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The Role And Duties Of US Marshals In The Criminal Justice Field

Feb 1, 2008
Posse Out!

Have you always wanted to say that? If you have, the US marshals job may be for you. As a US marshal, the law allows you to form posse to get the job done.

The United States Marshals Service is a federal law enforcement agency that protects the federal courts and its personnel. It is the oldest law enforcement agency in the United States.

In this article, I will elaborate on the role and duties the US Marshals Service and its agents play in the criminal justice field. In no particular order of importance, they are:

1. US Marshals protect the federal courts. There are about 400 federal courts. It is the responsibility of US Marshals to monitor these court houses. They do this through installing and monitoring security systems, like surveillance cameras.

2. The US Marshals Service and its agents protect federal judges. There are about 2000 federal judges. It is the responsibility of US Marshals to protect these judges.

There are federal cases that are just high risk. Just imagine the federal judges that try terrorists. These judges are at high risk because you never know what these terrorists and their counterparts are capable of. Some of them may even have the notion of threatening or killing these judges if judgment does not go their way.

3. It is the duty and role of US Marshals to enforce the decisions handed down by federal judges. The Civil Rights cases are a perfect example of this. It was the US Marshals that escorted black students to white schools in the South when the Supreme Court ruled against segregation of schools.

4. It is the role and duty of the US Marshals Service and its agents to protect witnesses in federal cases. As I said above, some trials are just too high risk. So much so that witnesses to these trials can be in danger. Just being a witness in such trials can lead to people trying to harm you in way or the other.

The US Marshals must make sure this does not happen. They will escort such witnesses throughout the trial. And in extreme cases after the trial, they have to place the witnesses into their witness protection program. This can include changing the identity of the witnesses and relocating the witnesses to a completely different part of the country.

5. US Marshals play the role of tracking down and arresting federal fugitives from the law. This does not need a lot of explanation. Simply put, there are criminals that run when law enforcement agents try to arrest them. It is the duty of US Marshals to apprehend them and bring them to justice. They even assist state and local authorities apprehend state and local fugitives.

As you can see, the role and duties of US Marshals are plenty. I have by no means covered all of them. But, it is hard to do an exhaustive coverage in such a short article.

If you are interested in becoming a US Marshal, I recommend you look into this further. You can do so by visiting websites that cover this career opportunity in more detail.

About the Author
Copywrite Kenneth Echie. Kenneth is a writer for Criminal Justice Schools and Degrees. Get free scholarship report and learn how to become US Marshals by visiting. Affiliated website: Extra Income Ideas
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