Criminal Justice Process 1
Criminal Justice Process
Betsabe Aguirre
CRJ 100, Section 010016
Professor Nicholas Myles, J.D.
October 12, 2010.
Criminal Justice Process 2
Criminal Justice Process
Imagine living in the US where crime is out of control. Where laws are broken and there is no punishment for our actions. It wouldn’t be a nice place to live. This is why we have the criminal justice process. The agencies of criminal justice must process the cases that come before them. They begin with an investigation of the reported crime. Placing crime under control is a complicated process requiring information and following many steps. It consists of Investigation and Arrest, ...view middle of the document...
Once the arrest is made there are several steps that are in the pretrial activities. The initial step in pretrial activities is the first appearance.
The first step is first appearance which occurs within hours of the arrest. The suspect is taken in front of the judge for an initial appearance. The judge will tell the suspect the charges against them, read them their rights again and sometimes gives the suspect the opportunity of bail. Bail is to make sure the suspect will return to court. The more serious the crime the less likely bond will be granted. The suspect will have to stay in jail. The lower the crime the less bail the defendant has to pay. After the 1st appearance comes a preliminary hearing.
The preliminary hearing is the second step in the pretrial activities. The purpose of it is to see if there is enough evidence to show that the suspect also known as the defendant committed the crime. After the preliminary hearing information, indictment, or a dismissal occurs. If the court doesn’t find enough evidence against the defendant the case will be dismissed. But if there is enough evidence a formal accusation is presented to the court known as an indictment. The case must then be tried before a grand jury. In a grand jury preceding the defendant does not have the right to be present. The defendant does not have the right to hear the evidence they have against them.
The third step is arraignment. Here the defendant appears in court and stands before a judge and hears the charges against them. The judge asks how they want to plea.
Criminal Justice Process 4
Acceptable pleas are guilty, not guilty, or no contest. If the defendant chooses guilty or no contest they are accepting the guilt for the crime and the process skips to the sentencing phase. If they plead not guilty the adjudication stage comes next.
The pretrial activities consist of many steps within. It’s a very complicated process, but even more complicated is the adjudication process.
Adjudication
The third step in the criminal justice process is the adjudication stage. This is the trial stage of the process. A jury trial or a bench trial is conducted. The jury trial has 12 individuals and a...