The Stages in a Criminal Case

Introduction

The criminal and justice system is a process that is quite complex and may be hard to understand for individuals who are not familiar with criminal law. This is due to the numerous steps involved before the law can be used to fully identify whether an individual is guilty or not guilty. As a result, it is necessary that the individual is fully advised by a legal representative on how he or she can defend himself to effectively prove their innocence. The following paper looks into these various processes including arrests, arraignment, preliminary hearings, plea bargains, jury trial and sentencing and appeal. These various processes will be identified for their strengths and weaknesses while providing numerous ways in which they could be corrected. The discussion will also identify various factors that hinder the correction of the weaknesses in these stages. This will also consider the various aspects such as budget and political realities and how they impact both the strengths and weaknesses identified

Arrest

In majority of criminal cases, an arrest will usually begin the numerous stages of criminal justice. Nevertheless, there are cases where an investigation will be carried out prior to the arrest being made. Carrying out an arrest is believed to be an effective means of enforcing the law as it usually stops an individual from continuing in their criminal actions. This is particularly in cases where the individual has been caught in the act or the police have probable cause that he or she has committed a crime. The stage of arrest is also effective in areas like the US where the arrested party Mirandized (Johnson, 2015). However, this stage may experience limitations such as officers overstepping their authority, false arrests or failing to follow the procedure towards an arrest. Police officers may continue to be educated on cultural differences to avoid the occurrence of false arrests. Harsh penalties should also be set for police officers who are found overstepping their authority in cases such as police brutality. Law enforcement officers should be encouraged to participate in courses where they are continually taught on procedures to observe during the arrest process.

Arraignment

After an arrest has been made in a criminal case, an individual will be called up to court for the purpose of beginning preparations for the hearing. This is where the arrested party will plead guilty or not guilty. Through this hearing and individual will require an attorney who defends their case. In case one cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed by the court. The judge will also revisit the issue of bail. The major strength of this stage is reducing the pile up in criminal cases present. Once an accused party pleads guilty to a crime significant background checks will be conducted before a monetary penalty is given or other forms of punishment. The arraignment stage allows defendants the opportunity to exercise their right to a fair hearing on their various charges. The limitation of the arraignment stage is lack of enough opportunity for the defendant to argue their case and avoid a criminal record (Johnson, 2015). The criminal justice system should ensure effective investigation has been carried out before arraignment. It is this short time that an individual will know whether or not they will have to go through the entire process of the criminal and justice system.

Preliminary Hearing

In a preliminary hearing, it is the work of the prosecutor to present the court with numerous evidences that will identify that the defendant is the most probable to have committed the crime. In other states, a grand jury will most likely listen to the evidences presented by the prosecutor in a bid to determine whether a case should proceed to trial (Johnson, 2015). The major strength of the preliminary hearings is the fact that defense attorneys can provide witnesses to prove their client’s innocence. This will help to quickly eliminate the charges against the defendant. The preliminary trial also enables the defense to identify all evidence that will be presented in the trial. The major weakness in this case is the little time accorded to preliminary trials. Unlike the trial, this may take between a few minutes and a few hours. Evidence that may provide probable cause for an individual may wrongfully accuse the defendant of a crime that he or she may not have committed. As a result, an individual may be wrongfully accused of and has to suffer the lengthy stages of criminal justice. Once again, this can be effectively corrected through extending time used to investigate a crime rather than rushing it to court to get a conviction.

Pre-Trial Motions

During the stage of pre-trial motions, a defendant has entered a guilty plea and the judge or grand jury has decided that the case will proceed to trial. This is the opportunity of defense attorneys to present various motions on how the trial will be conducted. Numerous issues are addressed in front of the court to determine which will be allowed while the rest are ruled out. The major strength of pre-trial motions is the vast control that the defense team could use in their favor to protect the accused party (Johnson, 2015). This is evident where the gag orders can be requested, the search warrants that led to an arrest can be contested or the exclusion of some evidence. The major weakness in this stage is if police officers had committed any form of procedural misconduct could lead to a total breakdown of the case. If police officers failed to produce a search warrant or one for arrest, the defense team may use this to set free a guilty party. The only way this can be corrected is to ensure that the process of gathering evidence is exceptional and will lead to a smooth trial where the prosecutor will not have a problem coming up with arguments to put away a criminal.

Criminal Trial

A criminal trial will come underway as the defense and prosecuting teams are unable to come to a satisfactory plea agreement. A criminal trial will be carried out in front of a petit jury that consists of between six to twelve members or may be single handedly be carried out by the judge alone depending on terms of the pre-trial motions. The prosecutor will go first as they present the case to the jury. The major strength of a petit jury trial is that the defense team will get a lot of time that will be effectively put to uncovering truths and discoveries that will prove the innocence of the accused (Johnson, 2015). On the other hand, the major weakness of the trial is its length and may lead to a high amount of cost to the defendant especially if they are innocent. Unfavorable evidence may be omitted from the trial once the request has been made in pre-trial motions. As a result, it may hinder the jury from making an effective ruling on the case. It is once again seen that the procedure followed by police officers, investigators and prosecutors in gathering evidence is important to ensure that criminals are not allowed to go scot free because of a small technicality.

