Week 4 Team Essay
Professionals in the criminal justice system face daily challenges as they execute their duties and responsibilities. In most cases, they are faced with ethical implications since most of their tasks are faced with moral decisions and ethical dilemmas. In all the challenges thereof, court members and personnel are expected to exercise moral standards and work according to law requirements because a community is regarded as ethical and honest due to the actions and decisions made by the criminal justice system. Therefore, the court is a platform that helps in settling misunderstandings and disagreements and rendering justice according to the evidence provided. Supposing the personnel working in the courtroom fails to exercise morality when executing their services implies that the criminal justice system is a fail. This paper focuses on some of the roles of the key personnel in the courtroom and how they are interdependent with each other for an effective criminal justice system.
Judges are the top personnel in the courtroom. They execute the duties of presiding over trials as well as ensuring that justice rendered is fair and free according to the evidence provided. They also ensure that the law is abided for through issuance of verdicts in the court system. Furthermore, it is in the best interest of the judges to ensure that the public and the entire courtroom follows the rules and legalities of the procedures of the court as well as all court participants adhering to court stipulations (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). That indicates that judges have a task to possess high standards of morality and ethical considerations because he or she is the face of the criminal justice system. He acts as an example to other personnel; hence he or she is responsible for fostering integrity as well as judicial rulings.
Thus, the judges’ ethical and legal standards are ideal. They should adhere to the facts of respect, compliance to the law, and carry out themselves in public, with an image of the judiciary system as integral and fair. Furthermore, they are required to be steadfast and dependent on the professional judicial competency, with typical behaviors that should not be biased or swayed by personal interests during decision-making processes for fear of conviction or public outbursts. That is to imply that ethically, judges are barred from being a party in political parties as well as associating themselves with immoral practices such as discrimination or other injustices (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018).
The prosecutor is a lawyer. He or she is a legal party that represents an accusation in a law court. Prosecutors represent the government and can be regarded as the face of the government during a court proceeding. They have the right and the powers to use any legal means possible to bring justice in the jurisdiction through concrete evidence and factual presentations. Therefore, prosecutors are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the prosecuted party or individual is guilty while the innocent party is set free from the injustices done to them as well as upholding the rights of each party regardless of whether they are at fault or not. Thus, they are expected to be procedural and thorough in substantiating their evidence when forming their case and presenting it in general (Cryer et al. 2019).
Due to the duties and responsibilities according to the prosecutors, they are supposed to moral and ethically upright. Therefore, they should exercise the inability of falling victims of conflicts of interests by avoiding to be biased or putting personal interests before the official requirements. Since they can take part in political issues, they should not allow their affiliations and interest to tarnish their professional needs, especially when judging a case in court. They are independent individuals that rely on evidence and testimonies to strengthen their claims (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). This evidence and testimonies require a concrete relationship with those who give out the information; hence, he or she is required to uphold courtroom rules and regulations to avoid conflicts of interest from the parties, which might influence the decisions and court procedures.
Defense counsel dutifully works hard to defend their clients in law courts. This implies that the defense counsel is responsible for ensuring that the citizens receive their rights, and the rights are also protected whatsoever. Therefore, they argue based on a number of facts in defense of a given client since an individual in a courtroom is regarded as innocent until proven otherwise (Cryer et al. 2019). The defense counsel can be hired by an organization of individuals to offer them legal aids whenever the need arises. Therefore, they are morally and ethically obliged to offer their expertise in a courtroom to ensure that justice prevails. Thus, they follow and adhere to the ABA rules and guidelines and should not misinterpret or intentionally misled the court of law for their gains.
It is also required that they do not intentionally delay procedures or ruling of the court without reasons that are legitimate. More so, defense counsels do not accept referrals from any other bodies since they are likely to jeopardize the court rulings as well as foster conflicts of interest. Therefore, the defense counsel is tasked with a responsibility to uphold justice while still exercising moral and ethical standards. This is because the court decisions regarding a given case depend on the evidence and testimonies presented by the prosecutor and the defense counsel (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018).
Even though the court personnel is independent, they interdependent with each other since any changes in that, in case of any changes in one body, the changes thereof affect the other bodies. This is to imply that the criminal justice system is run by procedures, approaches, and resources that are used across the entire system. Therefore, each body or department should work hard and tirelessly to offer maximum contributions to the entire system since when the judiciary of the judges achieve their set goals, the prosecution, and the defense counsel also achieve their goals (Cryer et al. 2019). Therefore, there should be effective communication between the personnel departments in the criminal justice system to foster interactive and collaborative work relationships for concrete and substantial court rulings. Each state has its way of appointing the courtroom personnel. For instance, in the USA, Supreme Court judges are appointed by the executive branch, while the legislative bodies appoint state judges; thus, this independence influences the relationship between the bodies.
In conclusion, the courtroom is vital in rendering justice to the citizens. The personnel in courtrooms should exercise ethical and moral standards in their execution of duties. Each of them has a role and responsibility to play in the justice system. Each body is independent but works interdependently to ensure justice is upheld.
References
Cryer, R., Robinson, D., & Vasiliev, S. (2019). An introduction to international criminal law and procedure. Cambridge University Press.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2018). America’s courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning.