<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts . Criminal justice is also a field of study . Those accused of crime have some protections against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers . Criminal justice systems are very different around the world depending on the country . In the United States when a person or individual is charged of a crime they are given rights . In some countries when someone is charged with a crime there is no trial and they are immediately sentenced with no rights . In the United States the criminal justice system was taken from the British criminal justice system . Today a lot of modern countries also have adopted the British criminal justice system . In less developed countries and war - torn countries no justice system is in use . These countries often use military powers to enforce their laws, this is often the result of the killing of the individual that supposedly committed this crime with no trial given . </P> <P> In the United States, criminal justice policy has been guided by the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, which issued a ground - breaking report "The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society". This report made more than 200 recommendations as part of a comprehensive approach toward the prevention and fighting of crime . Some of those recommendations found their way into the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 . The Commission advocated a "systems" approach to criminal justice, with improved coordination among law enforcement, courts, and correctional agencies . The President's Commission defined the criminal justice system as the means for society to "enforce the standards of conduct necessary to protect individuals and the community ." </P> <P> The United States justice system differs from other countries' systems such as its rank among other systems in the world . The United States justice system ranks 19th according to the Rule of Law index that was assessed in 2014 . The United States leads however in the number of incarcerated citizens in the world; there are 2.4 million people who are currently incarcerated . The top five countries according to the Rule of Law index are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands . All four of these countries practice criminal justice differently, for example Finland does not use the trial by jury system such as in the United States . Finland has found that system to be flawed and sometimes biased to the individual on trial . </P>

All criminal justice professionals have these common elements