Reform of Magistrates' Courts

Archive Report

Origin and Evolution of magistrates' courts

For Many years the administration of criminal justice in the United States has been a subject of recurrent inquiry and criticism. State and municipal surveys of crime and criminal justice, of which there have been a score in the last decade, as well as the reports of local, state, and national crime commissions have disclosed not only organic and procedural defects in prosecution and the courts, but also connections between police and criminals, on the one hand, and courts and politics, on the other. No stage in the process from arrest through trial has escaped scrutiny and criticism.

Public attention has been focused of late upon the rôle of the magistrates' courts in the administration of justice, owing to the ...

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