Americas Courts and the Criminal Justice System by David Neubauer

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Americas Courts and the Criminal Justice
Systemby David Neubauer
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Chapter 10

• Processing the Accused arrest to arraignment

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Crime

• In the early 1960s there was a dramatic increase
  in crime
• Crime is reported in the FBIs Uniform Crime
  Reports (UCR) annually
• The 8 most serious crimes, Type I offenses, also
  called index crimes

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Focus New Orleans

• Years after the bloodiest week in New Orleans
  history murder rates are high
• By 2003 rates increased dramatically
• Hurricane Katrina brought a brief and sudden
  decrease
• By spring 2006 the rates are back to 2003 levels

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Arrest

• 20 of crimes police learn about result in arrest
• Arrest the physical taking into custody of a
  criminal suspect or juvenile
• The vast majority of felony arrests are for
  property and drug offenses

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Quality of Arrests

• Small percentage of officers produce a majority
  of cases resulting in conviction
• Keys to assisting prosecution with conviction
• Collection of tangible evidence
• Locating credible witnesses

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Initial Appearance

• Occurs within a few hours or a few days of arrest
• Most misdemeanor defendants enter a plea
• Felony Ds cant offer a plea at this point so it
  is a brief affair

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Charging

• Four types of charging documents
• Complaint
• Information
• Arrest warrant
• Indictment

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Police or Prosecutors?

• Prosecutors have the legal authority to make
  charging decisions
• Police have been given almost complete authority
  in some jurisdictions

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Preliminary Hearing

• Gerstein v. Pugh defendants have a right to a
  hearing before a neutral judge
• This hearing determines whether probable cause
  exists to detain the defendant
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin hearing must
  be within 48 hours of arrest

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Grand Jury

• Grand juries make accusations rather than
  findings of guilt or innocence
• The right to a grand jury is found in the 5th
  Amendment
• Applies only to federal prosecutions
• Typically impaneled for 3 months
• Average 17 members

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Arraignment

• Occurs in the trial court of general jurisdiction
• Defendant is formally accused of a crime and is
  called upon to enter a plea
• Signals that in all likelihood the defendant is
  guilty of the crime charged

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Case Attrition

• Of 100 felony arrests in 28 urban prosecutors
  offices 55 went to trial
• Of the 55 that were tried
• 22 get probation
• 14 prison for over 1 year
• 18 jail or a year or less

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Wedding Cake Model

• Cases are divided based on the seriousness of the
  crime
• The most celebrated, or most serious cases, are
  most likely to be tried
• Less serious cases end up in the 3rd layer and
  the least important in the 4th