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Criminal Process; Arraignment to Pre-Trial
The purpose of criminal law is to promote respect for the law by people and ensure a just, safe, and peaceful society. The American justice system has many commendable elements that are aligned to the objectives of a justice system. The trial system significantly addresses many point of subtlety and does a great job in its effort to uphold the rule of law. In the effort to deliver justice, it is important that the rights of the defendant be uphold. This paper seeks to shed light on three stages before the process of criminal trial, and how the rights of the defendant are catered for in each of the stages before trial commences. These stages include the information, arraignment and the subsequent hearings at pretrial.
Arraignment
The stage that precedes and leads to trial in a criminal case is called arraignment. Arraignment must be done within reasonable time after the arrest action by authorities. Thus, law enforcement agents must ensure a speedy arraignment in order to avoid falling prey to the crime of infringing on the suspects right to speedy trial according to the 6th Amendment. The defendant is told formally, in advance, of the day of their arrangement and the charges they are to face. The court safeguards the defendant's rights. Some of such rights include the right to remain silent, the right to a jury trial, a right that prevents them from being prosecuted twice (also called right against double jeopardy) for the same one offence, right to counsel. Most defense attorneys advise defendants to plead not guilty to allow them to enter full trial. In the event that the defendant pleads guilty to a minor crime such as being disorderly, the presiding judge may sentence them at the arraignment point. The defendant and prosecutor attorneys may settle on a prison term to be imposed when such a plea is entered. If the defendant enters a nolo contendere (a "no contest plea"), it means that the defendant admits of the prosecutors ability to prove every charge but the defendant does not admit being guilty of the crime in question.
Bail
The other pretrial stage is the process of setting the conditions for the possible release of the suspect. Courts generally consider several factors when deciding whether to release a defendant while the case continues. The options available for the defendant include bail or bond. In case the suspect is released pending the hearing, some conditions are imposed; being barred from establishing contact with witnesses against a case, on use of drugs or alcohol, restraint from associating with other defendant, warning against re-arrests on similar or other offences, non possession of weapons, restriction against travelling abroad, restriction from associating with criminals; known or otherwise (Welling, 1987; Bassiouni, 2003).
Pre-trial
Preliminary matters of the case and hearings are supposed to be conducted at the pretrial stage. For instance, there may be a hearing to expunge some aspect of evidence from the actual hearing. Pretrial is, essentially what happens before the actual trial. It may also be a hearing to decrease the bond if the defendant is unable to raise it. Plea bargains are also done at this stage (Tanner et al., 2007; American Bar Association, 2007).
U.S. Supreme Court's Philosophy on the Criminal Process
The philosophy of the U.S. Supreme Court on the rights of the defendant dates back to the time of Earl Warren as the Chief Justice. At the time, the supreme court of the United States was referred to as the Warren Court, which is a common practice in various judicial systems to refer to the country's judicial system with the name of the chief justice. At the time, from 1953 to 1969 -- the time Warren served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the court expanded civil rights, judicial power, civil liberties, and the federal power in dramatic ways. Of interests to this paper are civil rights and liberties. The court determined that as a result of the sixth amendment, it was required that all defendants of criminal proceedings receive publicly funded counsel, and the right to an attorney.
Conclusion
To date, defendants' rights have been held as the majority of Americans have come to accept the dramatic decisions of the Warren court.
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The modern day American court has continued to uphold these rights. However, and with the changing face of criminal cases, in particular those related to terror, these rights are beginning to be revised. One of these is the need to be arraigned soon after the charges have been made. As the nature of crimes continues to change, it would be expected that the future of dependent's rights will change, not entirely but for some types of criminal cases. For example, individuals charted with terror related crimes might not have access to some of these rights. Throughout the pre-trial phase of a criminal process in the American law system, the defendant's rights are well protected even as to ensure a just and fair trial. After the defendant has been arrested or summons has been issued, arraignment must be done within reasonable time after the arrest action by authorities. Thus, law enforcement agents must ensure a speedy arraignment in order to avoid falling prey to the crime of infringing on the suspects right to speedy trial according to the 6th Amendment. The next step is the process of setting the conditions for the possible release of the suspect. Before the trial stage, for cases that proceed this far, is the pre-trial stage where preliminary matters of the case and hearings are supposed to be conducted at the pretrial stage. For instance, there may be a hearing to expunge some aspect of evidence from the actual hearing.
Criminal Process: Pre-Trial Arraignment
Introduction
Criminal law is meant to promote people's respect for the law and maintain a just, safe and peaceful society. Indeed, the American justice system has many commendable elements that are aligned to the objectives of a justice system. The trial system significantly addresses many point of subtlety and does a great job in its effort to uphold the rule of law. It is not necessary to know everything concerning the criminal procedure; however, one must have sufficient knowledge of the basics. This paper seeks to shed light on three stages before the process of criminal trial. These stages include the information, arraignment and the subsequent hearings at pretrial. Information filing is important because it is the one that sets the wheels of justice in motion (Conference of Criminal Presiding Judges, 2007). Once a crime has been committed, it is the duty of the law enforcement authorities to alert the prosecuting attorney who in turn decides who to charge. It is the prosecuting attorney that files the case with the courts. After such filing, the person suspected of committing the crime is then pursued by legal instruments, based on the information filed, in a bid to determine their culpability in court.
Arraignment
The stage that precedes and leads to trial in a criminal case is called arraignment. Arraignment must be done within reasonable time after the arrest action by authorities. Thus, law enforcement agents must ensure a speedy arraignment in order to avoid falling prey to the crime of infringing on the suspects right to speedy trial according to the 6th Amendment. In the case of a criminal complaint, indictment is issued but the court does not pick an arraignment date until after quite a while. This could be months or even years. The attorney for the defendant could request for a dismissal of the case owing to the delays therein. It is up to the judge to review the case to determine the acceptability of the delay in reasonable terms (Mahoney et al., 2001; Conference of Criminal Presiding Judges, 2007).
The defendant is told formally, in advance, of the day of their arrangement and the charges they are to face. The court safeguards the defendant's rights. Some of such rights include the right to remain silent, the right to a jury trial, a right that prevents them from being prosecuted twice (also called right against double jeopardy) for the same one offence, right to counsel (American Bar Association, 2007). Such a defendant has a host of options to employ….....
American Bar Association. (2007). Standards relating to pretrial release (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.
Bassiouni, C. (2003). Introduction to International Criminal Law, Transnational Publishers, New York.
Boyle, D. (2006). The Rights of Victims, Participation, Representation, Protection, Reparation, Symposium on Khmer Rouge trials, Journal of International Criminal Justice, p. 307
Conference of Criminal Presiding Judges, (2007). NEW JERSEY CRIMINAL DIVISION OVERVIEW. Retrieved from https://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/criminal/CRIMINAL_DIVISION_OVERVIEW_12.26.07.pdf on September 9, 2016.
Henham, R. J. (2005). Punishment and Process in International Criminal Trials, Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Lynch, Gerard E. (1998). Our Administrative System of Criminal Justice, 66 FORDHAM L. REV. 2117, 2124-25.
Mahoney, B., Beaudin, B.D., Carver III, J.A., Ryan, D.B. & Hoffman, R.B. (2001). Pretrial Services Programs: Responsibilities and Potential, U.S. Department of Justice.
Tanner, M., Wyatt, D., & Yearwood, D. L. (2007). Pretrial services programs in North Carolina: a process and outcome evaluation, Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission.
Welling, S. (1987). Victim participation in plea bargains. Washington U. L. Q.
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