Issues of crime and justice have always held Americans' attention. Americans are accustomed to bringing their claims for justice to the courts. There are few countries where so many people treat the

CRIME AND JUSTICE

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

JUDICIAL BRANCH

STATE COURTS

Issues of crime and justice have always held Americans' attention. Americans are accustomed to bringing their claims for justice to the courts. There are few countries where so many people treat the law as part of their everyday lives. Local, state, and federal courts handle approximately 12 million cases a year. The sheer number of Americans employed in the legal profession is over­whelming; there is one lawyer for every 440 Americans, whereas in Japan there is one lawyer for every 10,000 people. The number of lawyers practicing in the Washington, D.C. area alone almost equals the 40,000 lawyers in all of West Germany.

Americans' claims for justice rest on the provisions of the United States Constitution. Most of the rights and freedoms that Americans enjoy are guaranteed in the first ten amendments or "Bill of Rights" of the Constitution. Among the guarantees are freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom to assemble in public. Citizens have the right to be judged in a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. If someone feels that these or other legal rights have been violated, he or she may bring the case to court.

The Constitution, written in 1787, established a separate judicial branch of government which operates independently alongside the executive and legis­lative branches. Within the judicial branch, authority is divided between state and federal (national) courts. At the head of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court, the final interpreter of the Constitution.

The Constitution recognizes that the states have certain rights and authorities beyond the power of the federal government. States have the power to establish their own systems of criminal and civil laws, with the result that each state has its own laws, prisons, police force, and state court. Within each state, there are also county and city courts. Generally, state laws are quite similar, but in some areas there is great diversity. The minimum age for marriage and the sentences for murder vary from state to state. The minimum legal age for the purchase of alcohol is 21 in most states.

Constitution of the United States: fundamental law of the U.S., framed in 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and put into effect in 1789.

Supreme Court: the highest federal court in the United States consisting of nine justices and having jurisdiction over all other courts in the nation.

LAW, CRIME, AND JUSTICE 99

FEDERAL COURTS

SUPREME COURT

EXTENT OF CRIME

The separate system of federal courts, which operates alongside the state courts, handles cases which arise under the U.S. Constitution or under any law or treaty, as well as any controversy to which the federal government is itself a party. Federal courts also hear disputes involving governments or citizens of different states.

All federal judges are appointed for life. A case which falls within federal jurisdiction is heard first before a federal district judge. An appeal may be made to the Circuit Court of Appeals, and, possibly, in the last resort, to the highest court in the land: the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court hears cases in which someone claims that a lower court ruling is unjust or in which someone claims that Constitutional law has been violated. Its decisions are final and become legally binding. Although the Supreme Court does not have the power to make laws, it does have the power to examine actions of the legislative, executive, and administrative institutions of the government and decide whether they are constitutional. It is in this function that the Supreme Court has the potential to influence decisively the political, social, and economic life of the country.

In the past, Supreme Court rulings have given new protection and freedom to blacks and other minorities. The Supreme Court has nullified certain laws of Congress and has even declared actions of American presidents unconstitu­tional.

The U.S. government is so designed that, ideally, the authority of the judicial branch is independent from the other branches of government. Each of the nine Supreme Court justices (judges) is appointed by the president and examined by the Senate to determine whether he or she is qualified. Once approved, a justice remains on the Supreme Court for life. The Supreme Court justices have no obligation to follow the political policies of the president or Congress. Their sole obligation is to uphold the laws of the Constitution.

Nevertheless, politics play a role in a president's selection of a Supreme Court justice. On average, a president can expect to appoint two new Supreme Court justices during one term of office. Presidents are likely to appoint justices whose views are similar to their own, with the hope that they can extend some of their power through the judicial branch.

President Reagan's appointments to the Supreme Court were judges with a decidedly conservative view of constitutional law. Conservatives in America hope that the present Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, will override precedents such as the Burger Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion, or that it will vote for limiting the rights of criminal suspects and defendants.

The United States is notorious for its high crime rates. After three years of decline, the crime rate rose 5 percent in 1985. In that year, over 12 million crimes were committed. In urban ghettos, violence is so widespread that homicide is the leading cause of death among black males between the ages of 25 and 45. Auto theft, muggings, robberies, and burglaries occur so frequently, especially in cities, that many people live in constant.fear of crime. In 1983, 45 percent of Americans surveyed admitted they were afraid to go out alone at

night in their own neighborhoods. Statistics indicate that only 20 percent of the people involved in illegal activity are apprehended. Many of these criminals belong to organized crime networks, among them, the Mafia, drug smuggling rings, and street gangs.

