Criminal Investigations in the United States

Criminal investigations in the United States
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Criminal Justice in the United States
Criminal justice is executed by the federal government as well as the states government. Every state and the federal government have their own criminal statutes, police, court systems, and prosecutors who are mandated with criminal investigations. Crimes such as drug trafficking, large-scale frauds, financial crimes, and organized crimes are handled by the federal government. Besides, there are crimes that are exclusively dealt with by the federal government such as custom offences, federal tax matters and crimes of treason. On the other hand, the states have the authority to deal with crimes against property, murders, assaults, hefts, and robberies. Although there are varying steps in criminal procedures between the states and the federal government and among the states, the processes are governed by the executive branch of the government.
One of the most significant personnel in criminal investigations is the prosecutor who is charged with the mandate of preparing a report that informs the approval officer on the case. A final report by the prosecutor is thus very important in criminal justice. The report communicates the occurrences of the crime from the beginning to the end. It includes the status of the crime scene and the evidence provided by the witnesses. The report also describes any tangible evidence collected from the crime scene. The report also establishes time line so that the events of the key suspect can be followed in a logical manner. However, in some cases, the prosecutors may fail to complete the report effectively, leading to gaps in the case. It makes the work of the approval officer very difficult. A poorly compiled report is brought about by failure of the prosecutors to understand the essence of the case. It is not possible for the approval officer to go ahead with the case because an incomplete report lacks the necessary evidence to execute justice.
Criminal justice is based on the use of evidence to incriminate the offenders. If a case has insufficient evidence it is not possible to administer justice, thus availability of accurate evidence is crucial to administration of criminal justice. In the beginning, the law enforcement officials gather the evidence after investigating the crime. The evidence is used throughout the criminal justice process to determine whether the presumed perpetrator is innocent or guilty of the offence at hand (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2014). The evidence is then weighed to determine its accuracy and if it is found that the accused is actually guilty corrective measures such as probation and punishment are taken. Each stage of criminal justice process is useful in building a successfully litigated action. The process begins with a violation of the criminal law that is then reported to the police by either the victim or the perpetrator.
The second phase involves investigation into the crime to lay down the facts on the case. Any evidence is collected for further investigation. The next stage involves arrest of the suspect once the police are convinced that they are directly linked to the cr...