Arrest Pretrial Process
Research on the Problem
In order to understand how the data is collected for an individual when he/she goes through the system, it is imperative to understand how the system works and what are the sequence of events in the Criminal Justice System(CJS). Below is the diagrammatic representation of the sequence of events that follow in the CJS.
As the scope of our project has been restricted to the Arrest and Pretrial process the focus of our research was these two phases and the decision points that fall in these phases. To start off it was essential to understand what is Arrest and Pretrial process and what these processes entails.
Figure 1: Sequence of Events in Criminal …show more content…
Justice System
Arrest & Pretrial Process
What is an arrest?
An arrest occurs when the suspect being detained reasonably believes that he or she is not free to leave.
Arrest originates the moment the law enforcement officer takes the suspect into police custody. This means that the officer has taken away the suspects freedom of action in some significant way.
Keep in my mind there is no arrest if there is no restraint. The suspect must be restrained in some way.
When can arrest legally occur?
As mentioned arrest takes away a suspect's freedom therefore our laws require that government follows some procedure.
Arrest must be based on probable cause. The officer in this case has a reasonable belief based on fact that can be articulated that the suspect has committed a crime.
Not necessary that the officer has to witness an event. A probable causes can be based on facts. It can be based on
Witness statement
Physical evidence
An officer can also use an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant is an official document signed by a judge that authorizes a police officer to arrest a particular person. In order to obtain an arrest warrant the officer has to provide evidence to the prosecuting attorney who signs off the arrest warrant and presents it to the judge. Once the judge signs off the warrant, the warrant can be executed and the suspect can be arrested.
Chronology: The Arrest Process
Once the arrest occurs the suspect is read his rights known as Miranda rights. The rights are designed to protect the suspect’s right to be free from self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Miranda rights stated:
You have the right to remain silent and to refuse to answer questions.
Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.
If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish.
If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney.
In many jurisdictions, suspect(s) has the right to make a telephone calls once the suspect(s) are placed into custody. In some states, the suspect(s) are only allowed to call someone in order to secure a lawyer or to arrange for bail
Once the suspect is arrested, he/she will be booked. During the booking procedure the police will ask them for basic information about themselves (such as their address and birthdate), followed by fingerprint and mugshot. They may also be asked to participate in a line-up, give a handwriting sample or do similar things. If the suspect(s) are detained but not booked within a reasonable period of time (usually several hours, or overnight) their attorney may go to a judge and obtain a writ of habeas corpus. A writ of habeas corpus is an order issued by the court instructing the police to bring you before the court so that a judge may decide if they are being lawfully held.
The suspect will have an appearance in court called an arraignment at which point the charges against them will be read and they are asked whether they plead guilty or not guilty. This is when the pretrial process starts.
Pre-trial Court Appearances in a Criminal Case
It’s especially difficult to generalize about this subject, since so much depends on a particular state’s procedures, whether it typically uses a grand jury to bring charges, etc.
Here’s the procedure used with some variations in many states in which a prosecutor files charges without a grand jury. Pre-trial procedures in criminal cases follow the general pattern of civil cases, but with important variations. For one thing, the process is apt to be very different depending on the severity of the crime. In general, the more important the offense, the more elaborate the process. The most serious crimes are felonies , crimes such as robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and sexual assault, for which the punishment on conviction is imprisonment at least a year, usually in a state or federal penitentiary. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes, such as simple assault, driving while intoxicated, and trespassing, for which punishment on conviction could be a term of incarceration of less than a year, usually in a local jail. Traffic infractions and petty misdemeanors include minor moving violations, parking violations and littering. They’re usually just punished by …show more content…
fines.
Misdemeanors
The first step is an initial appearance (often referred to as an arraignment), before a judge of a lower court or magistrate, at which
The charge is read to the defendant, and penalties explained.
The defendant is advised of his/her right to trial, and right to trial by jury if desired.
