The Criminal Process And The Process Of The Criminal Justice Process

Criminal procedures protect individual’s rights through a set of rules stipulating on how investigations should be conducted. In this paper, I will analyze the criminal justice process and explain what happens during this process. State prosecutions go by the procedure code of the state, but typically mimic the Federal Guidelines, so I will attempt to explain most of the process under those Federal Guidelines up to the rights of the defendant through pre-trial proceedings.

The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are the procedural rules that oversee how federal criminal prosecutions are conducted in United States district courts and the general trial courts of the U.S. government. To start off, I will discuss the arraignment. During the arraignment,

At this time many choose to exercise their right to counsel if not sooner, but the right can be exercised as soon as the defendant is questioned about the crime. Right to Counsel states “every defendant who is unable to obtain counsel shall be entitled to have counsel assigned to represent him at every stage of criminal proceeding”. That includes the pre-trial. The rightDuring the arraignment, the defendant may not be present if he has been charged by indictment or misdemeanor, have a signed written waiver by both the defendant and defense, stating that the defendant received a copy of the indictment with the plea being not guilty, and that the court accepts it. After the arraignment, there is the preliminary hearing. During the preliminary hearing, it is up to the judge to determine if there is enough evidence in order for the case to go to trial. During this stage of the criminal procedure, the prosecutor can call on witnesses to testify, and also introduce