Criminal Justice On February 26, 2012, a neighborhood watch coordinator named Ge

Question

Criminal Justice

On February 26, 2012, a neighborhood watch coordinator named George Zimmerman fatally shot an unarmed 17-year-old African American high school student in Sanford, Florida. Although Zimmerman maintains he acted in self-defense, he was arrested and charged with the murder of Trayvon Martin several weeks later. Zimmerman's case is unusual because it was decided by a full jury trial rather than a negotiated admission of guilt.

It took over 15 hours for the jury to issue a "not guilty" verdict on the charge of second-degree murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter. The public response to Zimmerman's acquittal was mixed, and some Americans believed the jury had reached the wrong decision.

Given what you have learned about how cases are processed through the criminal justice system in Chapter 1, please tell me your thoughts on this specific case.

(250 words minimum requirement)

Explanation / Answer

The criminal justice system in USA is characterized by certain rules and regulations as well as it takes place through a number of steps. It starts with an investigation of the crime followed by either the acquittal or punishing the guilty. The decision making process, needs to be effective so that the guilty is punished. The major steps for processing a criminal case begins with the investigation of the crime, followed by arrest of the suspected criminal (s), carrying out the prosecution of the criminal by a district attorney. After the prosecution, the grand jury carries out the indictment. Indictment is a very important step when deciding for a capital offense. After this step, arraignment by a judge takes place. Pretrial detention is then done, if the person is found guilty, otherwise bail is granted. This is followed by an in depth trial of the offenders and then the criminal is sentenced. The criminal may then file an appeal, in higher courts to challenge the sentence by the trial courts. Appellate courts may at times reverse the sentence, in this case, the case returns to the trial court and the proceedings start once again.

As the criminal justice system takes a top-down approach, in the given case, there is a mistake at any one of the steps described above. Either the jury did not get enough evidence to prove that Zimmerman carried out the crime or was misled by the circumstantial evidence of the crime.

At times, the eyewitnesses may provide a wrong testimony as their memory may be influenced by their own subjective states. This may be one of the reasons for the rebuttal of the crime committed by Zimmerman. The jury took a hasty decision, in just 15 hours, and it certainly reflects that not all the circumstantial evidences were studied in detail. Thus, it may be concluded that Zimmerman, although being guilty, is acquitted which seriously questions the process undertaken to solve this case.

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