COURTS, CRIMES AND CONTROVERSY

1) Criminal justice system - interlocking institutions that implement public policy on crime

 2) System - interdependent units in which changes in one unit impact other units

 3) Non-system of criminal justice - components do not work together smoothly

 4) Fragmentation - criminal justice system is composed of thousands of independent agencies

 5) Decentralization - criminal justice system has no central control point

 6) Dual court system - America has both state and federal courts

 7) Trial courts - courts that hear evidence and hold trials

 8) Appeals/Appellate courts - courts that function to correct errors made by lower courts

 9) Prosecutors - attorneys representing the government in a criminal case

 10) Arrest - taking a person accused of a crime into custody

 11) Initial appearance - taking an arrested person before a judge

 12) Arraignment - formal court proceeding where defendant enters plea

 13) Bench trial - trial before a judge without a jury

 14) Crime control model - model of system that stresses quick, efficient processing of cases

 15) Due process model - model of system that stresses rights of defendants