Criminal Justice System Application

This report analyzes a case involving child abuse, focusing on the application of the US criminal justice system. It details the stages of the process, from investigation and arrest to trial, sentencing, and appeals. The report highlights the weaknesses of the system, such as case overload and potential biases based on socioeconomic status, and the strengths, such as the right to appeal and the opportunity for a second chance to prove innocence. The case study chosen involves Melissa Chambers and Exxon Travis Darrah, who were arrested for allegedly abusing a four-year-old child. The report thoroughly examines the legal procedures involved in this specific case, providing a comprehensive overview of the criminal justice process in the context of child abuse.

An Application of the Criminal Justice System
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An Application of the Criminal Justice System 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Stages in the criminal justice process..........................................................................................................2
The weakest point in the criminal justice process.......................................................................................5
The strongest point in the criminal justice process.....................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7

An Application of the Criminal Justice System 2
Introduction
Melissa Chambers and Exxon Travis Darrah were captured by the Chandler police because they
were being doubted of manhandling a youngster along with a kid who was four years old. This
took a month long examination to put the blame on these two people. In his statement, Darrah
told the cops that the child was dragged by him down the foyer by his arm and this made the kid
fell due to which he broke his leg. Chamber was the mother of the kid and was 22 years old, she
did not tell the agents the truth and thus she had been captured on the doubt of frustrating
indictment.
Out of the two cases, this case has been chosen particularly because this issue is there in the
culture of America from very beginning. The social administration offices of America received
more than 2 million cases of child abuse. Many states characterize the practice of child abuse as
a brutal practice which may include mental torcher to the kids, physical mischief, disregard and
sexual abuse or mishandle. The culture of America has failed to perceive that intricate starting
point and the significant outcomes of the exploitation of the kid. The financing of the
administrations for the youngsters are done by the legislative assets because the restorative care,
the family directing, child care etc. are expensive.
Stages in the criminal justice process
When the police investigated this case by interviewing the victim, looking for witnesses,
collecting physical evidences etc., they found Darrah guilty and it was confirmed that the crime
was committed by him. He himself accepted the guilt and he told the police that how he
mishandles the kid due to which the leg got broken. This will lead to the arrest of the person. As
the guilt is already proved, the warrant may not be required but, the police officer will have to

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submit the warrant later to the Prosecuting Attorney and he will suggest the potential charges
that the criminal is authorized for.
After the arrest, the Prosecuting Attorney determines that whether the arrested person should be
charged with the guilt or crime or not. If he is held guilty by the Prosecuting Attorney, then the
reports and statements are reviewed thoroughly by him along with the statements of the
witnesses and he decides that what the crime should be (Kleinman, 2015). The prior record of the
suspect is reviewed by him too.
After the review by Prosecuting Attorney, the warrant is issued against the criminal and he gets
arrested, if he is not in custody already.
After this, the person is taken for his first court appearance for the felony or misdemeanor. The
charges against the defendant are communicated to him and he is told about the maximum
penalty that he gets as he is already convicted. The defendant also gets the advice regarding his
constitutional rights to the bench trial, the attorney who is appointed and the presumption of
innocence. A charging document called “complaint” is prepared. The judge determines the
conditions of offence and the amount of bond. The bond is set up to the limit of the resources of
defendant to post the money for bail and this allows him to be released.
The subsequent procedure will be based on the fact that whether the defendant is charged with
misdemeanor or felony.
The defendant is charged for felony in case of child abuse. Here, the person will not plead guilty
or not guilty for the offence. He can just go for a preliminary examination within 14 days of the
arraignment i.e. appearance of court. The request of the defendant is considered by the judge for
the court appointed attorney at this time. In felony, the preliminary examination happens where

