Trial Proceedings - Research Paper Example

There are various steps involved in the process of criminal justice; the basic ones involved are: 1. Investigation of the crime by the police force. This is done to gather the evidence which will identify the suspect in that certain criminal case and will support the arrest. Search – inspecting a certain property or a person – is an important part of the investigation. A standard of proof that is required for search is probable case. Probable case refers to the existence of facts that would indicate that there is evidence of criminal play found at a certain place. 2. If enough evidence is found to make a case, the arrest of the suspect by police force follows – the person charged with a crime is taken in the custody to be held as a suspect until the court rules on this case.

To make an arrest, a legal requirement is that of probable cause. Probable cause refers to the existence of a reasonable link between the suspect and the alleged crime. 3. The prosecution of defendant (criminal) is done by the district attorney. To charge the suspect with a crime, the prosecutors have to weigh different factors like the evidence’s strength and the seriousness of crime/offense that defendant is being charged with. 4. Indictment by grand jury or information filing by prosecutor.

When prosecution is done for capital offense, an indictment is a necessary requirement under the criminal procedure’s federal rules. A prosecutor has a choice of information or the indictment in the cases that have imprisonment as punishment of the crime. In almost half of the states as well as the federal system, it is the grand jury’s decision whether or not to bring the charges up in a closed hearing against the person if evidence is provided only by the prosecutor. The defendant holds no right of being present at proceedings of the grand jury or get representation by a defence attorney in front of the grand jury.

Probable cause is a standard to indict the person for a certain crime. In other states, charging document is filed by a prosecutor. The preliminary hearing then assesses if enough evidence exists to start the trial. To dispute the charges, the defendant or his/her attorney can attend this hearing. 5. Arrangement by the judge. Before the trial starts, the defendant appears in the court to enter a plea. Guilty or not guilty are the most common types of pleas. 6. Pre-trial detention or bail. The temporary custody which the suspect is held in prior to the trial is referred to as detention.

The money paid by the defendant to ensure that the suspect makes an appearance for the trial is called the bail. 7. Plea bargaining is done between the prosecutor and defence attorney. This is done usually when the defendant has agreed to plead guilty and in exchange the charges or sentence is reduced for him/her. 8. Trial of guilt with participation of defence attorney and prosecutor by the judge or a jury. A trial before the jury or a judge is held; for a criminal conviction, the standard of the evidence is the guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, which means that even if there isn’t 100 percent certainty, there is more than enough probability.

The accused has the entitlement to be acquitted if there is a reasonable doubt. 9. The sentencing. If the defendant is found guilty, the judge passes a sentence. The sentence varies according to the seriousness of