Sentencing

The defendant who takes a guilty plea or is found guilty by a jury of his peers will face sentencing by the judge. This is where the judge determines the various punishment methods that may be instilled against the individual in question. The sentence ruling that a judge give will usually vary from one crime to another. There are minimal times when a judge can give a maximum sentence but it largely depends on the severity of the crime and the previous actions of the defendant. The major strength of the sentencing stage is that the expertise of the judge is used in making the decision (Johnson, 2015). The major weakness of the sentencing stage is the presence of unfair rulings from a judge due to economic status, race or religious background. The judges are believed to play an impartial role to provide fairness, justice and equality. However, there have been numerous cases of judges lacking integrity and instead taking bribes to give a lower sentence ruling. It is important that the judges hold themselves to a higher standard and this will be ensured through conducting an appraisal of each suspicious ruling made. This will bring notable judgments to the fore and the required ruling will be made.

Appeals

Once a defendant has been convicted, he or she has the right to appeal the decision if they believe that a legal mistake led to the conviction. In this case, a higher court will usually look into the case proceedings to ensure that no mistakes were made. The defendant will now be referred to as appellant. The major benefit for this stage is the ability of an individual who may believe that he or she is innocent gets the opportunity to hear out the case once again. The belief is that the second time around the appellant will be acquitted (Johnson, 2015). On the other hand, a major weakness is the limited time required to make an appeal. In most cases, an appeal should be made within 10 days. This limited time will usually pressure the legal council to come up with an effective argument why the trial proceedings were not conducted in error. This can be reversed through increasing time for appellants to make an effective appeal for their client. The stage of appeal may have limitations in that the presence of mistakes in trial proceedings may lighten the sentence on a known felon.

Factors Hindering Correction of Weaknesses

Racial and ethnic disparities continue to be a major hindrance towards the correction of errors observed in the various stages in a criminal case. In the arrest, African Americans are more likely to be arrested for probable cause of theft than any other race. It is also noted that African Americans and members of the Latino community have been the most populous in the jails and penitentiary facilities than the white Americans (Stolzenberg, D’Alessio & Eitle, 2013). This is a clear indication of the presence of racial disparity between the numerous ethnic communities present in the society. The lack of effective performance evaluation strategies has been identified as a major issue in the criminal justice system. This begins from the officers making arrest, detectives, prosecutors and judges who are all involved in making the conviction. The lack of effective performance evaluation will usually enable persons with lacking integrity to continue acting contrary to the expectation of the law. As a result, the rights of the common man will usually be ignored in regards to the constitution.

Budgetary and Political Realities

The realities of the budget and political issues will be major factors that may contribute to failing corrections in the various stages of the criminal cases. The budgetary realities are evident where the distribution of funds into the criminal and justice system is usually uneven or at times minimal. In this regard, some areas may lack the effective resource that are required to solve cases and may lead to improvisation of skills. The low income earned by low level officers who work in the criminal justice system may also be used as pawns by criminals and powerful individuals in society to alter evidence that may have been collected against them. Politics is another powerful influence in the process of criminal case. The politicians have the power to pardon individuals who may have demonstrated high standards of behavior. They will usually reverse sentences making the work of the criminal and justice system quite hard. Additionally, they may influence the prosecutors and investigators and judges by promising promotions so that a case may be dropped or distorted. This will usually affect any corrective measure that may be undertaken to alleviate the mistakes in the various stages of a criminal case. A state attorney may use his power to offer alternative individuals power to realize the goals that they seek (Bandyopadhyay & McCannon, 2014).

Conclusion

The various stages in a criminal case have been designed to enable members of the public to receive a fair, equal and just hearing. This is where evidence is gathered and presented by the prosecutor before a court of law. The above discussion follows closely on the numerous stages that are evident during a criminal case. Though there are numerous weaknesses presented by these stages that may lead to unfair or unjust rulings, significant measures can be undertaken to correct them as identified above. The factors that may hinder these corrections include racial disparity and ineffective performance evaluation of staff. The realities of the budget and politics are some of the external factors that may hinder the corrections that may be made in the criminal and justice system.

References

Bandyopadhyay, S., & McCannon, B. C. (2014). “The effect of the election of prosecutors on criminal trials.” Public Choice , 161(1-2): 141-156.

Johnson, B. D. (2015). “Examining the “Life Course” of Criminal Cases.” Criminology & Public Policy , 14(2): 183-186.

Stolzenberg, L., D’Alessio, S. J., & Eitle, D. (2013). Race and cumulative discrimination in the prosecution of criminal defendants.  Race and Justice , 3 (4): 275-299.