- There are 52 separate legal jurisdictions in the United States: the 50 states, Washington DC, and the federal system. The federal system comprises Federal District Courts (trial courts), Federal Appeals Courts, the US Supreme Court, and other specialized courts such as the Bankruptcy courts, Tax court etc.

The American version of federalism empowers the states (via the US constitution) to enact their own criminal codes and set up their own independent judiciary.

- Generally, the states and the federal government have concurrent powers to investigate most crimes. However, crimes such as kidnapping, bank robbery, aviation-related crimes (hijacking, disorderly conduct aboard a plane), child pornography, Securities fraud (stock market), counterfeiting, federal tax fraud, murder/robbery of an accredited foreign diplomat, murder of the US president or Vice President etc are exclusively federal crimes.
That means only federal law enforcement agencies, particularly the FBI, are solely charged with the investigation.

- There are 94 US Attorneys, who are federal officials responsible for prosecuting cases in federal courts.

- There are more than 4,500 federal crimes in the US (federal) criminal code. These are contained in Titles 18 and 26 of the US Code.
In addition, there are over 400,000 federal regulations primarily enacted by independent federal agencies.

- About 97% of criminal felony cases in America are prosecuted in state courts. Felonies are crimes that are punishable by a prison term of one year or more.

- There are over 50 federal law enforcement agencies- the most prominent ones being the FBI, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol.

- The US Supreme Court has held that defendants, who are certified as legally insane, cannot be sentenced to death.

- The relevant provisions in the US constitution concerned with criminal justice are the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14th amendments to the constitution.

- At a rate of 700 per 100,000 people, the United States has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world.

unfortunately there laws are terrible(man vs man)

Orfankwagh:
unfortunately there laws are terrible(man vs man)

How do you mean?

- A grand jury, comprised of lay men and women, is empowered in most states to decide whether the prosecution has the required probable cause to file charges against a defendant in a trial court.

CFCman:
How do you mean?

d system luk gud bt d laws ehn....

Very educative

Orfankwagh:
d system luk gud
bt d laws ehn....

Like in California. The divorce law in California stipulates that both parties get 50% of all assets acquired during the marriage.

- There are currently 2.3 million inmates in federal, state prisons and county jails.

- 98% of federal criminal prosecutions do not go to trial. They end at the pre-trial stage via plea bargains.

Private prisons are now a big business in the US

The inmates make a lot of products most people dont even know about. From furniture, Clothes, food, military supplies, electronics etc

They earn between $0.25 to 1.50 an hour

Justice reforms need to be implemented to cut back on high incarceration.

ValerianSteel:
Justice reforms need to be implemented to cut back on high incarceration.

Could you believe that a Republican senator said that the US has a "under-incarceration" problem?

CFCman:

Could you believe that a Republican senator said that the US has a "under-incarceration" problem?

Nothing surprises me about republicans anymore.

America's correction facilities are over flooded,the sentencing is also another problem,some crimes get harsh sentencing this has affected minorities especially african americans.

Am sure the Senator is a White Supremacist who believes all blacks are criminals that need to be locked up.

ValerianSteel:
Nothing surprises me about republicans anymore.

America's correction facilities are over flooded,the sentencing is also another problem,some crimes get harsh sentencing this has affected minorities especially african americans.

Am sure the Senator is a White Supremacist who believes all blacks are criminals that need to be locked up.

He is Ben Sasse from Nebraska. The guy is being prodded by some establishment Republicans to make an independent run for president

CFCman:


He is Ben Sasse from Nebraska. The guy is being prodded by some establishment Republicans to make an independent run for president

Didn't know it was Sasse.He might run if some big guns within the party see no light in Trump,they are currently weighing their options.In the event he runs,anything that tears Trump's campaign apart is welcome by me

ValerianSteel:
Didn't know it was Sasse.He might run if some big guns within the party see no light in Trump,they are currently weighing their options.In the event he runs,anything that tears Trump's campaign apart is welcome by me

Polls show an independent candidate can actually win

Missy89:


Polls show an independent candidate can actually win

I wouldn't be too sure but anyone coming on board must be able to outspend Trump and Hillary in a national campaign.

ValerianSteel:
Didn't know it was Sasse.He might run if some big guns within the party see no light in Trump,they are currently weighing their options.In the event he runs,anything that tears Trump's campaign apart is welcome by me

Right. But its kinda too late for anyone to mount a strong independent campaign. The best bet for conservatives/libertarians is to support the Libertarian party, which has ballot access in all 50 states.

Anyway, the so-called "three strikes" laws should be repealed; and states should relax the permanent ban on ex-convicts from voting.

ValerianSteel:
I wouldn't be too sure but anyone coming on board must be able to outspend Trump and Hillary in a national campaign.

The money is there. If any candidate steps forward. I will remain undecided until that path is no longer viable

CFCman:

Right. But its kinda too late for anyone to mount a strong independent campaign. The best bet for conservatives/libertarians is to support the Libertarian party, which has ballot access in all 50 states.