The right to counsel (legal representation) is explained, and the judge or magistrate appoints a lawyer if the defendant requests one and is found to be indigent (too poor to afford a private lawyer).
The defendant enters a plea. If counsel has been requested and appointed, or if the defendant indicates that private counsel will be retained, a plea of not guilty is entered. If the defendant enters a not guilty plea, a trial date will be set. If the defendant pleads guilty, either a date will be set for sentencing or the magistrate or judge will impose probation, fines or other sentences immediately. In some cases, the judge or magistrate may allow a defendant to plead nolo contendere, or no contest. In many jurisdictions a plea of no contest is equivalent to a guilty plea, except that the defendant does not directly admit guilt.
Assuming the defendant has pled not guilty, the judge or magistrate sets the amount of bail.
Felonies
The process is quite similar here, except that there is the additional step of the preliminary hearing as an additional safeguard warranted by the more serious nature of the charges.
Step 1: As with misdemeanors, the first step is an initial appearance or an arraignment before a judge of a lower court or magistrate, at which:
The charge is read to the defendant, and penalties explained.
The defendant is advised of his/her right to a preliminary hearing and the purpose of that procedure, as well as his/her right to trial and right to trial by jury in trial court.
The right to counsel (legal representation) is explained, and the judge or magistrate appoints a lawyer if the defendant requests one and is found to be indigent (too poor to afford a private lawyer).
The defendant does NOT enter a plea. The matter is set for preliminary hearing (hearing to establish if a crime has been committed and if there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense(s) alleged in complaint).The judge or magistrate sets the amount of bail.
Step 2: The second step is the preliminary hearing, at which:
The government must demonstrate to a judge or magistrate that there is sufficient evidence, or probable cause, to believe the suspect committed the crime with which he or she is charged.
Defendants usually must be present at this hearing, although they do not commonly offer evidence in their defense. This procedure has a similar function to grand jury proceedings, in that it is a safeguard against unfettered government action.
If the court finds there is no probable cause, the matter is dismissed (this would be the equivalent of a grand jury declining to press charges). If this happens, defendants are released.
If the court finds there is probable cause, the matter is transferred to trial court. Many courts use the term bound over, as "the defendant is bound over to the district or circuit court for trial."
Once we had an understanding of what these processes entail, through interviews with NYPD we found out how these processes actually work in real life and how an individual goes through the system especially focussing on these two processes. The interview with NYPD helped us validate our initial research and hypothesis. Below is the process flow which sums up our finding
Figure 2: Arrest/Booking Process Flow Map
As can be seen from the flow chart - Once the suspect gets arrested, the system is checked to see if there are any prior convictions.
If there are no prior convictions, then the booking information is recorded during which the arrest number is generated that is unique to each conviction. After this the photograph is clicked and and the fingerprints are taken during which the NISC number is generated which is a unique identifier for each suspect who enters into the system. This number stays with the suspect and all the arrests for that suspect gets tied to this NISC number. Once the fingerprinting is done the FBI database gets queried. If takes three and a half hours for the FBI database to return a response. If the FBI database returns a hit, the police await further instructions from the FBI. If not,depending on the severity of the crime the documents are sent to the DA’s office. These documents are either emailed or
scanned.
Project : Arrest to PreTrial Data Visualization
The Criminal Justice System is complex, hence, the scope of the project is restricted to the Arrest to Pretrial phase in the Criminal Justice System. There are 3 major reasons to restricting the research and visualization to this phase.
The Arrest to PreTrial period is where maximum number of data points are collected which is evident from the arrest and booking form.
Once an individual enters the trial phase, the jury, judge, District and Defense Attorney use their own discretion in presenting and interpreting data leading to major challenges in mapping that data.
The trial phase heavily relies on US Constitutional Laws, which vary with nature and severity of the crime and could have multiple loopholes which could pose a huge challenge to visualize.