RIGHTS OF CRIMINAL SUSPECTS

THE DEATH PENALTY

PROBLEMS FOR LAW ENFORCERS

Courts have the difficult task of striking a balance between the needs of society on the one hand and the rights of the individual on the other. The Constitution's guarantee of equal justice under the law for all citizens not only guarantees the individual's right to freedom and security, but also includes the protection of the rights of criminal suspects. Among these guarantees are the protection from unreasonable search and seizure, the suspect's right to decline to testify against himself/herself, the right to counsel, as well as protection from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has devised several rules to ensure the protection of these rights, which sometimes result in a guilty suspect being released from charges. One of these rules is the controversial exclusionary rule, which excludes from the trial any evidence gained by unlawful search and seizure. Sometimes the exclusion of evidence from a trial means that some persons who are clearly guilty go free because of a technicality. The Miranda rule is another controversial Supreme Court decision which extends the rights of criminal suspects. In the 1966 case, the Court ruled that suspects must be read their legal rights before being questioned by police. They must be told of their right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning. If the police do not inform the criminal suspect of his or her rights, any evidence gained from questioning cannot be used in court.

Looking for ways to secure community safety amidst rampant crime, many people hope that a more conservative court will weaken these protections, many of which derive from precedents created by the liberal Supreme Court of the 1960s. Conservatives view these protections as serious obstacles to effective law enforcement. Others, however, hold that the weakening of the rights of criminal suspects endangers the rights of all innocent people and gives too much power to the police.

Responding to public pressure to get tough with criminals, many states have been applying the death penalty as a deterrent to murder. Although few criminals were sentenced to death between 1965 and 1983, there has been a surge in recent years in the number of executions. Between 1970 and 1980, three prisoners were executed under the death penalty, and between 1980 and 1985, 47 prisoners were executed. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty, as carried out in most states, was unconstitutional because it was applied disproportionately to blacks and other minorities. States have since revised their death penalty laws, establishing new Court-approved pro­cedures. Supporters of the death penalty argue that it is the only appropriate punishment for sadistic murderers. Opponents of capital punishment hope to see it declared unconstitutional. They claim that there is not enough evidence to prove that murderers are deterred by the threat of execution.

Crime-stopping and crime prevention are formidable tasks for law enforce­ment officials, since the social problems which aggravate violence—poverty, unemployment, and unstable families—are likely to persist. In addition to the overcrowding in prisons, the accessibility of handguns is a major problem which further complicates the task of securing public safety.

OVERCROWDED PRISONS

The nation's prisons, many of which are old and rundown, must operate above capacity to accommodate the number of inmates. One way to relieve overcrowding is parole, the conditional release of a prisoner before the term of his or her sentence has expired. Nevertheless, many states, responding to public pressure to get tough with criminals, have changed their laws. For example, some states have imposed longer sentences for serious crimes and have restricted parole. The result of heavier prison sentences is that prisons are filling up before state and federal authorities can find the money to build new facilities.

GUN CONTROL

SELF-DEFENSE

Many lawmakers favor stricter gun control laws as a method of curbing crime. Americans now own 65 million pistols and revolvers, two handguns for every three households. Even sophisticated rapid-fire combat weapons are available. An FBI report revealed that firearms were involved in more than half of the murders in the United States in 1984. Proponents of gun control are pressing the government to at least require registration of all handguns and to require background checks on all potential handgun buyers to ensure that they do not have a criminal record. Some opponents of handguns favor a complete ban on their sale and possession. While 70 percent of all Americans surveyed in 1985 favored registration of handguns, only 4 percent favored having a law to ban sale and possession. All the same, the lobbies against gun control are very influential. Congress passed a bill in 1985 to loosen restrictions on firearms, despite protest from law enforcers. Many Americans fear that gun control laws will prevent law-abiding citizens from being able to protect their homes.

Lacking confidence in the ability of the courts, the police, and legislators to deal swiftly with the problem of crime, many Americans look for ways to protect themselves from attacks and burglaries. Refusing to be victimized, some people are willing to break the law in order to defend themselves. When New York subway passenger Bernhard Goetz took the law into his own hands to avoid being the victim of another crime, he was hailed as a hero by most New Yorkers. The incident occurred in 1984 on a subway train when four youths demanded five dollars from him. Goetz, a man with no criminal record who had already been mugged and severely beaten several months earlier, reacted by pulling out a gun and shooting the four youths, all of whom had criminal records, including convictions for armed robbery and burglary. In a three-month trial in 1987 Goetz was finally acquitted of all but the relatively minor charge of illegally possessing a gun. The public's support for Goetz indicates Americans' frustration with the criminal justice system's inadequacy in protecting individual rights. Until measures are taken to address the soda] factors which cause violence, crime wi\\ continue to aftect a \axge segment d the population

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04