Court, Trials, And Sentencing: Due Process

Court, Trials, and Sentencing: Due Process is a documentary explaining the court system within the criminal justice system. The American legal system is adversarial with two parties, the defense and the prosecution, working to prove to the jury their side is right. Overall the process of going through the court system is long and drawn out in order to make sure the person is guilty. From the initial charging to sentencing and appealing, there are a lot of steps the defendant needs to go through. This can be beneficial to the accused because it makes sure that they are guilty, but it also puts a burden on the community because of the time and money that needs to be spent on each individual case. I found the documentary very compelling when they spoke about the differences between the ways that juveniles and adults are treated in the court system. For example, juveniles are sentenced their punishment is based on what is best for them, whereas adults are sentenced based on what is best for the community. Even though this is not always the case for juvenile offenders, as some are tried as adults, it is very interesting how the court
A lot of the rights guaranteed now were not always guaranteed, like the right to counsel. Gideon v. Wainwright established the precedent that states must grant counsel in felony cases with or without special circumstances (Gideon v. Wainwright). The combination of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment gave the rationale for this decision; the decision also overturned Betts v. Brady. This is one of the cases that set precedent for future criminal proceedings to help make sure the court system provides all of the rights guaranteed to individuals by the constitution. However, adding in additional steps does cost the community more, it does make sure that the right people are