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The Criminal Justice Process
The criminal justice process varies from state to state, and the federal criminal justice system has its own rules, procedures, and terms to describe the stages of the proceedings. Generally speaking, however, the process involves the following stages.
Investigation
A law enforcement investigation of a crime may begin in many different ways such as:
An officer may observe a speeder on the highway or an erratic driver who may be intoxicated and pull them over
or
A "911" call of shots fired in a neighborhood may cause police to be dispatched to determine the cause
or
A person who has been defrauded by a con artist calls law enforcement officers to report the crime and an investigation is launched based on the victim’s complaint
Search Warrant
If investigating officers believe there is evidence of a crime at a particular location, they may seek a search warrant permitting them to search the premises. A warrant is obtained by submitting evidence to a judge who reviews the information submitted and decides whether there is probable cause to support it. Probable cause means that an officer has presented sufficient facts to support a belief that there is evidence of a crime at the location specified in the warrant. "Exigent circumstances" may constitute an exception to the warrant requirement when evidence may be destroyed or a crime is in the process of being committed.
Interrogation
Law enforcement officers may interrogate witnesses, and even question potential suspects, provided that their constitutional rights are protected.
Arrest
Arrests can be made under the following conditions:
If law enforcement officers have probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and that a specific person has committed the crime, they may arrest the person under suspicion; that is, take them into custody. Officers may need to obtain a warrant before taking a suspect into custody.
If a person commits a felony or misdemeanor crime in the presence of a law enforcement officer, the officer may arrest the person without a warrant.
If an officer has probable cause to believe that a person has committed a felony crime, even if the crime was not committed in the officer’s presence, the officer may arrest the person.
An arrest may be made in a public place, with or without a warrant. But if law enforcement officers wish to arrest a person in a private place, they must first obtain an arrest warrant, unless there are exigent circumstances, such as the possibility that the suspect will flee.
Law enforcement officials have a relatively short period of time following an arrest (24 or 48 hours, depending on the state) during which they must either charge the person with a crime or release them.
Complaint, Information, or Indictment
Law enforcement officers may decide to file criminal charges, either before or after arresting a suspect.
Filing written charges, or a complaint, starts the criminal justice process in motion
A prosecutor may also put the criminal justice process in motion by filing written charges called an information
In the case of a complaint or an information, filing charges permits law enforcement officers to keep the accused person in custody pending additional proceedings, such as arraignment and the setting of bail.
In the federal criminal justice system and in about half of the states, defendants have the right to indictment by a grand jury. This means that a jury composed of citizens must hear the evidence presented by a prosecutor and decide if there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, and that the person accused committed the crime.
Other states use a procedure called a preliminary hearing, where a judge considers evidence brought forward by the prosecutor to decide whether there is probable cause to support the charges against the accused.
Often, the criminal justice process will start by the filing of a complaint or information, later followed by a grand jury proceeding resulting in an indictment, or a preliminary hearing in states using the preliminary hearing process.
In all of these cases, complaint, information, or indictment, the resulting document is merely an accusation against a person. It is not proof that the person committed the crime or crimes charged.
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