Running head: BASIC CRIMINAL LAW 1

Basic Criminal Law

Christopher B. Lane

Colorado Technical University Online: CJUS290

Repurposed work originally submitted in its entirety on May 22, 2011 for CJUS290-1102B-02
BASIC CRIMINAL LAW 2

Branches of Government

To understand how the federal government operates there has to be an explanation of the

three branches of government and the roles that coexist between them. Our founding fathers

wanted to limit the powers of government in the Constitution because of the fear of tyranny. The

three main branches of government consist of legislative, executive, and judicial. Each branch

has specific powers and each branch has the power to check the other two. This system of checks

and balances was put into place to protect the liberties of the American people and safeguard

constitutional freedoms. (Schott, 2010) From 1774 to 1788 our founding fathers worked

diligently to create a foundation that a new emancipated government could operate in. The first

endeavor was the creation of the Articles of Confederation (1781) under which Congress

functioned and was able to enact and enforce the nation’s laws and collect taxes. The last was the

Constitution of the United States (1788) of which there were thirteen colonies at the time.

(eNotes, 2011) Imagine for a moment this time in our history. The government could not tax

individuals, only the states. Colonial America was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the

Articles of Confederation and a repeat abuse of taxation of the people. Congress at that time was

concerned about the proper use of authority in government and how it could benefit a newly

formed and very young emancipated country. Thus it was decided to create three separate

branches of the government and to limit the powers of each based on the delegated powers of the

Constitution. (Schott, 2010)

The legislative branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are

two Senators per state and they serve a term of six years. Representatives known as

Congressmen are elected by districts which are based on census populations. Congressmen serve

a term for two years. The founders addressed the legislative branch first because of the powers
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given to the House and the Senate to make laws. (Schott, 2011) Article 1, section 8 of the

Constitution gives the legislative branch the authority to “impose taxes, establish rules of

citizenship, oversee presidential impeachment, and declare war” (Schott, 2010) For example, the

founding fathers limited the powers of government to make the congressmen think carefully

before raising taxes and forbade Senators from proposing tax increases on the people. Tax laws

must be initiated in the House and the president and judges cannot propose tax bills. (Schott,

2010) The House may bring justified charges of impeachment if a president acts improperly but

a safeguard known as the separation of powers requires the impeachment trial be conducted by

the Senate. “Having Congressmen and Senators play separate roles in impeachment is an

example of separation of powers and a great definition of limited government power” (Schott,

2010)

The executive branch consists of the Office of the President who carries out or executes

the laws enacted by the legislative branch, ensures homeland security, collects taxes, and

represents the Unites States in its political and economic interests with foreign nations. (Trethan,

2011) The executive branch consists of a president, vice president and fifteen cabinet

departments (State, Interior, Education, etc.) The office of the presidency is a term of four years

and the person is not elected by popular vote but by an Electoral College to prevent voter fraud

specified in Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution. The President has the authority to appoint

judges to lifelong terms in the judiciary system and the Senate must confirm the appointment by

a hearing process. The only way to unseat a judge is to impeach them under the system of limited

government. (Schott, 2010)

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The judiciary branch was considered last because it was the branch of office with the

least powers. The federal judiciary branch holds trials and decides cases under the nation’s law

and its powers are located under Article 3 of the Constitution. (eNotes, 2011) The judicial branch

duties include interpreting the laws made by the legislative branch of which the highest court in

the judiciary branch which enforces the US Constitution is the United States Supreme Court

which is made up of nine justices and one chief justice and terms last a lifetime unless they retire

or expire. (Mount, 2011) In retrospect there are lower district and state supreme courts in the

judiciary system which are federal in scope and are separate from similar courts that are set up

within each state. (Mount, 2011) Thomas Jefferson worried that establishing a Supreme Court

would lead to an increase of powers that dominated other branches of government. Often state

and federal laws are struck down by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional and there are

worries that this “shift of power is unhealthy and violates the concept of limited government in

the constitution” (Schott, 2010).

The three branches of government were set in place to ensure that “no single person or

entity has a monopoly on power or the country return to a totalitarian system that was imposed

on the colonies by the British” (Trethan, 2011). A system of checks and balances was introduced

to dissuade this possibility. For example, the president’s power is checked by Congress who has

the power of impeachment and to remove a president and also deny confirmation of appointees

suggested by the president. Congress passes laws but the president has the power to veto such

passages of laws of which Congress can override his veto. The Supreme Court rules on the

constitutionality of laws but Congress can amend the constitution with two-thirds approval of the

states. (Trethan, 2011)

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Separation of Powers

Each branch of the 3 branches of our government plays different roles that are for the

American people. Each branch does certain things, which is also called the Separation of Powers.

The first three articles in the constitution are based on principles that limit the powers “vested in

any person or entity” and divides government authority into three branches. (Business

Dictionary, 2011) There was much of a debate and disagreement between the delegates to the

four-month Constitution convention in 1787; they agreed that the Constitution should separate

the powers of the government into 3 branches and they are as follows: legislative branch-makes

the laws, executive branch- enforces the laws, judiciary branch- interprets the laws. (eNotes,

2011) In 1793, the sketches of the Principles of Government which was reprinted and called The

Founders’ Constitution explains the importance of separating the judiciary from the executive

branch and the legislative branch. The reasons for the separation of powers was theoretically

based on the understanding that the government’s role was to protect individual rights but they

were to acknowledge that the government might historically be major violators of these rights

and the premise of the separation of powers occurs when a single person or group exploits that

power then they are a danger to citizens and society. (Landauer, J., Rowlands, J., 2001) The

partial Separation of Powers as it was distinguished between the three groups; the Executive,

Legislative, and the Judicial have their own unique ways of doing things in the three branches;

the Legislative branch-enacts the laws, Executive branch- has the ability to see those laws

enforced; the Judicial branch- has the ability to decide the guilty of the party, and allowing

punishment but if a single group shared all three powers they would have unlimited power.

