The Roles of Courtroom
Atari Dunn
CJA/204
August 13, 2012
Katina Semien Roles of a Courtroom
The structure of a courtroom workgroup consists of a Judge, Jurors, and Bailiffs of the Court, clerk of court, court reporter, expert witness, lay witness, victim, defendant, prosecutors and defense lawyers. This specialized team of individuals work together to successfully prosecute criminal court cases. The courtroom work group thrives to construct a safe and care free environment of justice. However, each party work diligently in order to achieve a quality of fairness to all criminal cases presented. The courtroom work group also consists of the bailiff of court, the clerk of court, and the reporter of the courts. Each courtroom work group has these officials, and is needed so the courts can properly run as structured. Each representative has their own specific job that is carried out on a daily basis.
One of most important person in the courtroom work group is the Judge. The judge is elected or appointed by the state to review and facilitate disputes presented through arguments of prosecution and defense during a trial. Judges are presumed to be unbiased in their application of Criminal Law when reviewing the facts and arguments presented by all parties, such as the defendant, claimant, lawyers, and the people in the courts. The judge informs the jury on the laws that are applicable to the crime committed. It is also the judge’s job to let the jurors know that the decision will be based only on the amount of evidence presented in that given time.
The jurors work together in seeking justice for the innocent victims and punishment for the guilty criminals. Jurors are selected citizens within the jurisdiction of the committed crime. These jurors are normally a group of people of different ethnic backgrounds. However, the jurors generally have the power to make decisions based on whether or not the defendant is innocent or guilty. Jurors solely base their decision on the amount of sufficient evidence is presented.
The bailiff of the court are law officials who in charge of the courts. The bailiff is responsible for maintaining order and providing security in the courtroom. There are bailiffs in each courtroom work group. The bailiffs inform the people in the courts to arise so that the judge presiding in court may be honored. In some courts, a bailiff call witnesses to the stand, and also is responsible for handcuffing the criminals as the judge order them to be incarcerated.
An expert witness and a lay witness are different. An expert witness also known as a professional witness is a person hired by the courts to testify on their behalf. This individual acquires special skills, knowledge, and training. For example, suppose someone was charged for blowing up the Casino and the judge insist that some professional insight will be helpful in this case; he would request for professional expert that has training in this specific area. The judge will take initiative in the facts stated by the expert; use it as evidence, to speed up the verdict. On the other hand, a lay witness is a regular person that is not required to have professional skills. This person can be anyone who may have witnessed a crime or know anything pertaining the crime.
It is very important that the Clerk of court and the court reporter be in the court room at all times, while in session. The clerk of court works closely with the judge and administration. Their duties are maintaining the case records and books of the court. Clerks also are responsible for receipting and distributing restitutions and fines in the court. Court reporters are responsible for making transcripts in all cases word for word. This allows lawyers, public defenders, and other work groups look over the case to see what exactly was said. It also prevents the defender from telling more than one story.
The role of a prosecutor is to administer justice. Their job in the courtroom is to assist the court room by justifying the truth and justice that involves the community as well as the accused person(s). A prosecutor is not entitled to take on a role of an attorney. Therefore, their representation includes the community, not just the defendants. These prosecutors are only responsible for prosecutions within their jurisdictions. In addition to this, the prosecutors does not convict on a regular basis. A prosecutor’s determination to pursue a case heavenly depends on evidence. The evidence must be plentiful and accurate in order to pursue the case. The gathered information must be presented to the Grand Jury and upon the approval of a Grand Jury; a trial date will be set. If the criteria regarding a case were more stringent, lawyers would focus on a greater degree in order to preserve the caseload; otherwise, they would have lesser cases. If the criteria were less stringent, they would have the ability to generalize their practice to a greater degree. In addition to this, if criteria were more stringent, the prosecutors probably would have a handful of criminals to prosecute. Due to backlog case build- ups, the government funds more money into cases that takes more time than it should to go to trial, leaving the streets with more suspects and defendants, and less inmates. The "funnel effect" of how crime cases are handled, starts with the number of reported crimes. Along with the percentage of reported crimes, charges, trials, guilty pleas or other dispositions can affect the outcome of trial if too much of time is spent on the trial. There should be a maximum amount of time spent on each case. For example, all cases should have a minimum of six months and a maximum of twelve months. If a case does not go to trial within the set date, then either the charges should be dropped depending on the degree of the crime, or the offender should pay a fine or participate in treatment programs created by the courts. There are some positive changes in the courtroom that I will consider to ensure that the victimized people attain justice. For instance, as a judge, I would like to have the last decision in rendering innocent or guilty. The reason I say that is because, jurors can be regular citizens. They are selected, and not all of them practice law. I have seen in some cases, where the defendant is guilty without a doubt, and the evidence is presented. But the jurors make the decision to render a not guilty plea. Maybe jurors do not take the law and freedom of justice seriously.

Reference EBOOK COLLECTION: Schmallager, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the 21st century (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall

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