How the United States Justice System Works

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Well this is going to be kind of a rant/informational discussion on the United States Justice System http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Cjsflowco.svg The above is a flow chart But here is the Justice System in laymans terms. You have a crime that was committed. Evidence is gathered and suspects are found. Then they go through the evidence that has been gathered and after interviewing witnesses they match the evidence to the suspect. So they follow the evidence to find the person who most likely did it. Now I say most likely because remember this person(s) is still innocent of any wrong doing. If they aren't already they are placed under arrest and charged which when they are arrested they are read some very important rights. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" This is when generally the person either confesses to the crime and then tries to fight it later on or they do the smart thing which is get a lawyer! We will go with the later. They either have a lawyer or one is appointed to them by the State which the state pays for them. After they are arrested they could get a bail amount depending on what they are charged with which a Judge will decide the amount in most cases. If they don't then it could take several years for the evidence to get collected and the lawyers to stop stalling the case which is what they do as the Defense builds the case to create reasonable doubt in the mind of a Jury trial. When they are about go to court the State (DA) may offer a plea deal normally to a lesser charge or with some charges missing that could be pressed if the person refuses. Then they go to court but before they do that the Lawyers and sometimes the client will do what is called discovery this is the part where they get to see what evidence is against them and who said what. Also this is a time where both sides get to see what the other has. The Trail phase starts with Jury selection in most cases where they generally will not pick people who have or hold college degrees. They go and target a certain group and they try to get as many as they can that they feel will be on their side when its all over. Then the state Presents their case. Which will include Direct and Circumstantial evidence. Direct Evidence would be like person A saw the Suspect shot the victim. Circumstantial Evidence would be Forensics found the Bullet in the victim matched the gun used and found on the suspect. Now after each witness the state puts up the Defense gets to question. Then after the Defense the state gets to ask some more questions what is known as Redirecting the Witness. After the State is done presenting its case the Defense gets to provide its case for either a lessor charge which would of been stated in the Opening Statement by the defense. After both sides have presented their sides then they do the Closing Statements where they try and plant seeds and hope that you tie it together in your mind the way they want you to do it. Then the Jury goes and Deliberates which it can take Days or Hours for them to find their answer. Which a short time means the Jury was in agreement with one side which then shows that the side that loses has a weak case. If they take a long time then both cases where strong and jurors are trying to sway each other into a consensus. If the jury can't come to a decision in the United States its a Mistrial which means they start all over again with a new jury. Depending on how the jury rules if they rule not guilty on all charges the person is released sometimes right away sometimes with in a week and they are free to go like this never happened. If they are found guilty then they are to go to jail and wait for another court date to find out what the punishment will be for their crimes. This is a synapsis of it a very basic view I may of even missed things but I will give some other resources below. So what do you think of the United States Justice System? Is it working? How could it be improved? What of the accused being assumed to be innocent? What are your overall thoughts? Did the Founding fathers set up a good system of Justice?