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the witnesses are presented by the Prosecutor for convincing the judge that there is very less
chance of having the crime committed by the defendant. If the probable cause is established, then
the defendant is sent to the Circuit court and if not, then the case can be bound on the various
charges, the charges can be reduced or even dismissed. But, in this case, the case will be sent to
the Circuit Court because the defendant is convicted.
After this, trial happens where the Prosecutor will provide the evidence regarding the guilt of the
defendant and he will prove that the person s guilty without the reasonable doubt (McElvaney,
2015). Here, the defendant is not allowed to prove his innocence but he can challenge the
accuracy of the evidences presented by the Prosecutor.
The probation department of the court them prepares a report for the judge in which he
summarizes that the crime has taken pace and he documents the personal and criminal
backgrounds of the defendant. Here, the probation officer concludes the report by
recommending the sentence to the defendant.
The sentencing comes after this. In this case, Darrah is held guilty of the crime and he has
participated in child sexual abuse. So, the defendant will get imprisonment up to five years along
with other punishments like: he will be included in the lifetime requirement to register as the
child sexual offender, the reputation of the person will get ruined, and a criminal record will get
developed against him (Widom, 2015). These additional penalties will be imposed so that the
person does not commit this of crime again and he is reminded of this crime so that he feel guilty
and realize that what crime he has committed.

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After this, the person can appeal in the District Court which is heard in the Circuit Court or the
Michigan Court of Appeals (Mrazek, 2014). In this case, the defendant has the appeal of right
because the final order has been entered by the court of trial.
This is the entire process of the criminal justice and in this case, the defendant will have to go
through all these stages. It has been assured that the suspect has been convicted which means he
has committed the crime and he has accepted it in front of the police.
The weakest point in the criminal justice process
In US, there are some big cities that stay overburdened with the volume of the criminal cases that
it receives. The people who are involved in this system feel overburdened and they feel
pressurized. Also, the time constraint is there due to which the public defender finds it difficult to
represent the interests of the clients. The rulings of the judges also become arbitrate because they
have to deal with a lot of cases in short span of time. Thus, the process of the criminal justice
gets undermined because the system is burdened with cases and thus the transparency and
authenticity of the system gets questioned.
Apart from this, it has been observed that the process involves biasness in terms of socio
economic status of the people. The individuals who have a weak or lower socio economic status,
they do not get the required and adequate justice. The criminals get away with the crime because
the people with lower socio economic status cannot afford good lawyers who can fight on their
behalf and thus the overall impact on the society is very negative.
The strongest point in the criminal justice process
The best thing about this process is that the defendant gets a second chance to prove that he is
not guilty of the offence. This is the strongest point because there are several cases that are to be

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dealt with every day. The judges as well as the prosecutors get pressurized and they feel work
pressure, in this process, they may also make some mistake in interpreting the arguments or in
giving justice to the person. They may also get influenced by some other case which makes
them give incorrect judgment in the current case. In this case, the defendant gets a second chance
to prove himself and this ensures that the justice is guaranteed whether to the victim or the
defendant.
The people have several ways in which they can send their plea and they can appeal in the court
again. This will make sure that the case goes to the right court and the right sections are applied
so that justice is guaranteed.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that Darrah is convicted because he is found
guilty of the crime. He accepted that he mishandled the kid and also offended the youngster.
There is a process which will be carried out to convict the defendant and subsequent to
conviction what all options are available to the defendant. The entire process has been explained
in detail. After this, the process has been evaluated to find the weakest and the strongest point in
the system. It has been identified that the weakest point is the bulk of cases that are to be
managed by the people of court and the strongest pint is the fact that after the first trial, the
person or the defendant gets the option to re-appeal in the court.

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References
Kleinman, P. K. (2015). Diagnostic imaging of child abuse. Cambridge University Press.
McElvaney, R. (2015). Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse: Delays, Non‐disclosure and Partial
Disclosure. What the Research Tells Us and Implications for Practice. Child Abuse
Review, 24(3), 159-169.
Mrazek, P. B., & Kempe, C. H. (Eds.). (2014). Sexually Abused Children & Their Families.
Elsevier.
Widom, C. S., Czaja, S. J., & DuMont, K. A. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of child
abuse and neglect: Real or detection bias?. Science, 347(6229), 1480-1485.