9781422280041

movie producers know that people want a happy ending. Police work and court cases are not scripted or written out in advance the way movies are. Unfortunately, the good guys sometimes lose, and the bad guys sometimes win. When that happens in legal settings, it can create quite a controversy. Sometimes, the wrong people are arrested, while the true criminals go free. In courts, the innocent are sometimes wrongfully convicted or held responsible for a crime. Other times, people who are guilty of a crime are wrongfully ac- quitted, or declared not guilty. All of these are examples of inequities in the justice system. An inequity is something that is unfair or unjust. Another type of inequity in the courts might involve criminals who are punished far more severely than their actions dictate. The People Who Uphold the Law There is more than one group appointed to uphold the law. In this book we look at three of those groups: law enforcement, the judiciary system, and correc- tional services. Law enforcement includes the police and other agencies that work to ensure people are obeying the law. The judiciary system consists of the various courts that interpret the law and judge whether people are guilty or innocent of crimes. Correctional services are the institutions in which people convicted of crimes are punished and rehabilitated, or helped to become better citizens. Although shows such as Law & Order are fictional, many of them attempt to portray the legal systemaccurately. Clearly, these shows take some liberties for the sake of drama, because television viewers want to see an exciting show. However, many of these shows are thoroughly researched and written in conjunction with legal professionals who act as advisers to make the shows as realistic as possible. For this reason, Law & Order serves as a good example of how the justice system works. If you ever watch Law&Order, you will see that, in general, the police or some other law enforcement agency investigates a crime. Their duty in this regard is to try to collect as much evidence about a crime as they possibly can. This information may take the form of testimony from witnesses, fingerprints, DNA samples from hair or blood, security camera footage, or a host of other things that help to indicate who might have committed the crime. When the police have collected all the evidence they can find, they decide whether they want to charge a suspect with the crime. Many times, there is not enough evidence to charge someone with a crime. This is often the situation in cases of theft. For example, a person might not re- alize somebody has stolen his wallet until it is too late to determine who stole it. In these circumstances, the case is left open. If more information is later found pertaining to that case, the police can add the information to the file and continue their investigation.

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Unequal Justice