Running Head Law
Running Head Law
In a bid to maintain the institution of law and order, there is a need to have the kind of a system that recognizes wrong doings and offers corrective action to remedy wrong deeds and transform them into societally acceptable behavior. Such is the need to have a criminal justice system. The criminal justice system refers to a system of actions and programs by governments, which are aimed at controlling instances of crime, or holding those who violate the set laws accountable for their actions, and imposing on them criminal penalties and efforts aimed at change (Schmalleger, 2009). The definition of a crime is not complete without the regard of criminal evidence.
Criminal evidence refers to any form of an exhibit that is presented before a court, relating to criminal activity (Gardner, 2015). As such, the criminal evidence is the proof needed to come to a conclusion that criminal activity was committed. Criminal evidence may take either of four forms namely; witness testimony, real or physical evidence, documents or writing, demonstrative evidence. Building on one of these types, and the need for reforms in the collection handling and presentation of criminal evidence, the following paper will seek to present the latest strategies, advancements, and innovations in this area of criminal evidence. Part 1A: Topic From the provided list of the various types of criminal evidence, I will address the demonstrative evidence.
Under this, I will seek to review the topic of the comparison between demonstrative evidence as understood in the past, the present, and what the future holds for demonstrative evidence. Under this topic, I will seek to look into the different aspects of demonstrative evidence, moving from the past, to what is currently being done, and finally on what the future has in store for demonstrative evidence as we know it. This topic will be relevant to the strategies, advancements, and innovations in criminal evidence since, it will create a deeper understanding of the evolution of demonstrative evidence as a branch of criminal evidence, and match the changes with the different timelines when each of the different aspects of the demonstrative evidence was used.
Though big steps have been with regard to the presentation of demonstrative evidence in a trial setting, there are still available options which once explored, will serve to catapult the department even further into the future, with more impressive innovations still underway. The demonstrative evidence is greatly impacted by technological changes, and therefore, there is no telling how the future will be. However, if the present is any indication, the future will have an impressive level of accuracy and precision with regard to the presentation of the demonstrative evidence for use in a court of law. Demonstrative evidence has evolved greatly from the past practices into what is currently done.
It is, therefore, an integral and important part of the study, in a bid to understand the strategies, advancements, and innovations which are currently underway in the criminal justice system. Studying the demonstrative evidence, it is possible to come up with a sort of an expectations list for how the entire criminal justice system has changed, thus forming an important means of understanding the past, present and the future of the criminal justice system. Part 1B: Topic Outline TIER 1 The outline will include the following items; the topic name, definition of key terms, history, current strategies, current and/or pending advancements and/or innovations, recommended advancements and/or innovations, justification for recommendations, plausibility and logistics of the implementation of recommendations, anticipated impact of the implementation of recommendations in regards to the collection and utilization of criminal evidence in the criminal justice system, and finally, the references list for the works cited throughout the assignment.
TIER 2 The Topic Name The topic for this assignment is, the past, present, and the future of demonstrative evidence. Definition of Key Terms As opposed to real evidence, witness testimony, or other kinds of evidence used at a trial, demonstrative evidence refers to the evidence that is in the form of a presentation of an object. Demonstrative evidence illustrates the testimony that is given by a witness, and is only admissible when it is fair and accurate, thus unobjectionable (Feigenson, 2010). For instance, maps, charts, and graphs might be considered demonstrative evidence. Technology refers to the application of scientific knowledge for the realization of practical usage in a practical setting, such as in a trial (Mell, 2011).
A trial refers to the formal examination of evidence before a judge, a jury, and other witnesses (Andrews, 2010). Mainly, a trial is done to determine the extent of guilt in a civil proceeding, or in a criminal trial. History The concept of demonstrative evidence was coined from the saying, seeing is believing. Demonstrative evidence is mainly used in a court of law as an aid towards the understanding of the facts of the case by the jury. Initially, only spoken testimony was admissible in a criminal trial.
However, there was the need to develop another form of evidence presentation mechanism that would be able to appeal to all of the senses of a juror (Witkowski, 2002). Before the intervention of Melvin Belli, demonstrative evidence was only permissible in criminal cases. However, Melvin was convinced that this form of evidence should also have been used for civil cases, owing to the numerous advantages that it had to offer (Jianting, 2011). Developed from interactions with Captain Kidd at Boalt, Melvin came to the conclusion that, allowing the jury to have a more in-depth association with the evidence, through telling them and letting them see it, and perhaps even smell it, it would be possible to get through to all of them.
Advocating for its adoption in both civil and criminal trials, the use of demonstrative evidence is widely practiced today. Current Strategies Currently, there is the use of television sets with VCR or DVD players in numerous courtrooms, laptops, and even iPads and tablets. Current and Pending Advancements and/or Innovations The possible advancements in the field of demonstrative evidence is the use of teleconferencing services to link the investigators with the courtroom for real feeds on the demonstrative evidence, and even, the use of multiple monitors wired on common circuits all over the courtroom, to allow the witnesses, jury, the judge and even the members of the public present to all instantaneously follow the proceedings without a glitch (Santee, 2012).
Recommended Advancements and Innovations The recommended change in the demonstrative evidence is the use of linkages between the laptops and monitors in the courtroom, to allow the manipulation of the evidence by the use of the software programs contained within the laptops. In addition, the use of the internet should be employed more in the presentation of demonstrative evidence. Justification for Recommendations The evidence, such as the graphs and other images, might need to be manipulated in a certain manner to stress a point by the counsel. Therefore, it should be given that the laptops and the monitors in the courtroom should have ways of establishing links, to allow the manipulation by the use of software stored on the laptop.
In addition, the internet provides an immense storage bubble for the various items that can be presented in the demonstrative evidence. Here also, it is possible to order the items in a manner that enhances their flow. They can also be tagged and easily retrieved when they are needed for showing in the courtroom. Plausibility and Logistics of the Implementation of Recommendations The implementation of the above recommendation shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Linking of the laptop with the monitors can be done either wirelessly, or by the use of cables such as the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable (Krishnamoorthy, 2007).
In addition, the use of the internet cloud storage and editing features can be easily made possible by the having of an active internet plan, and having access to applications such as Google Images (Ferriera, 2014). Anticipated Impact Of The Implementation Of Recommendations In Regards To The Collection And Utilization Of Criminal Evidence In The Criminal Justice System Ideally, the implementation of the above recommendations should not step on any toes with regard to the amendments of the constitution relating to the admissible and inadmissible evidence, as well as the disparities in the collection of criminal evidence due to crime location. References Feigenson, N. (2010). Visual evidence. Psychonomic bulletin & review , 17 (2), . Jianting, W. A. N. G. (2011). On the Jurisprudencial Foundation and Demonstrative Evidence of Historic Title [J]. Pacific Journal , 3 , 013. Mell, P., & Grance, T. (2011). The NIST definition of cloud computing. Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2010). The psychology of criminal conduct . Routledge. Schmalleger, F. (2009). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the 21st century . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2015). Criminal evidence: Principles and cases . Nelson Education. Ferriera, D. B., Viswanathan, R., Mahajani, R., Lincoln, B., & McKernan, J. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,799,322 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Krishnamoorthy, R. (2007, January). High definition, anywhere: How ultra wideband makes wireless HDMI possible. In 2007 4th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (pp. ). IEEE. Witkowski, J. (2002). Can Juries Really Believe What They See-New Foundational Requirements for the Authentication of Digital Images? Wash. UJL & Pol'y , 10 , 267. Santee, D. S. (2012). More than Words: Rethinking the Role of Modern Demonstrative Evidence. Santa Clara L. Rev. , 52 , 105.