Preliminary Hearing in Criminal Justice

Preliminary Hearing in the justice system sequence is a proceeding that done after the complainant files a case to determine whether the case requires more investigation and other trials. Thus, the major reason for having a preliminary hearing is to protect people against abuse like arrest and detention. In the preliminary hearing, the judge decides whether the fate of the case and the defendants could be either declared guilty or not guilty. 

Another decision that the judge makes is whether the government has given evidence to help the jury know that the alleged crime was committed. Through listening to the argument from the prosecutor’s side and from the defendant’s sides the judge makes decisions. However, the prosecutor is allowed to give physical evidence as a way of convincing the judge that the case should move to the next level. The defense through a keen examination of witnesses from the government gives room for questions to be asked against the defendant. 

This is to convince the judge that the evidence given to support the case is not enough hence it should be dropped. After the judge has listened to all the parties that are involved s/he makes the final decisions. The judge has to approve what offense occurred using the evidence provided by the two parties and the second step is that he will determine the place of the crime, the victim and the time of the crime. The third step taken by the judge is to determine the factors of solving the case. 

The fourth step is the communication about the case and how the people are responding to it, from the other witnesses the judge is given more insight on how the crime was committed. Lastly, the judge identifies those investigations that have been accomplished and those that are yet to be done. This is the procedural process upon which the judge makes the preliminary decisions. The major decision made by the judge is that of allowing the case to move to the next level which is the trial level or dropping it.