NCJ Number
174575
Date Published
1998
Length
47 pages
Annotation
This article summarizes the 18 steps in the criminal justice process and details the steps and issues involved in bail, pretrial hearings, and plea bargaining.
Abstract
The discussion notes that fewer than 10 percent of suspects apprehended for serious crimes go through the formal steps of a criminal trial. Thus, much of the criminal process is administrative rather than judicial and is accomplished through negotiation rather than adversarial proceedings. The analysis explains the initiation of prosecution in misdemeanor offenses and covers pretrial detention, the complaint, and the initial appearance. Additional sections focus on the bail decision, the use of drug testing to reduce pretrial misconduct, the types and amounts of bail, defects in the bail system, and the effects of preventive detention. Further sections focus on the initiation of prosecution in felony offenses and cover the role and format of preliminary hearings and the role of the grand jury. Other sections discuss pretrial identification procedures, pretrial motions such as the motion to dismiss and the motion for discovery, the justification for plea negotiation, the prevalence of guilty pleas, the plea process, the victim and plea bargaining, factors in plea bargaining, and pretrial diversion as an alternative to plea bargaining. Figures, table, photographs, excerpts from media articles, notes, list of government publications and statutes, case citations, and 24 references