Arrest to Arraignment

1
Arrest to Arraignment

• Dr. Michelle Meloy

2
UCR Reports

• The FBI publishes the Uniform Crime Reports.
• Uniform Crime Reports divide criminal offenses
  into two categories
• Type I offenses 8 types of serious crimes
• Type II offenses less serious crimes

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Part I Offenses a.k.a. Index Crimes

• Homicides
• Forcible Rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated Assault
• Burglary Larceny
• Motor Vehicle Theft
• Arson

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Type II Offenses

• All other crimes except traffic citations
• Examples
• Drug Offenses
• Liquor law violations
• Sex offenses (not rape)
• Juvenile offenses
• Weapons offenses (not aggravated assault)

5
Arrests

• Only about 20 of crimes investigated by police
  result in an arrest
• Clearance rates for violent crimes are about 50.
• Clearance rates for property crimes are less than
  20
• About 14 million arrests annually for non-traffic
  related offenses
• About 1.5 million arrests annually for drug
  crimes

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Stages in the Criminal Justice Process

• Crime
• Arrest
• Initial Appearance
• Charging
• Preliminary Hearing
• Grand Jury
• Arraignment

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Initial Appearance

• Occurs within a few hours or few days of arrest
• Accused is advised of charges rights, bail is
  set, preliminary hearing is scheduled
• Most misdemeanor offenders enter a guilty plea at
  this stage
• Felony defendants can not enter a plea here
  because of court jurisdiction issues

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Charging Documents

• Charging document a brief description of the
  date and location of the offense.
• Four types of charging document
• Complaint victim or police officer
• common in misdemeanor cases
• Information filed by prosecutor
• similar but often required for felonies
• Arrest warrant issued by a judge
• usually asked for after the arrest
• Indictment comes from grand jury

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Preliminary Hearing

• Determine if there is probable cause to hold the
  accused for further proceedings
• No grand jury states only procedure to determine
  PC
• Grand jury states Binds over for possible
  indictment
• Evidentiary requirement is lower and rules are
  less stringent than trial
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (1991) An
  individual may be jailed for up to 48 hours
  without a hearing before a magistrate to
  determine whether the arrest was proper

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Grand Jury

• Make criminal accusations trial juries decide
• Impaneled for set period of time (usually 3
  months) with selected citizens
• Operates and investigates in secret the rest of
  the system is open public
• Numbers range from 6 to 23 depending upon
  jurisdiction
• Some states use a grand jury to indict in every
  crime, others use it for all felonies, some
  require it only in capital cases, or as an
  investigatory option (see pg. 217)

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Grand Jury Terminology

• Indictment formal accusation of a crime made by
  the grand jury.
• True Bill the grand jury finds the charges to be
  true.
• No true bill of no bill the grand jury finds
  that the charges are insufficient to justify a
  trial.

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Arraignment

• The defendant is formally informed of the charges
  pending and must enter a plea.
• Major difference between initial hearing
  arraignment is that it is held in the court of
  general jurisdiction so felony defendants
  can/must to enter a plea
• Defendants usually enter a not guilty plea and
  the case is set for trial

13
The Wedding Cake model

• Celebrated cases
• O.J Simpson
• Scott Peterson
• Serious felonies
• Lesser Felonies
• Misdemeanors

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Samuel Walker