Criminal Procedure Outline

Spring 2007                                        Criminal Procedure                                        Professor Welling
 
I.                   Overview of Criminal Justice Process
 
A.     Pre-Arrest Investigation
1)      Crime Comes to Police attention
(a)    Victim calls police to report incident
(b)   Police see a crime occur
(c)    Pro-active investigation
▪         Police are suspicious of a particular area
▪         Undercover investigations
▪         Computer runs on various data they’ve collected
 
2)      Investigation – reactive and proactive investigations
(a)    Search people and places
(b)   Call informants
(c)    Go undercover
(d)   Etc.
▪         Much of this course focuses on what police can do as a pre-arrest investigation
 
B.     Arrest
1)      Need P/C to put them in jail
2)      Police take ∆ into custody – a classic arrest
3)      Booking occurs – ∆ is generally searched at police station – “inventory search”
(a)    Searched
(b)   Fingerprinted
(c)    Put in booking cell
 
C.     Post-Arrest Investigation
1)      Can do lineups and showups
2)      Collect hair and nail samples from ∆
3)      Question the arrestee
 
D.     Charging Decision
1)      Generally, the factors considered are:
(a)    How strong the evidence is
(b)   Witness problems
(c)    Other ways to deal with this other than criminal justice system
▪         Cooperation w/authorities
(d)   Admissible evidence
(e)    Priorities of police department
▪         Drugs used to be highest priority, now terrorism is highest priority
2)      Need P/C (same std. as to arrest him, but just have another look at P/C)
 
E.      File a complaint
1)      First time a charging document is entered
(a)    There may be warrants, but this is the first actual charging document
2)      Lays out facts that lead authorities to believe a crime has been committed
3)      Usually signed by complainant or a police officer
 
F.      Magistrate reviews the complaint
1)      Is there P/C to support the arrest?
2)      The state has to justify to the judicial branch why they’re holding the person
 
G.     First or initial appearance
1)      First time the ∆ is taken before a judge
2)      If arrested without a warrant, then initial appearance has to occur w/in 24 or 48 hours
(a)    If police haven’t used a warrant – they’ve simply taken the person off the street – they have to take the ∆ before the judge
(b)   Judge will inform ∆ of rights and charges brought
(c)    If poor, the judge will appoint counsel. If they have money, they need to get their own attorney
 
H.     Preliminar