As various law enforcement agencies at the state and federal level could have variations in data collection processes, reporting systems, hie
In order to understand how the data is collected for an individual when he/she goes through the system, it is imperative to understand how the system works and what are the sequence of events in the Criminal Justice System(CJS). Below is the diagrammatic representation of the sequence of events that follow in the CJS.
As the scope of our project has been restricted to the Arrest and Pretrial process the focus of our research was these two phases and the decision points that fall in these phases. To start off it was essential to understand what is Arrest and Pretrial process and what these processes entails.
Figure 1: Sequence of Events in Criminal …show more content…
Justice System
Arrest & Pretrial Process
What is an arrest?
An arrest occurs when the suspect being detained reasonably believes that he or she is not free to leave.
Arrest originates the moment the law enforcement officer takes the suspect into police custody. This means that the officer has taken away the suspects freedom of action in some significant way.
Keep in my mind there is no arrest if there is no restraint. The suspect must be restrained in some way.
When can arrest legally occur?
As mentioned arrest takes away a suspect's freedom therefore our laws require that government follows some procedure.
Arrest must be based on probable cause. The officer in this case has a reasonable belief based on fact that can be articulated that the suspect has committed a crime.
Not necessary that the officer has to witness an event. A probable causes can be based on facts. It can be based on
Witness statement
Physical evidence
An officer can also use an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant is an official document signed by a judge that authorizes a police officer to arrest a particular person. In order to obtain an arrest warrant the officer has to provide evidence to the prosecuting attorney who signs off the arrest warrant and presents it to the judge. Once the judge signs off the warrant, the warrant can be executed and the suspect can be arrested.
Chronology: The Arrest Process
Once the arrest occurs the suspect is read his rights known as Miranda rights. The rights are designed to protect the suspect’s right to be free from self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Miranda rights stated:
You have the right to remain silent and to refuse to answer questions.
Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.
If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish.
If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney.
In many jurisdictions, suspect(s) has the right to make a telephone calls once the suspect(s) are placed into custody. In some states, the suspect(s) are only allowed to call someone in order to secure a lawyer or to arrange for bail
Once the suspect is arrested, he/she will be booked. During the booking procedure the police will ask them for basic information about themselves (such as their address and birthdate), followed by fingerprint and mugshot. They may also be asked to participate in a line-up, give a handwriting sample or do similar things. If the suspect(s) are detained but not booked within a reasonable period of time (usually several hours, or overnight) their attorney may go to a judge and obtain a writ of habeas corpus. A writ of habeas corpus is an order issued by the court instructing the police to bring you before the court so that a judge may decide if they are being lawfully held.
The suspect will have an appearance in court called an arraignment at which point the charges against them will be read and they are asked whether they plead guilty or not guilty. This is when the pretrial process starts.
Pre-trial Court Appearances in a Criminal Case
It’s especially difficult to generalize about this subject, since so much depends on a particular state’s procedures, whether it typically uses a grand jury to bring charges, etc.
Here’s the procedure used with some variations in many states in which a prosecutor files charges without a grand jury. Pre-trial procedures in criminal cases follow the general pattern of civil cases, but with important variations. For one thing, the process is apt to be very different depending on the severity of the crime. In general, the more important the offense, the more elaborate the process. The most serious crimes are felonies , crimes such as robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and sexual assault, for which the punishment on conviction is imprisonment at least a year, usually in a state or federal penitentiary. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes, such as simple assault, driving while intoxicated, and trespassing, for which punishment on conviction could be a term of incarceration of less than a year, usually in a local jail. Traffic infractions and petty misdemeanors include minor moving violations, parking violations and littering. They’re usually just punished by …show more content…
fines.
Misdemeanors
The first step is an initial appearance (often referred to as an arraignment), before a judge of a lower court or magistrate, at which
The charge is read to the defendant, and penalties explained.
The defendant is advised of his/her right to trial, and right to trial by jury if desired.
