Pretrial Processes

1
Chapter 9

• Pretrial Processes

2
Chapter Objectives

• Identify methods for releasing the accused before
  trail
• Plea bargaining and its affect on the criminal
  justice system
• Identify the steps in pretrial process
• The decisions to release or detain an individual
  during pretrial process.

3
Major Steps in Pretrial Process

• Arrest
• Burden of Proof?
• Booking
• Prosecutor Makes Decision About Charges
• Preliminary Hearing
• Arraignment
• Charges
• Plea

4
Pretrial Hearings

• Pretrial Hearings Favor prosecution or defense?
• Defense often makes pretrial motions

5
Bail The Question of Pretrial Release

• Bail specified sum of money for release
• Contradiction? Deprivation of freedom when
  presumed innocent?
• The authority to set bail varies by crime type

6
Bail

• Do Bail bondsmen Present a Potential Conflict of
  Interest?
• Influence of legal and extra legal factors
• Influenced by police and prosecutor
• Role of Politics

7
Impact of Bail Decision

• So, who gets bail, who doesnt?
• Why is the bail decision important anyway, or is
  it?
• Arent these people just criminals anyway?
• Isnt bail decision just an issues of pretrial
  comfort?

8
Other Pretrial Release Methods

• Citation
• Release on Recognizance (ROR)
• Ten Percent Cash Bail
• Bail Guidelines

9
Preventative Detention

• What factors are likely to result in pretrial
  detention?
• There is debate if pretrial release is a positive
  thing
• Question Likely to commit crime when on bail?
• U.S. Supreme Court
• Schall v. Martin (1984)
• United States v. Salerno and Cafero (1987)

10
Plea Bargaining

• History of Plea Bargaining in U.S. Court System
  Fact or Fiction?
• Currently, viewed more favorably
• What happens when plea bargaining disappears?
• Effects of local legal culture

11
Legal Issues and Plea Bargaining

• Boykin v. Alabama (1969)
• North Carolina v. Alford (1970)
• Santobello v. New York (1971)
• Ricketts v. Adamson (1987)

12
Consequences

• Positive Consequences of Plea Bargaining
• Individualized Justice
• Administrative Efficiency
• Negative Consequences
• Due Process v. efficiency
• Attitudes towards law