In criminal justice, resource availability in court systems is a very vital element in dealing with certain issues as well as cases. Without availability of resources within court systems, it becomes quite difficult to impossible to conduct research in order to find out the relevant information needed while investigating cases as well as deciding upon them. In order for the court systems to function well in terms of dealing with the cases and issues presented before them, the necessary research should be available in order to conduct this process and be successful (Grant, 2016). There are different resources that are available considering the different types of cases that are brought before the court system and with these resources comes different research methods.
Considering the case study of a young man called Eric who is of the age of 23 and was accused of murdering his alleged group member in their neighborhood. This is a very serious criminal offence as it is related to murder and therefore serious research is required so as to be able to determine whether the young man is the one who truly murdered one of his group members (Raaen, 2014). Such a case requires adequate research as any mix up of information can easily cause Eric to be sentenced severely for a crime that he possibly did not commit. In such a case considering the availability of resources within court systems, technology is the most vital one. Technology is a powerful resource in the courts as it enables courts to meet their necessary research as well as responsibilities (Grant, 2016). In Eric’s case, fingerprint technology is quite efficient in trying to figure out whether he is the murderer. Fingerprint technology in providing evidence is highly considered reliable and accessible to juries.
This fingerprint technology is reliable because one’s friction ridge patterns or in other words the skin that is swirled on one’s fingerprints never change and no one is known to have the same ridge pattern as another person. The law enforcement personnel in court systems are the ones responsible for conducting this procedure as it is their job to conduct investigations and collect fingerprints found at the crime scene and compare them with the ones of the defendants. In Eric’s case, due to the fact that he has been accused of murder though not yet proven, the police who are under the law enforcement personnel use Eric’s fingerprints and try to trace them to the crime scene (Raaen, 2014). The physical evidence that was collected by the police at the crime scene makes it quite easier for them to try and match Eric’s fingerprints to the ones found at the crime scene. The police found the gun that was used in the murder of the young man therefore it should be quite easy to match the prints on the gun with the ones of Eric (Grant, 2016).
Another resource that is available in Eric’s case is the presence of eye witnesses. Eye witnesses are persons that are normally present or within a crime scene and witness a crime first hand. They are usually called before the court systems to testify against the one accused of committing a crime. This is a very important resource as well as it greatly influences the judge’s final decision on the case (Grant, 2016). There are eyewitnesses present in Eric’s case that are called to testify what they witnessed at the crime scene whether it is in favor or Eric or not. However, the eyewitness resource shortfall precludes a more effective response because eye witness information is not a hundred percent reliable in the court of law therefore reducing the effectiveness of its response. Eyewitness, although is of great impact in the court systems, is not quite reliable because some eyewitnesses are not genuine in the information they provide as some are at times hired in order to testify against the defendants even when they are innocent (Raaen, 2014).
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is specially tasked with the collection, recording, publishing as well as archiving crime data which are submitted either through a Uniform Crime Reporting program or to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting program directly. The data provided by the FBI supports the court systems role of involvement in that it helps in investigating committed crimes as well as providing the necessary data to support the results of their investigation (Raaen, 2014). In the case of Eric, the Federal Bureau Investigation program is highly useful in collecting crime data at the crime scene where Eric was reported to be around. The data provided by the FBI will then be very essential in determining whether Eric is guilty or not. As a judge, the crime data provided by the FBI will be very influential in the decision made as they conduct thorough investigations whereby the statistics recorded and published by them is quite accurate (Grant, 2016).
Using victimization surveys as a method of collecting crime data may lead to a change that does not support the court systems in their role to determine the case. This is because some surveys show that some crimes have been under reported as well as giving insight on why crime is reported or not reported (Grant, 2016). This data may potentially cause a change in the court systems investigating Eric’s case because the statistics provided from the survey performed may show that this particular case has not been reported accordingly and effectively which may therefore lead to various complications with the case if it is determined so (Raaen, 2014). If a case is found to be under reported, it can lead to a series of more investigations in order to collect the appropriate data for it to stop being under reported which is not a good thing because it causes a delay in the determining of the case especially a murder one as in the case of Eric. In summation, it is quite evident that availability of resources within court systems is very essential in dealing with issues and cases that have to do with crime and there are various resources that are available to go about the whole process.
References
Grant, J. (2016). The United States of Insolvency, (Cover story). , 187(15), 28-33.
Raaen, N. (2014). Order in the Courts, Principles for the Judiciary. Information Management Journal, 48(1), 28-32.