Through the Separation of Powers, though, no group can have more than one of these powers,

and only through the combined use of all three can the government use force. The consent of all
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three branches will increase the likelihood that the government will not initiate violent force.

(Landauer, J., Rowlands, J., 2001)

Federalism

Federalism is a system of government by which a written constitution divides the power

between the central government, regional, or sub-divisional governments. Both types of

government act directly upon the people through officials and laws. Federalism can be seen a

compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of

independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory and

consists of the virtue of retaining local pride, traditions and power, while allowing a central

government that can handle common problems of which the basic principle of American

federalism is fixed in the Tenth Amendment. (Trueman, 2011) The different types of federalism

described in the various patterns consist of co-operative federalism which assumes that the two

levels of government are essentially partners. Dual federalism assumes that the two levels are

functioning separately. Creative Federalism involves common planning and decision making.

Horizontal Federalism involves interactions and common programs among the 50 states. Marble-

Cake Federalism is characterized by an intermingling of all levels of government in policies and

programming. Picket-Fence Federalism implies that bureaucrats and clientele groups determine

intergovernmental programs. Vertical Federalism is viewed as the traditional form of federalism

as it sees the actions of the national government as supreme within their constitutional sphere

along with new federalism in having limited success under Nixon and Reagan primarily due to

the confusion as to who did what after reforms in welfare. However, it was the recognition by the

two presidents that the states could take greater responsibility in how they ran themselves and

also that there should be a reduction in federal authority (Trueman, 2011).

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Impact on the Criminal Justice System

The one way how it impacts the criminal justice system is by distributing the powers

among the three branches it will eliminate one branch having more control, than the other. The

purpose is to evenly distribute the powers so that one branch cannot control the other; the

atrocious situation would be having one branch to control them all. Collectively, this will not

work. The even distribution will ultimately allow each branch to do their functions effectively.

During this time the framers came up with a consensus on how the government should be run.

There were so many changes on how things would be run. The states would be in charge on how

they should do things and much reform of how states can be run without the federal government.

With all of the controversy surrounding how states are and should be run has become an

increasing concern to our federal government (Mount, Constitutional Topic: The Government,

2011).

Roles of the Criminal Justice System

The three components of the Criminal Justice System and they are: Law Enforcement,

Courts, and Corrections (Smith, 2010). The component of law enforcement as the first

component of the criminal justice system includes the local police department with all of its

police officers and detectives. The role of an independent would be the separation of the powers.

The branches are separated that makes them interdependent and independent among each other.

The similarities and differences of the federal court and state criminal court are that the state

criminal courts prosecute cases at a state level and the federal courts prosecute cases at the

federal level. The federal court can hear cases from state courts, if deemed necessary (Trueman,

2011). In most cases; each component plays an intricate part of the criminal justice system to

deter crime. Firstly, you have law enforcement. Law enforcement is the first line of defense in
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the criminal justice system component. They investigate a crime; fill out a report, which has to

be in a concise, detailed fashion. The second component has to be the courts which consist of

lawyers, judges, and a jury selection process in case the defendant requests a trial. This is where

the defendant will receive his/her day in court. The evidence will either prove guilt or innocence

to the accused. The important part of this particular component of the criminal justice system

will allow the defendant to get a fair trial, which will be a speedy one. In addition, the verdict is

handed in and the defendant will rise and wait to hear the verdict. The Corrections component of

the criminal justice system will also play a very important part. The corrections will be

responsible of the inmate, whether, the inmate will be incarcerated for a lengthy amount of time

(Mount, Constitutional Topic: The Government, 2011).

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References

Business dictionary. (2011). Separation of powers. Retrieved from Web Finance, Inc.:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/separation-of-powers.html

eNotes. (2011). Checks-balances/constitutional-role-judicial-branch. Retrieved from

eNotes.com: http://www.enotes.com/government-checks-balances/constitutional-role-

judicial-branch

Landauer, J., Rowlands, J. (2001). Separation of powers, (article). Retrieved from Importance of

Philosophy: http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Politics_SeparationPower.html

Mount, S. (2011). Constitutional topic: The government, (article) Retrieved from US

Constitution Online: http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_govt.html#Leg

Mount, S. (2011). The judiciary. (article) Retrieved from US Constitution Online:

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_govt.html#Jud

Schott, L. (2010, July 5). Describe the three branches of government, (article). Retrieved from

http://www.ezinearticleboard.com/describe-the-three-branches-of-government/

Smith, T. (2010). The three components of the criminal justice system, (article). Retrieved from

eHow.com: http://www.ehow.com/list_6554727_three-components-criminal-justice-

system.htm

Trethan, P. (2011). The branches of government, (article). Retrieved from US government info,

About.com: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/branches.htm

Trueman, C. (2011). Federalism. Retrieved from History Learning Site:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fed.htm
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