International Crime Witness Essay

Introduction

Violence is a concept that is naturally familiar and plays significant responsibilities in the criminal law. More suggestively, assault appears to bridge the empirical norm. Violence brings into consideration facts- the physical body and its undisputable susceptibility. Individuals may be killed, injured, or restrained. Diverse political and social constructs vary from region to region and periods, but violence is a cold, inevitable, hard reality. This paper evaluates the different approaches by England and the United States towards crimes of violent assault.

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Pertinent Facts about England

England is a significant constituent state of the United Kingdom, inhabiting more than half of the Great Britain Island. The nation comprises over four-fifths of the overall United Kingdom's population (Jewkes, 2015). England is often erroneously considered synonymous with Great Britain (Wales, Scotland, and England) together with the United Kingdom as a whole. Even with the cultural, economic, and political legacy which has protected the preservation of its name, England does not legitimately exist as a political or government state-unlike Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland which hold different notches of independence in national matters. The government even though situated in London is, in fact, the United Kingdom's Government-a statutory kingdom and parliamentary democracy ruled by Queen Elizabeth II of England. The Queen does not run the country. The citizens have to elect political parties like liberal, conservative, and labor Democrats, and the party leader who is popularly voted for gets appointed as the Prime Minister by the queen. The judiciary in the nation is entirely independent, efficient, and impartial (Ristroph, 2010). Politicians meet for discussions and to make decisions pertaining the laws of the UK in the houses of parliament. New policies have to be passed by the House of Commons and the lords then signed by the queen. The head of state has the power to reject a law although this has not happened since Queen Anne's reign. It is unlikely for institutions to work for England solely. Outstanding exemptions are sports associations for soccer, rugby, and cricket and the Church of England. In several ways, it has been engrossed in the vast mass of Great Britain. Recent economic and political progress and linked reforms in the practice and delivery of health and social care have forced professionals and managers to recognize the significance and connections between decision-making and problem-solving skills.

England's Criminal Code on Violent Assault

England's major violent assaults are aggravated crimes, and this is a class which is not well defined as robberies, rapes, and homicides. The nation has moved from the narrowly defined crimes in earlier criminal codes to additionally generalized ones, giving it prospects to deliberate the broader interests drawn in by wrongdoings against an individual (Ristroph, 2010). The penal systems in England care about a victim's physique as well as the perpetrator's mind. Violence has been defined in the U.K to entail the deliberate infliction of physical harm; in a violent assault, injury to the victim is not merely accidental but intentionally perpetrated. Thus, England takes any form of violent attack seriously and sees its perpetrators brought to book.

Individual Rights That the United States Grants Criminal Suspects

Since offenders of the law have to pay their debt to the community for the committed offenses, it appears to many that they are not accustomed to any rights. The fact is that criminal suspects in the U.S do have rights of which it is an obligation for every officer of the law who deals with suspects, to make them aware of their rights, during arrest, investigations, and trial. The American constitution has several amendments which were enacted to shield an offender from invasive behavior from law enforcers and excessive charges. America's legal system uses the fourth amendment to deny the state the authority to make generalized seizures and searches of property. "The people's right to be safe within their papers, houses, persons, and properties, against unreasonable seizures and searches, will not be desecrated, and no permits will be given, unless there is a possible reason braced by Oath of assertion, and predominantly telling the area to be searched, and the things or persons to be seized" (Bergman & Berman, 2018). In short, there ought to be a probable reason before a cop bursts into one's home, and they need to provide a search warrant to the suspect. Suspects are also protected by the Fifth Amendment which is more of the Miranda Rights; "the right to remain silent since anything that is said shall and will be used against you in the court of law" (Bergman & Berman, 2018). A suspect is protected from another trial when a guiltless judgment is made. The offender is also given the right to impartiality and to not be confirmed guilty without the law's due process. Therefore, persons arrested for an offense ought to be made aware of their right to keep mum and have a lawyer present.

How the police in England Treat Defendants of Violent Assault

The law in England offers the right to a reasonable trial to criminal defendants, and a sovereign legal system imposes this right typically. The police treat suspects as innocent persons unless proven guilty. The defendant will thus be offered the reason for a petition to higher courts if not satisfied with the rulings of the local court. As a witness, the police will have to ask for consent from the defendant before going ahead to interrogate me. Following the 1994 Act, "you have to remain silent, anything said can be used against you in the courts" (Jewkes, 2015), the defendant is also made aware of the right to free counsel and to remain silent.

The Police Culture in England Compared to The United States

It can be misleading to compare perspective of violent crimes between the U.K and the U.S police force since crime in the United States, and the United Kingdom is entirely different regarding their view and definition of crimes. For instance, the U.S' federal bureau of investigation reports crime as one of four explicit felonies: aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, and non-negligent murder (Jones, 2000). On the other hand, England's police classify all wrongdoings against an individual, such as all sexual assaults, all robberies, as well as simple violence, unlike the U.S that only considers violent rapes and serious assaults (Jones, 2000). The criminal codes in the U.S and England stem from the old English common act of offenses and originate from the legal verdicts embodied in reports of previous rulings. The approach to consent seems to be alike in both the US and England. America's law, "Model Penal Code' that the consenting defense is applicable if the physical injury threatened by or consented to the offense is not stern (Jones, 2000). Another similarity is the Miranda Rights whereby the police in both states have to notify suspects of their rights to remain silent and free counsel during an arrest.

References

Bergman, P., & Berman, S. J. (2018). The criminal law handbook: Know your rights, survive the system. Nolo.

Jewkes, Y. (2015). Media and crime. Sage.

Jones, S. (2000). Understanding violent crime. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Ristroph, A. (2010). Criminal Law in the Shadow of Violence. Ala. L. Rev., 62, 571.