Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the parties involved. Three types of disputes are resolved through adjudication: claims that someone has violated criminal law Criminal law, or penal law, is the bodies of rules with the potential for severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision , or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden.
Basic rights
Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof The burden of proof is the obligation to shift the accepted conclusion away from an oppositional opinion to one's own position. The burden of proof may only be fulfilled by evidence on the prosecution The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against an individual suspected of breaking the law – that is, it is up to the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, as opposed to having the defense prove that s/he is innocent, and any doubt is resolved in favor of the defendant. This provision, known as the presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence – being considered innocent unless proven guilty – is a legal right that the accused in criminal trials has in many modern countries. The burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which has to collect and present enough compelling evidence to convince the trier of fact, who is restrained and ordered by law to, is required, for example, in the 46 countries that are members of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe is one of the oldest international organisations working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens. It is distinct from the, under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (long title: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953. All Council of Europe, and it is included in other human rights documents. However, in practice it operates somewhat differently in different countries.
Similarly, all such jurisdictions allow the defendant the right to legal counsel The legal system in England uses the term counsel as an approximate synonym for a barrister-at-law ', and may apply it to mean either a single person who pleads a cause, or collectively, the body of barristers engaged in a case. It seems uncertain as to whether the term also applies to a solicitor advocate. Some judges and lawyers apply the term and provide any defendant who cannot afford their own lawyer A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political and social authority, and deliver with a lawyer paid for at the public expense (which is in some countries called a "court-appointed lawyer").
See also
References
Further reading
| Criminal procedure (investigation) |
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| Criminal investigation |
Arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual · Search warrant A search warrant is a court order issued by a judge or magistrate that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a criminal offense and seize such items or information. All jurisdictions with a rule of law and a right to privacy put constraints on the powers of police investigators, and typically · Probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest, conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest. It is also used to refer to the standard to which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed. This term comes from the Fourth Amendment of · Knock-and-announce Knock-and-announce, in United States law of criminal procedure, is an ancient common-law principle, incorporated into the Fourth Amendment, which often requires law enforcement officers to announce their presence and provide residents with an opportunity to open the door prior to a valid Fourth-Amendment search · Exigent circumstance An exigent circumstance, in the American law of criminal procedure, allows law enforcement to enter a structure without a warrant, or if they have a "knock and announce" warrant, without knocking and waiting for refusal under certain circumstances. It must be a situation where people are in imminent danger, evidence faces imminent · Reasonable suspicion Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard in United States law that a person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity based on specific and articulable facts and inferences. It is the basis for an investigatory or Terry stop by the police and requires less evidence than probable cause, the legal requirement for arrests and · Search and seizure Search and seizure is a legal procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems whereby police or other authorities and their agents, who suspect that a crime has been committed, do a search of a person's property and confiscate any relevant evidence to the crime · Search of persons Police officers in various jurisdictions have power to search members of the public, for example, for weapons, drugs and stolen property. This article concerns searches of members of the public who have not been arrested and who are not held in detention. For search powers in relation to those persons see Search on arrest and Searches in detention · Arrest An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the investigation and prevention of crime or harm to others and oneself as well. The term is Anglo-Norman in origin and is related to the French word arrêt, meaning "stop" · Detention Detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing · Right to silence Right to silence is a legal right of any person subjected to police interrogation or summoned to go to trial in a court of law. This right is recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the world's legal systems · Miranda warning The Miranda warning is a warning that is required to be given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial situation) before they are interrogated to inform them about their constitutional rights · Grand jury In the common law, a grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial. Grand juries carry out this duty by examining evidence and issuing indictments, or by investigating alleged crimes and issuing presentments. A grand jury is traditionally larger than and distinguishable from a petit jury, which is used · Suspect In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime/Arguido Arguido or arguida (female, [ɐɾˈɡwidɐ]), normally translated "named suspect" or "formal suspect", is a status in Portuguese language legal systems, including the legal systems of Portugal and Mozambique. It is given to a person whom the authorities suspect may have committed an offence. This designation does not exist in
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| Criminal prosecution |
Statute of limitations A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated. In civil law systems, similar provisions are usually part of the civil code or criminal code and are often known collectively as "periods of prescription" or & · Nolle prosequi Nolle prosequi is a Latin legal phrase meaning "to be unwilling to pursue." It is the term used in many common law criminal jurisdictions to describe a prosecutor's application to discontinue criminal charges before trial, or up until, but before verdict · Bill of attainder A bill of attainder is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial · Ex post facto law An ex post facto law or retroactive law, is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. In reference to criminal law, it may criminalize actions that were legal when committed; or it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe · Criminal jurisdiction Criminal jurisdiction is a term used in constitutional law and public law to describe the power of courts to hear a case brought by a state accusing a defendant of the commission of a crime. It is relevant in three distinct situations: · Deferred prosecution agreement A deferred prosecution agreement is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain requirements. A case of corporate fraud, for instance, might be settled by means of a deferred-prosecution agreement in which the defendant agrees to pay fines, · Extradition Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties. Where extradition is compelled by laws, such as among sub-national jurisdictions, the concept may be known more generally as rendition · Habeas corpus Habeas corpus (pronounced /ˌheɪbiːəs ˈkɔrpəs/; Latin: “ that you have the body”) is a writ, or legal action, through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention, or the relief of another person. The writ of habeas corpus protects persons from harming themselves, or from being harmed by the judicial system. Originally a · Bail Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail . In some cases bail money may be returned at the end of the trial, if all court appearances are made, no matter whether the person is found · Inquisitorial system An inquisitorial system is a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as opposed to an adversarial system where the role of the court is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecution and the defense. Inquisitorial systems are used in some countries with civil · Adversarial system The adversarial system of law is the system of law that relies on the contest between each advocate representing his or her party's positions and involves an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, trying to determine the truth of the case. As opposed to that, the inquisitorial system has a judge (or a group of judges who
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| Charges and pleas |
Alford plea Alford plea in the law of the United States is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence. Under the Alford plea the defendant admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt · Arraignment Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal complaint in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea. Acceptable pleas vary among jurisdictions, but they generally include "guilty", "not guilty", and the peremptory · Information Information is a formal criminal charge made without a grand jury indictment by a prosecutor in a document called an information · