, and corrections (Kaci, 1998). To be sure, the three branches of criminal justice also share the federal government’s separation of powers. Law enforcement, which is mainly comprised of local and state police forces including city police, county sheriffs, and state troopers, are responsible for enforcing the criminal laws, investigating criminal activity, and bringing criminal suspects to justice. The courts, which include criminal court judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are tasked with the litigation and adjudication of a suspect’s guilt; and if found guilty imposing the appropriate punishment. Last, but not least, corrections are responsible for enforcing the punishment imposed and providing temporary supervision over a convict after punishment has been served. The interaction between branches is generally found that the critical stages of criminal case (Peak, 2007). For instance, law enforcement and courts interact at the arrest/formal charges stages and again at the trial stage. Similarly, courts and corrections interaction generally occurs at the punishment stage and again at the review of punishment stage (probation violation). Naturally, in order for the criminal justice system to work effectively, all three branches must remain functional. Failure of one branch, therefore, will have adverse effects on the operations of the other two branches. For instance, if the courts were to “malfunction” such as if there were not enough judges, prosecutors or defense attorneys to handle the cases being filed. In this situation, one challenge to law enforcement would be on their ability to clear cases. Under the Constitution, suspects have a right to a speedy trial, failure of which results in their release. Accordingly, there is the possibility that people who were guilty on arrest will be released back onto the streets to commit more crimes. In regards, to corrections, jail, prison and probation services would lack guidance on which punishments are appropriate and whether violations of imposed punishments deserve further actions.
References
Kaci, J.H. 1998. Criminal Procedure. Incline Village, NV: Copperhouse Publishing Company.
Peak, K.J. (2007). Justice Administration: Police, Courts and Corrections Management (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
