The Criminal Justice System: Politics and Policies.

Cole & Gertz. 2012. The Criminal Justice System: Politics and Policies. Cengage. ISBN: 978-1111346638 Bogira. 2005. Courtroom 302. Random House. ISBN: 978-0679752066 Responses to each question should be 1-2 pages According to Cole a number of different parties may affect the work of prosecutors. What role might defense attorneys and the community play in affecting the work of prosecutors? What about judges and the police? Both Cole and Bjerk discuss the role of discretion among prosecutors. Discuss the importance of discretion as they describe it. What implications might this have for the legitimacy of the court system? Blumberg describes a grim picture of the legal system as a con game. Rather than being adversarial as the U.S. court system was designed, court actors work together to complete their work quickly and efficiently. Compare this to what you read in Courtroom 302. Do you think the practice of law is a con game? Defend your position using the readings. Without trial is it possible to describe the court system as legitimate (again, consider Tyler)? Does Galanter’s description of the court process fit more into Packer’s Crime Control Model or Due Process Model of criminal processing? According to Gershowitz and Killinger what are the workloads of prosecutors like around the country? How might this impact prosecutors’ ability to do their jobs? What role might prosecutor workload play in ‘doing justice’ for defendants, victims, and the public? Bogira paints a portrait of some of the more personal and nuanced day-to-day activities that go into courtroom behavior and decision making. Describe some of the often overlooked aspects of day-to-day court operations (i.e., judges background, public pressures, defense attorney and prosecutorial ambitions, etc.) and how they may affect court outcomes for defendants.