Criminal legal systems

Parties involved in criminal proceedings

When a forensic social worker is engaged in working with the criminal population, it is a necessity that they know basic parameters of the criminal justice system.  The basic parties of a case in the criminal legal system consist of the complainant and the defendant (MASCHI et al., 2009).  In this type of proceeding the position of complainant is in most cases the government, which could be state or federal (MASCHI et al., 2009).

Violations involved in criminal cases

 

Actions considered against the law are split into the categories of malum in se, which are considered illegal in all states (MASCHI et al., 2009).  This type of offense is considered universally unacceptable.  These types of criminal offenses may consist of such acts as murder (MASCHI et al., 2009).

The second category is Malum Prohibitum, which is considered prohibited based on the “will of the people” (Maschi et al., 2009).  These types of offences are coded with a “gradation system” (Maschi et al., 2009). 

Prosecution in the Criminal Justice system

            A statue is made up of a description of the unlawful act as well as the mindset of the individual involved (Maschi et al., 2009).  The state of mind at the time of the offense may fall under one of four categories.  These categories include “knowingly, intentionally, purposely, or recklessly” (Maschi et al., 2009).  These categories are important in distinguishing between something as major as first or second degree murder, manslaughter or even guilty vs non guilty (Maschi et al., 2009)

Procession of criminal preliminaries

The initial steps in criminal matters after the arrest are the charge (MASCHI et al., 2009).  Following this the accused presents in front of a judge in order for the bail to be set by the judge (MASCHI et al., 2009).

Plea

Once the offender is charged they are called for initial appearance or arraignment, where they will have the opportunity to plead guilty or innocent (MASCHI et al., 2009).  This probable cause hearing is where the evidence is heard to support or disprove of the necessity of an arrest.

 

Civil Legal System

 

       The civil law involves civil matters which can consist of a disagreement between two parties, the plaintiff and defendant (MASCHI et al., 2009).  The defendant is usually defending against a “cause of action” started by the plaintiff (Maschi et al., 2009).  These type of legal matters answer the specifics of the situation, who, what, when, where and how questions involved in the lawsuit (Maschi et al., 2009).

Participants

In a civil proceeding the standing explains the participants in the lawsuit.  This determination is based on direct interest in the outcome (Maschi et al., 2009). 

The defendant in a civil case is allowed to file a cross claim against an additional person or party if the fault of the claim is shared (Maschi et al., 2009). 

 

Cause of Actions

The actions that have taken place and ways to rectify those actions can be described as the cause of action (Maschi et al., 2009).  The cause of action may or may not be present in all civil legal proceedings (Maschi et al., 2009).  An example of this would be a lawsuit for malpractice (Maschi et al., 2009). 

 

State Vs Federal Jurisdiction

The constitution is the determining factor in Jurisdiction (Maschi et al., 2009).  Most localized minor lawsuits are tried at the local level. Family Law and many criminal cases are tried at the state level (Maschi et al., 2009).  When the case involves matters on a larger scale it may then become a federal case. 

Federal Jurisdiction

When the issue involves federal laws, the jurisdiction may then transcend to the federal level (Maschi et al., 2009).  For example, federal civil rights actions, bankruptcies, constitutionality of a law (Maschi et al., 2009).

Diversity jurisdiction: no defendents involved share common living areas, and amount is greater than 75,000 (Maschi et al., 2009).

Litigation

This phase involves information gathering which is called discovery (Maschi et al., 2009). The types of discovery are: 

• Interrogatories: questions that must be transcribed and under oath (Maschi et al., 2009)

• Depositions: involved party examined under oath (Maschi et al., 2009)

A forensic social worker can play an important role in the Litigation phase. This role can look like an expert and can be tasked to formulate depositions and participate in interrogatories (Maschi et al., 2009). This is done in order to have the expert opinion of the social worker in the case. The social worker can also contribute their recommendation for the case (Maschi et al., 2009).

 

Trial

The social worker as the expert, may testify in the case but should avoid giving an opinion of the ultimate issue, because that outcome is determined by the jury (Maschi et al., 2009).