The right to counsel (legal representation) is explained, and the judge or magistrate appoints a lawyer if the defendant requests one and is found to be indigent (too poor to afford a private lawyer).
The defendant enters a plea. If counsel has been requested and appointed, or if the defendant indicates that private counsel will be retained, a plea of not guilty is entered. If the defendant enters a not guilty plea, a trial date will be set. If the defendant pleads guilty, either a date will be set for sentencing or the magistrate or judge will impose probation, fines or other sentences immediately. In some cases, the judge or magistrate may allow a defendant to plead nolo contendere, or no contest. In many jurisdictions a plea of no contest is equivalent to a guilty plea, except that the defendant does not directly admit guilt.
Assuming the defendant has pled not guilty, the judge or magistrate sets the amount of bail.
Felonies
The process is quite similar here, except that there is the additional step of the preliminary hearing as an additional safeguard warranted by the more serious nature of the charges.
Step 1: As with misdemeanors, the first step is an initial appearance or an arraignment before a judge of a lower court or magistrate, at which:
The charge is read to the defendant, and penalties explained.
The defendant is advised of his/her right to a preliminary hearing and the purpose of that procedure, as well as his/her right to trial and right to trial by jury in trial court.
The right to counsel (legal representation) is explained, and the judge or magistrate appoints a lawyer if the defendant requests one and is found to be indigent (too poor to afford a private lawyer).
The defendant does NOT enter a plea. The matter is set for preliminary hearing (hearing to establish if a crime has been committed and if there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense(s) alleged in complaint).The judge or magistrate sets the amount of bail.
Step 2: The second step is the preliminary hearing, at which:
The government must demonstrate to a judge or magistrate that there is sufficient evidence, or probable cause, to believe the suspect committed the crime with which he or she is charged.
Defendants usually must be present at this hearing, although they do not commonly offer evidence in their defense. This procedure has a similar function to grand jury proceedings, in that it is a safeguard against unfettered government action.
If the court finds there is no probable cause, the matter is dismissed (this would be the equivalent of a grand jury declining to press charges). If this happens, defendants are released.
If the court finds there is probable cause, the matter is transferred to trial court. Many courts use the term bound over, as "the defendant is bound over to the district or circuit court for trial."
Once we had an understanding of what these processes entail, through interviews with NYPD we found out how these processes actually work in real life and how an individual goes through the system especially focussing on these two processes. The interview with NYPD helped us validate our initial research and hypothesis. Below is the process flow which sums up our finding
Figure 2: Arrest/Booking Process Flow Map
As can be seen from the flow chart - Once the suspect gets arrested, the system is checked to see if there are any prior convictions.
If there are no prior convictions, then the booking information is recorded during which the arrest number is generated that is unique to each conviction. After this the photograph is clicked and and the fingerprints are taken during which the NISC number is generated which is a unique identifier for each suspect who enters into the system. This number stays with the suspect and all the arrests for that suspect gets tied to this NISC number. Once the fingerprinting is done the FBI database gets queried. If takes three and a half hours for the FBI database to return a response. If the FBI database returns a hit, the police await further instructions from the FBI. If not,depending on the severity of the crime the documents are sent to the DA’s office. These documents are either emailed or
scanned.
Project : Arrest to PreTrial Data Visualization
The Criminal Justice System is complex, hence, the scope of the project is restricted to the Arrest to Pretrial phase in the Criminal Justice System. There are 3 major reasons to restricting the research and visualization to this phase.
The Arrest to PreTrial period is where maximum number of data points are collected which is evident from the arrest and booking form.
Once an individual enters the trial phase, the jury, judge, District and Defense Attorney use their own discretion in presenting and interpreting data leading to major challenges in mapping that data.
The trial phase heavily relies on US Constitutional Laws, which vary with nature and severity of the crime and could have multiple loopholes which could pose a huge challenge to visualize.
As various law enforcement agencies at the state and federal level could have variations in data collection processes, reporting systems, hie