Anyway, the so-called "three strikes" laws should be repealed; and states should relax the permanent ban on ex-convicts from voting.

Libertarian candidates do have an appeal among many conservative independents but they can only try hard.

The fvcking law should be gotten rid of.It incpacitates total rehabilitation into the society as ex-convicts are not awarded eqaul rights with others.

CFCman:

Right. But its kinda too late for anyone to mount a strong independent campaign. The best bet for conservatives/libertarians is to support the Libertarian party, which has ballot access in all 50 states.

Anyway, the so-called "three strikes" laws should be repealed; and states should relax the permanent ban on ex-convicts from voting.

Independent candidates can still get the ballot issue fix in the courts. There is still a path

Missy89:


The money is there. If any candidate steps forward. I will remain undecided until that path is no longer viable

Well then,we wait and see how it all unfolds.

ValerianSteel:
Libertarian candidates do have an appeal among many conservative independents but they can only try hard.

The fvcking law should be gotten rid of.It incpacitates total rehabilitation into the society as ex-convicts are not awarded eqaul rights with others.

The law may have been a reason why Bush carried Florida in 2000. A majority of the ex-convicts in that state were Black or Latino.

Missy89:


Independent candidates can still get the ballot issue fix in the courts. There is still a path

That would be welcome

Missy89:
Private prisons are now a big business in the US

The inmates make a lot of products most people dont even know about. From furniture, Clothes, food, military supplies, electronics etc

They earn between $0.25 to 1.50 an hour

You are right and that's why I am not going to jail. My wife and children are so expensive to maintain plus I love good things of life to work for jail peanuts. Lol.

ValerianSteel:
Nothing surprises me about republicans anymore.

America's correction facilities are over flooded,the sentencing is also another problem,some crimes get harsh sentencing this has affected minorities especially african americans.

Am sure the Senator is a White Supremacist who believes all blacks are criminals that need to be locked up.

Do you expect less of Republicons ?.

Missy89:
Private prisons are now a big business in the US

The inmates make a lot of products most people dont even know about. From furniture, Clothes, food, military supplies, electronics etc

They earn between $0.25 to 1.50 an hour

Yeah, but at least, is better than earning nothing at all while been locked away. The only thing that i find disturbing about US Prisons is the increasing rate at which inmates are dying. The ugly situation keep getting uglier.

ValerianSteel:
Justice reforms need to be implemented to cut back on high incarceration.

I concur. And if reforms are to be implemented, it must encompasses police high handedness and interaction with members of society, especially in areas predominantly occupied by certain races.

Missy89:


Polls show an independent candidate can actually win

Indepedent candidate? Believe me, if the Repubs tries that, they would only be making more fun of themselves. The popularity of Trump will increase the more among the people, many of ehom will surely interprete it as a "fear factor" This things always have a way of becoming a blessing in disguise.

Appleyard:
Yeah, but at least, is better than earning nothing at all while been locked away. The only thing that i find disturbing about US Prisons is the increasing rate at which inmates are dying. The ugly situation keep getting uglier.

Yea it is something. In some countries, you do the work for free (hard labor sentences)
Prison deaths is more of a local and state problem not a federal one. That is why some of them thinks it is a good idea to privatize it.

Appleyard:
I concur. And if reforms are to be implemented, it must encompasses police high handedness and interaction with members of society, especially in areas predominantly occupied by certain races.

You are actually more likely to be man handled or killed by a cop if you are NOT black according to the statistics. Liberal reactionaries over exaggerate everything.

Missy89:


You are actually more likely to be man handled or killed by a cop if you are NOT black according to the statistics. Liberal reactionaries over exaggerate everything.

Really? Interesting. I would love to see that statistics of yours posted here, because, the facts that emanated from last year, known as "year of the black guns," shows that Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, nearly twice each week.

Nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting. 37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the U.S. population. Compare that to the numbers of whites killed same year.Unarmed black people were killed at 5x the rate of unarmed whites in 2015 Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was killed by police resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime, and only 2 of these deaths (Matthew Ajibade and Eric Harris) resulted in convictions of officers involved. Only 1 of 2 officers convicted for their involvement in Matthew Ajibade's death received jail time.
He was sentenced to 1 year in jail and allowed to serve this time exclusively on weekends. (immagine the insult to justice.)

I think one major overlooked problem with the US justice system, especially in the enforcement of law, is the ugly issue of racial profiling. And this is increasingly getting worse to the extent that, revenge killings and racial revenge attacks, are being encouraged. We saw what happened after Michael Brown was killed, some groups of black buddies immediately beat up some white guys, almost killing one in the process. If this dangerous incidents are not handled in due time, they might come back to haunt on the long run. They have the tendency of undermining state security and unleashing mayhem in the sociological order of society.