The United States has a Criminal Justice system...

doesn't it? I ended up last week pitching in to a debate about the right of the US Child Protection Services to take a child into care because her parents refused to consent to medical treatment they considered unnecessary: see Ogres view. (My view is that before a state is granted any more powers to take control of children, it should demonstrate that it can do a good job on the ones it has already: children under the state's care should be the best clothed, fed, looked after, and housed in the country. Of course they should: what excuse has the state got not to? ) It turns out that the CPS in this case were following the law; oddly (from a UK perspective), most of those commenting took the line that they'd be happy to shoot CPS people following their legal duty; my suggestion that perhaps the law could be changed went unnoticed! It is a foreign country.