The main purpose of the preliminary hearing is to establish whether there is sufficient evidence against a person to continue the justice process. There are three outcomes you can get from a preliminary hearing: the charges can be dismissed or dropped, a bail or detention hearing can be held, or a guilty plea can be found. There are many challenges that face the defendants, prosecutors, and the entire court when it comes to the preliminary hearing. Most prosecutors would rather go before a grand jury rather than hold a preliminary hearing. Going before a grand jury is favorable to the prosecutor because the jury only hears what the prosecutor has to say and will then deliberate whether the case should go to trial or not.
Therefore, by having sufficient evidence this would be enough to convict a criminal in the court of law. Crime control is based on handling crimes that occur with a quick and effective outcome. For example if the prosecutor does not have strong evidence to receive a conviction there is a slight chance the offender’s case will get dismissed. Therefore, emphasizing the capacity to arrest, and convict a high proportion of offenders in other words put the criminal in jail first and question later. However, with the “due process an individual is allowed their day in court if suspected of a crime because of United States constitution.
The 18th amendment rules and governs how criminal justice system s will handle crimes when sentencing is involved. While most states circuit court judges cannot sentence individuals to prison that are under a decree to reduce their population. Unless, others are released to make room for their inmates. The judge in this situation often has to reduce sentence or remove an individual offender of the crime charged. To keep the population at the jail for new arrivals.
The Bill of Rights Introduction to Criminal Justice March 3, 2013 There are many legal rights that we have during a trial. This Bill of Rights provides certain rights to criminal defendants during trial. There are two aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system and they are the defendant is innocent until the prosecution can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (NOLO: Law for All, 2013). Defendants have many other rights and here they will be discussed. The right to confront witnesses is stated that in the sixth amendment “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witness against him.” They are allowed to participate in the accused’s trial process.
The prosecution must without a reasonable doubt prove the defendant is responsible for committing the crime. And in doing so must remain within the regulations of the courts. Sometimes the prosecution’s personal, ethical. Organizational, or political beliefs can becomea driving force into a trail which can have negative effects on the courts when misconduct occurs or mistakes are made. When misconduct or mistakes are made it can have very damaging effects on individuals and their lives, but also to the credibility of the criminal justice system.
Legal Defense Justification and excuse is the two forms of legal defense. Justification is when the defendant admits to committing the act in question but claims it was necessary in order to avoid some greater evil. Whereas, excuse is when a defendant claims some personal condition or circumstance at the time of the act was such that he or she should not be held accountable under the criminal law (Schmalleger, Hall,
The U.S. criminal court system is an adversarial process. The adversarial process uses defense attorneys and prosecutors to represent the positions of two opposing families. The process places the burden on the prosecutor, who must prove to a jury that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense attorney argues for the innocence, as well as the legal protections, of the accused. The judge, a disinterested party, ensures that the two sides play by the rules.
According to the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution it reads: “In all Criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial with an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crimes shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in is favor, and to have counsel for his defense.” (The Sixth Amendment, 2008-2013, p. para 3) A criminal trial is a chance for both sides to present their case to the jurors---the prosecuting attorney maintains its case by proving the defendants “guilt,” while the defense
When does the right to counsel attach. There is really no way to actually determine when the rights attach, because the guidelines are not clear in most cases. The rights to a counsel attaches when there are any judicial proceedings that will begin against the individual that is being accused of the crime. All individuals have the right to a counsel while undergoing interrogation by members of law enforcement. During arraignments and preliminary hearings the right to a counsel does attach.
If the offender has committed more than one crime he can either do consecutive time which is one sentence after another or concurrent which is the sentence will run at the same time. (Sobiech, 2012) Not all offenders will go to jail, some will have to pay a fine, be put on probation, or a combination of all. “Some cases are appealed and the offender’s attorney must file the appeal. An appeal is to ask a higher court to reverse the decision of a trial court after final judgment. No new evidence can be entered during an appeal.” (Hill, 2012) Once the appeal is settled it either gets reversed or stands as is and the offender is sent to start his