Presley 1 Kaitlyn E. Presley Criminal Procedures Angela Norris 05/01/13 There are many of court procedures that must be followed by the criminal justice system throughout the United States. There are differences in particular procedures, but the system as a whole uses similar guidelines to try to create a stable court system. There are a lot of procedures for the criminal justice system that must be followed. Some of them are specific for the way a police officer handles a situation where a crime has occurred. Others are specific for the courtroom actors that handle the suspects and witnesses while investigating the truth of the crime. When a crime is committed, there are a lot of things that a police officer must do to make sure that the proper procedure was followed. Firstly, the officer must be sure that a crime has even occurred. Once he is sure that there is/was criminal activity taking place, he must start his investigation. There are many rules to investigating a suspect and a suspect's residence. A suspect has constitutional rights that protect him or her from unreasonable search and seizure by the government. This is protected by the fourth amendment. Since this is a constitutional right, there are some procedures that have to be followed by the officer in order to do a proper investigation. The officer must make the search a “reasonable� search by either obtaining a warrant or having the suspect give them consent to search. The exclusions to this include the Terry Frisk, the plain view doctrine, a consent search, and the abandoned property rule.
Presley 2 A Terry Frisk is a search of a suspect that is being taken into custody that is to insure safety for the arresting officer. It should be used only to make sure that the suspect does not have any weapons or items that could be used as weapons. The plain view doctrine is for items that are in plain view. If they are in plain view, could be seen without moving anything or that could be seen by any other individual, then the evidence can be used against the suspect in the court of law, and the officer does not have to obtain a warrant to use the evidence. A consent search is a search that does not require a warrant. A person has the right to reject the consent search if they so please. If they do reject the consent search, an officer must obtain a warrant before further investigating the suspect or the suspect's residence or property. Lastly, there is an abandoned property rule. The abandoned property rule is used for things that people no longer claim as their property. For example, an officer could not search the insides of a suspect home without a warrant; however, if the officer believes that the suspect has thrown away the evidence, then the officer has the right to search through the garbage of the suspect without a warrant because the suspect keeps no claim of property that has been thrown in the garbage. Most of the rules and requirements for searching a suspect are also applied to a suspect's home or vehicle. A warrant must be obtained if the officer has reason to believe that there is evidence in a suspects home or car. An exception to that rule is explained to be part of the Terry Frisk law. If a suspect is being taken into custody out of their vehicle, the officer has a right to search their person and their lunge area for weapons and other items that could cause the officer harm. This search is a lot less restricted and allows the officer to search anything inside the car
Presley 3 including containers and any other item in a person's possession: backpacks, purses, shopping bags, etc. Once there is enough evidence for a proper arrest, the officer must obtain a warrant for arrest of the suspect. When making an arrest, the suspect must be read their Miranda Rights. If a suspect is not read their Miranda Rights, then the judge might be forced to exclude any and all evidence of the crime, the trial might be declared a mistrial, and the suspect will not be convicted of the crime they have committed. After being arrested and advised of their rights, a suspect must be taken to the first appearance before a judicial official to set the bail conditions. After bail is set, there will normally be a preliminary hearing. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to see if there is enough probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and that the defendant is the person responsible for committing the crime. This is not the stage that proves guilt. It simply assures the courts that there is reason to more forward with the trial. At this point, the defendant has a right to be notified of their charges and a right to an attorney if the hearing stage is considered to be a “critical stage�, which evidence could be used to impeach a witness later in the trial. The Grand Jury agrees on an indictment, which clearly states the offense that the defendant has allegedly committed. The defendant has the right to waive that step if he or she acknowledges that there is the existence of probable cause for the charge, but the prosecutor can chose to utilize it even if the defendant waives it. After the indictment is agreed by the Grand Jury, the arraignment takes place. This is where the defendant is read his indictment and enters a plea: guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere. After
Presley 4 entering his plea, if it is not guilty, then a trial date is set. If the defendant chooses to plea nolo contendere, then they are basically pleading guilty; however, the defendant can not be tried in civil court with the evidence of this plea. It is basically like saying, “Well, I didn't not do it.� After the trial, if a defendant is found guilty, he or she has the right to one appeal. It can go farther than one appellate court, but only one appeal is guaranteed by the constitution. While serving the time in jail or prison, the inmates have rights to file against the corrections system. This is called prison litigation. It is common to find prisoners trying to get a civil suit. The most common areas are protection against attack and injury, freedom of communication, and rights pertaining to transfer, release, and disciplinary hearings. If these are won by the inmate, they might have a right to some compensation from the corrections system for the actions against them. There are a lot of procedures in the criminal justice system that are in place to protect our constitutional rights and our rights as citizens of the United States. Although it does create hoops for the system to jump through, without these right, there is a possibility of the system getting out of control with how they handle things. I honestly do not see a better way of handling the system then how it is currently running. There are some things that are questionable about it, but as far as the big picture goes, and seeing as there is no veritaserum to find the truth in people, this is probably the best way to run the system.