International Crime Witness - Assignment Example

International Crime Witness Demographic, Social, Political, and Economic Factors about the Country of Germany Demographic Factors The German demography can be comprehended on the basis of three factors which includes its low birth rate, higher life expectancy of the people and the prevalence of an ageing society. Birth rate has decreased significantly while the improvement in the healthcare sector has increased life expectancy (Tatsachen, 2014). Social Factors Social security system of the country is deemed to be quite secure with health, safety and employment structure. In the recent past constant improvement and growth has been witnessed in the employment and healthcare sector. The standard of living is also high within the German society (Tatsachen, 2014). Political Factors The country follows a bicameral system in terms of political domain. The responsibilities of the central government and state are segregated apparently. The federal government controls the legal functions of the entire nations through legal policies and numerous regulations (Tatsachen, 2014). Economic Factors Germany is the largest among of the economies in the European Union (EU). A constant increase in GDP has been witnessed by the country in the recent past. It is considered as a global hub of business sector with special inclusion of the automobile sector. A considerable percentage of the employment is provided by the SMEs (Tatsachen, 2014). Criminal Code for Witness in Germany Regulations for the criminal act in Germany are deemed to be quite certain. However, with the passage of time certain amendments have been brought in the legal structure, which has further provided systematic rules for contemplating the witnesses in crime scenes. As per Subsection 6 of the Criminal Code, witness is seen as a contributor towards the preventer of any particular offence or crime. The regulation depicts that the primary responsibility of any witness is to stop crime voluntarily at the first place. The Criminal Code of Germany also depicts that crime witness needs to voluntarily depict his/her knowledge about the crime to the concerned authorities as early as possible so that proper measures can be taken. However, this particular aspect of the law is only limited towards witness of criminal offence and not for any other legal scenario. Article 5 of the Principal Witness Act is also an important decree that specifically determines the process followed to deal with criminal witness. As per this particular code of the German criminal law, witness should not intend to misguide the case with their information or else they might be liable to get imprisonment of 1 year (Hilger, n.d.). Individual Rights for Criminal Suspects in US Criminal suspects in the US are liable to enjoy certain individual rights. As per the fifth amendment of the federal law of the US, all criminal defendants will have the right to get free trial along with certain rights relevant to search and seizure. As per rule 44 of the federal law on criminal procedures, any person who is accused of a particular crime will be liable to get free counseling against his/her appeal. Right to counsel of the criminal defendants is directly governed by the Federal law and the local or regional courts of the US. Furthermore, registered law practitioners will also initiate counseling for the criminal defendants and prohibits any biasness in this context. Similarly, the rule of search and seizure will also be liable for the criminal defendants in the US. Notably, as a citizen of the nation, criminal defendants will also have the rights to enjoy security as an individual from force search and seizure of their house, documents or their own body without any reasonable reason or potential evidences. The federal government directly governs the law and its proper adherence (Legal Information Institute, n.d). Treatment to Criminal Defendants in UK Criminal suspects in the UK are deal by police, which is quite similar to that of the procedure that prevails in the US. In the UK, any person who is accused of certain crime will be testified for their subsequent trail. Akin to the US, a criminal defendant in the UK is also liable to get legal counseling at the expense of the government. He/she would be provided with considerable opportunities to justify his position of not being involved in a particular crime for which he/she has been accused. Furthermore, public funds are also used to assist the defendants in the case where defendant is financially not capable to pay for the entire legal procedure. This can be justified from the fact that every person irrespective of their legal status is a citizen of the nation and likewise they would be liable to enjoy all the legal rights under the law of the nation (Talbot, 2012). Fundamental Similarities and Differences amid Police Culture in UK and US There is certain difference as well as similarities amid the police culture of the UK and the US. It is believed that the occupational culture of the UK is quite informal since their work is limited or bound to a particular piece of regulations. In the process of contemplating different situations, police often need to take non-traditional steps, which they might not exercise while being under the influence of law. On the other hand, the structure of the work of the police in the US is also deemed to be informal owing to their resemblance with the military police cultures. Police are often criticized for not being able to differentiate between innocent and guilty people (Travis, 2011). It has also been depicted that police culture in the US lack ethics and proper attitude owing to their differential roles. Police culture within the nation is largely characterized by violent approach towards dealing with crimes and criminals, which resemblance with the militaristic approach. However, in the UK police culture, ethics is deemed to be extensively prevalent. The work of the police is considered to be more systematic in the UK as compared to the approach of police in the US. The police in UK work with proper adherence to the law while in the US the scenario is a bit different (Mason, 2010) References Hilger. (n.d.). Principal witness regulations to suppress organized crime in Germany. Retrieved from http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No58/No58_13VE_Hilger4.pdf Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). Fifth Amendment. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fifth_amendment Mason, A. D. (2010). Police, culture, and ethics: toward an understanding and expansion of police culture and ethical research. Iowa State University, 1-96. Travis, A. (2011). White male culture dominates police, says equality review. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/apr/05/white-male-culture-dominates-police Talbot, J. (2012). Fair Access to Justice? Retrieved from http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/portals/0/documents/fairaccesstojustice.pdf Tatsachen. (2014). Facts about Germany. Retrieved from http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/content-home/facts-and-figures/economy.html Read More