Criminal Justice Process - Overview Of The Process, The Investigatory Process, The Adjudicatory Stage, The Criminal Trial, Sentencing
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The criminal justice process consists of the procedures public officials follow in the course of imposing criminal punishment. Criminal justice specialists commonly distinguish the investigatory and adjudicatory stages of the process. Cases must come to the attention of officials before an investigation can begin, the boundaries separating the two stages are occasionally blurred, and the same officials may be involved in both investigation and adjudication. Despite these important qualifications, the investigatory/adjudicatory classification remains quite useful.
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Generally speaking, the investigative stage is an inquisitorial process run by the police and the adjudicatory stage is an adversary process run by judges and lawyers. Sometimes prosecutors play a leading role in the investigation, and sometimes the police investigation continues even after the adversary process of adjudication has begun. Despite the occasions when this broad-brush description is …
Investigation of crime usually involves three elements. First, public officials, usually the police, must learn that an offense may have been, or is to be, committed. Second, law enforcement agents must identify the likely offender or offenders. Finally, they must collect and preserve evidence that the courts will accept as proving the suspect's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Police may lea…
In the United States the adjudicatory process varies considerably from one jurisdiction to another, although the process throughout the country is highly similar. Most cases originate with an arrest by the police. The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution requires a prompt
judicial determination of probable cause to believe that the arrestee has committed an offense. If that judicial pro…
If the defendant demands trial by jury, the trial process begins with the selection of the jury. Potential jurors will be summoned to court in a venire. They will be questioned either by the court, by counsel, or both. Potential jurors will be excused for cause if they have an association with one side or the other or if they in some way manifest an inability to act impartially. Both sides will be…
Upon conviction, whether by plea or after a trial, the trial court imposes the sentence upon the offender. Many states still follow the traditional practice that allows the trial judge discretion to impose any sentence authorized by the statute, from the minimum to the maximum. The court's decision is usually informed by a presentence report prepared by agents of the correctional system. Bo…
Relatively few criminal cases go to trial, fewer still are appealed, and fewer yet become the subject of collateral review. Prosecutors refuse to file charges or dismiss charges in a large number of cases. In the cases prosecutors choose to pursue, the majority end not in trial by jury but by a plea of guilty or a successful motion to dismiss. Statistics vary across jurisdictions, but it would not…
The justice system undeniably arrests, prosecutes, and punishes African Americans in numbers out of proportion to their representation in the population. Some of the statistics are shocking. For example, it is not uncommon for there to be fewer young black men in a state's institutions of higher learning than are in prison, on probation or parole, or awaiting trial on a criminal charge. The…
Plea bargaining also offers an interesting perspective on the criminal justice process as a whole. The Constitution as construed by the Supreme Court places significant limits on police investigations and secures every defendant the right to a rigorous trial. But the limits on the police and the right to trial may be waived by defendants, and police and prosecutors have virtually limitless discret…
United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Published annually since 1973. …
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Criminal Justice Process - Overview Of The Process, The Investigatory Process, The Adjudicatory Stage, The Criminal Trial, Sentencing