DOC PREVIEW
IUB CJUS-P 300 - Charging Decisions for Prosecutor and police

This preview shows page 1 out of 4 pages.

Save
View full document
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 4 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 4 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience

Unformatted text preview:

CJUS P300 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture 1. Probable Cause2. Obtaining Counsel3. Preliminary Hearings4. Timely Disclosure of Evidence5. Releasing Information to the press Outline of Current Lecture 1. Charging Decisions 2. Summons to appear in court3. Signature on a ticket4. Arrests and Jaila. Bail5. Police Role in Arrests6. Charging decision by Prosecutora. Statute of Limitations 7. Witnesses and Line-upsCurrent Lecture1. Charging Decisionsa. How the process begins, how the prosecutor gets you into the system i. If there is no charging information, then there is nothing to pursueb. Speeding ticket examplei. Ticket ends up in a clerk or prosecutor’s office who verify that it’s validii. Then you show up to pay the ticket c. Marijuana exampleThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.i. Police officer can either arrest you or give you a ticket 1. It’s a misdemeanor (because it’s a joint)2. You can get arrested or summoned (which is a ticket)2. Summons to appear in courta. Date on ticket that is the court summons b. If you ignore that summons, there’s a warrant out for your arrest i. Because it’s a court ordered summons. Therefore, if you fail to appear it’s a failure to appear in court. ii. There’s potential to go to jail if you fail to appear in court. Your driver’s license will most likely be suspended. 3. Signature on ticketa. All the signature does is verify that you have seen the ticketb. Original copy of ticket still goes back to prosecutors officec. Fact that you didn’t sign it makes no difference to whether you’ll appear in court or notd. It is IMPORTANT that the police officer signs it4. Arrests and Jaila. They will take your fingerprints and photob. Constitutionally you have a right to reasonable bail. That means bail has to be set so you can get out of jail.i. Surety and cash bonds are common payment methodsii. Once exception – murder, you are not automatically entitled to bailc. Two conditions for the setting of baili. Flight risk (will you show up)1. Determined by past criminal history, where you/your family lives2. You can be asked to give up your passportii. Safety to the community1. Whether or not you’re a risk to the rest of the community if you’reout of jail a. Violent crimes thus require higher bail5. Police Role in Arrestsa. Idea that there is probable cause that you have broken some kind of criminal law b. Police have discretion on whether or not to ticket or arrest you or do nothing i. One exception 1. They have no discretion regarding domestic violence. They must make an arrest. 2. If they see signs of physical violence or some indication that domestic violence has occurred they must arrest. a. You are taking that responsibility away from the victim b. It is the law that for a police officer to make an arrest in a misdemeanor case, the police officer had to havewitnessed the act. Except in this case because the result could become deadly. c. If they don’t see something, then police take report and send it to the prosecutorwho makes the decision. i. The prosecutor can look at anything and decide not to charge itii. Total discretion falls to the prosecutor when charging something iii. No one can make the prosecutor charge something 1. The initial charging decision rests with the prosecutor2. Once that decision has been made, you are now in the court systemd. The police do not work for the prosecutor and the prosecutor does not work for the police. 6. Charging decision by prosecutora. A judge has to find within 48 hours of business days that probable cause existed for you to be arrestedi. Have to be in court room and be told what you are charged with and what bail isb. Charging information must contain followingi. County it took place inii. Date (on or about)iii. Crimeiv. Body of the informationv. Has to be signed by someone from Prosecutors officevi. Must be signed by affiant c. For a prosecutor, a case will rarely get better than the date you charge it. If you can’t prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt on the day the case is charged, then it rarely gets better. i. The day you charge it, you better be ready to prove itii. It may get stronger, but typically it gets weaker d. Factors a Prosecutor looks at:i. Age of the offense (some laws may have changed)1. Statute of limitations: there is only a certain amount of time from when crime is committed to time crime is charged. If you don’t get it charged within that amount of time, you cannot charge it. a. Begins when the crime is committed or revealed (kidnapping cases) due to the actions of the defendantb. Two Exceptionsi. Murder has no statute of limitations ii. Child molesting – period of time after you reach a certain age or recall the incidence where the prosecutor can charge.2. Why do we have a statute of limitations? a. Don’t want to be charged with a crime you did when you were 19 sayii. Criminal history of defendantiii. Willingness of the victim (may be a factor to look at depending on what you need to prove)7. Witnesses and Line-ups a. Eye witness testimony is some of the worst evidencei. However jury’s want eye witness testimony b. You cannot be unduly suggestive if you’re the police1. You can’t put the suspect in a group of people that the suspect looks nothing alike 2. The whole point of a line up is that you have to put people in there that look similar 3. The victim has to do a little bit of work to identify the suspect and differentiate ii. Not unduly suggestive to put suspect in the police car and show it to the victim and ask if that’s the suspectiii. Must happen within a reasonable amount of time after the


View Full Document

IUB CJUS-P 300 - Charging Decisions for Prosecutor and police

Download Charging Decisions for Prosecutor and police
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Charging Decisions for Prosecutor and police and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Charging Decisions for Prosecutor and police 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?