International Crime Witness Part 1

International Crime Witness Part 1

CRJ 330: Comparative Criminal Justice

Strayer University

International Crime Witness Part 1

Introduction

There are about six (6) model countries which have their own way of conducting criminal proceedings. These countries are England, France, German, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. In this paper we will discuss the how the criminal proceedings are taken when one has witnessed a local national committing a violent assault. The chosen country is England where we will learn how social, political, demographics, and economy factors their criminal justice system. As we examine closely on England’s criminal code will view the violent crime that has been witnessed and how the United States grants the particular individual rights to search and seizure, right to a counsel, and all the other right’s that can pertain to the suspect in hand. Policing in England may or may not treat the individual according, this paper will discuss on the similarities and differences if any from the law enforcement of the United States.

Criminal Proceedings in England

According to Dammer, H.R. and Albanese J.S (2014) states that England has the largest political division within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England is also known as the largest entity which is within the geographic area that is called the Great Britain. In this country, Common Law is the backbone and the legal traditions the follow which also holds the world’s greatest trading power, financial centers, and has one of the four (4) highest number in economy. The type of government England holds is a unitary government, in other words, it means that they hold the single power a central government that is supreme and administrative is controlled by the central government that chooses to delegate their own way.

England does not have a President however, they have a monarch, which is a person who is solely responsible and the ruler of this country. Monarchy consists of a King or a Queen or even an Emperor but today it functions as the House of the Lords consisting of legislation and a Parliament Act. In addition to these members they can not reject bills that are passes by the House of Commons and their powers are limited to an extent because of the Parliament Act. Their community are small and their neighborhoods have a close social relationship. This is the only monarchy that does not require to justify of what can and can not be contributed to any political modernity (Blain, N., & O’Donnell, H., 2003).

Crime in England for example, the witnessed violent assault, this country collects and is reported by the Research and Statistics Department of the Home Office. The two (2) main or primary type of crimes that are collected and complied are police data by the local police departments and the other, which is supposed to be more credible is the data that is collected by a national marketing firm’s systematic victim study. This particular study is known as British Crime Survey (BCS), which consists of having about 50,000 people anywhere from age 16 years old and older. They survey these people to see if they have witnessed or experienced in the last 365 days near their community or privacy of their home. A similar survey is conducted in the United States known as National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) (Dammer, H.R. and Albanese J.S., 2014).

The assault charges in England that is witnessed by you can be viewed and taken into consideration as by writing your statement or recording a video, the officer will ask you the questions again, have you read it, and then sign it. Once you sign it, you are agreeing that this is a true statement and may be used as evidence their court. As the crime is reported, the officer will see whether or not to investigate this assault further because of the complexity of the case is worth looking into and may take sometime to investigate under the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) (cps.gov).

The two (2) rights that are given to an individual by the United States is due process and the Fourth Amendment right that is against unreasonable search and seizures. Due process law is known for treating an individual fairly that is conducted through the judicial system because this allows the one to have a legal proceeding. This includes the individual to have a notice and a chance to be hear their side of the story. According to Zydney Mannheimer, M. J. (2018) states that a warrantless with out a probable cause and a reasonable doubt can not arrest anyone because they are protected and falls under the Fourth Amendment right. Due process did not uphold in England but only in the United States and the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the people in England so as long as they already know in advance.

Investigating Crime in England

Investigating a crime like a violent assault may not take high priority as it has dropped in number from 4.2 percent to a 7.2 percent. Even though crime rate may be high in number in England but in comparison to other industrialized countries one of which is the United States, they are very low in number (Flatley, J., Kershaw, C., Smith, K., Chaplin, R., & Moon, D. (2010); Home Office, 2012). When a crime is reported, they police will decide whether or not to investigate the violent assault which may also take a very long time to solve and, in most cases, may never be solved.

Fundamental Similarities and Differences in Police Culture

The differences between policing in England and the United States is that in England the law enforcement decided whether or not to pursue the type of crime that is being reported. The United States law enforcement officer has to take the call and pursue the crime that is being report. The laws that are given in the United States are very different than the ones they have in England because we in the United States have the luxury of a citizen’s right that bares in the constitution.

In conclusion, the English law have had many changes to the colonies which is known as legal pluralism, meaning it is the mixing of more laws in one system. Unlike the United States, England does not have a written constitution which can be read or cited or even interpreted.

References

Blain, N., & O’Donnell, H. (2003). Media, Monarchy and Power. Bristol, UK: Intellect. Retrieved from http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=80871&site=eds-live&scope=site

https://www.cps.gov.uk/victims-witnesses

Dammer, H. R., & Albanese, J.S., (2014). Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. Wadsworth cengage learning (5th ed). International Criminal Court.

Flately., J., Kershaw, C., Smith, K., Chaplin, R., & Moon, D. (2010). Crime in England and Wales 2009 / 10: Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime (3rd ed). London: Great Britain Home Office, Research and Statistics Department.

ZYDNEY MANNHEIMER, M. J. (2018). The Local-Control Model of the Fourth Amendment. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 108(2), 253–304. Retrieved from http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=129117876&site=eds-live&scope=site