Criminal Justice System & Process

Crime

Crime can be defined as the behavior which causes an individual to violate certain laws within the state, federal or local jurisdiction which no acceptable justification is granted. Crime depends on your location. It all depends on the status of the actor, the time of day, the year, and the location of the act or even the reasons behind the behavior. Crime is one of the main purposes in making laws. Without laws people would do what they wanted because of no repercussion of the outcome. If crime did not exist in this world today laws would not be in place like they are.

Criminal Justice System & Process

The criminal justice process consists of five major stages. Each stage is a standard sequence of events that begins when a crime is detected and to determine if an individual is innocent. The first stage of this process is investigation and arrest. At this stage an investigation begins, evidence is gathered at the crime scene, and everything is being put back together to determine what really happened. Warrants are being served and the booking process begins as well. A warrant is issued by a judicial officer ordering a law enforcement officer to carry out a certain task. Booking is the administration process in which the criminal is going to a detention facility after the arrest and identifying the person, the time and place, reason for the arrest, and arresting authority. The next stage in the criminal justice process is pretrial activities which include four major events such as appearance, preliminary hearing, information or indictment, and arraignment. During the first appearance, usually within 48 hours of an arrest, a suspect must be brought before a magistrate for an initial court appearance. The judge will then talk to the accused person about his or her charges, advise the accused of their rights, and may grant opportunity for bail. The preliminary hearing is to see if they have enough evidence to continue with the judicial process. The judge tries to figure out whether a crime was committed and if the defendant committed it. Information or indictment is a formal written accusation based on what happened during the preliminary hearing. In some states if the prosecutor wants to continue a case then he or she will file a document known as “information” with the court. The grand jury decides whether a case should go to trial by hearing evidence from the prosecutor. During the last pretrial activity arraignment, the accused goes before the court that has the decision to take the case to trial for the first time. In this time a formal reading of the information or indictment against him or her is read. The defendant is notified of their rights and has to enter a plea of ‘not guilty’ ‘guilty’ or ‘no contest’. Trial is next and in a criminal proceeding it involves an examination in court of all facts and issues, relevant laws relating to