During this week’s field experience JSPB got to find out first hand what it would be like to be an investigative prosecutor in the state of Hungary. The man who divulged such information was Dr. Lajos Korona who works for the Department of Supervisions of Investigations. When I first heard this title I was very curious to see what the job entailed, because from my American view, prosecutors and investigators do two completely different jobs. After more explanation, Dr. Korona’s job became clearer to me; what it boils down to is his responsibility to make sure the police investigation of a crime is rightly done from a legal standpoint. Dr. Korona and his department deal with more serious criminal investigations such as drugs, property and organized crime. This sparked my interest at once because I was very intrigued at hear that a prosecutor’s job could be to work so closely with an investigation team. I wish this were the case in America because this type of work greatly appeals to me.
 |
| Everyone is equal under law including the Police |
As this kind of prosecutor Dr. Korona is allowed to initiate an investigation, or if the police initiate it, they need to inform the General Attorney’s office. Dr. Korona is there to make sure that the investigation being run is being run smoothly and legally. I think this is a great idea, because there are endless amounts of times when a case gets all the way to court and is thrown out because something was done wrong during the procedure and the defense has reason to dismiss a confession or a critical piece of evidence. When this happens double jeopardy is applied and the case is dropped with no chance of another hearing. I would love Dr. Korona’s job because I would get to be part of the investigative procedure, get to see the legal side of things but not have to go to Court and work directly under a Judge and do whatever it is he/she wants me to do. However, Dr. Korona did say that if he was ever heavily involved in a case and wanted to make sure it ended in a conviction he could request to see it all the way to court. In my opinion he gets to work with the best sections of the legal procedure.
Interesting parts of the presentation from my standpoint were the different types of crimes prevalent in Hungary and learning about where this penal system originated. First of Dr. Korona separated the different types of crimes into thirds, 1/3 being drugs, 1/3 being homicides, murders and crimes against the body and the last third being crimes against property. These are obviously very broad terms but it was interesting to me that he could place all the crimes he deals with loosely into at least one of these categories. He also mentioned that gangs have become less structured compared to about 15 years ago and most of the crimes deal with money laundering. This was surprising to me because my notion of gangs was that they were becoming more structured over the years and not breaking apart. However according to him, a lot of people from different countries came to Hungary and it caused problems concerning gangs but within 4 years the authorities cleaned up the situation. As of now gangs are not a prevalent concern when it comes to Hungary. The second interesting thing was that Dr. Korona mentioned that this type of legal system is based off of the old Communist regime. The fact that Hungary still has aspects of Communism in their legal system makes me wonder how people feel about basing something like the legal system, which is very important, off of something that they hated so much. I feel like if I looked into it more I would be sure to find some controversy concerning the subject.
 | |
| What one would think a typical gang would look like but for Hungary gangs like this, organized gangs, are not prevelant in Hungarian society |
Overall this field experience was very informative and I was even a little jealous that a job like Dr. Korona’s was an option. If this type of job was available in the United States I could definitely say that it would be one of my tope choices for my future career. Dr. Korona answered everyone’s questions very well and even added some extra information where he felt necessary. I enjoyed his talk and to be honest am very jealous of his job.
Great writing, Courtney!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week. Because of our pretty dissimilar majors, I find that I learn a lot from your perspective in class and in our field studies. I guess I did know that prosecutors and investigators have two completely different roles within the American legal system. The comparison never crossed my mind, though, so I was intrigued to see you raise that idea. I also appreciated your application of Dr. Korona's skills to the American system. You're absolutely right - his department's duties would definitely act as a safety net for prosecutors. The investigation could be overseen in it's entirety, at each progressive step, and corrected if something goes against code.
You really brought up some great ideas here, Court, as always. Look forward to your next post!
Hey Courtney,
ReplyDeleteNice blog this week. You had mentioned that If this type of job was available in the United States I could definitely say that it would be one of my tope choices for my future career. I'm sure you could use your studies in the justice studies program to find a similar position in the states!
It was an interesting comparison between the communist vs democratic legal system and how the crimes reflected the political system in place. I wonder how the crime distribution would change if the US were to change political systems
-Jake