US CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM revised

US CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
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The United States criminal justice system
Contrary to popular belief, the criminal process begins not with an arrest, but with the committing of a crime. The whole process, in fact, can be seen as a consequence of the breaking of the law, which then leads to an investigation and an arrest. What matters, however, is the nature of the crime. An act cannot be considered a crime based solely on intention or malice. It is considered so only if it violates a statute or law made and implemented by the congress, the constitution, or any public authority with legal jurisdiction. Additionally, a crime is only punishable by the state. The graver the nature of the crime, the more severe the sentence. Some culprits only have to serve a limited time, or pay a fine. Those tried for serious crimes like murder and treason, and levied a lifetime sentence, or a death penalty CITATION Car01 l 16393 (Carp & Stidham, 2001).
In the United States, the most serious of crime are called felonies. Punishment for a felony can be serious: a year or more of prison time, or in some cases, the death penalty. Whether a crime can be considered a felony or not is, once again, decided by its nature, of which there are five categories according to the legal structure of the country:
Conventional crimes include robberies, property crimes, and in grave cases, murder, torture, and so on. These also depend on whether the execution of the crime involve…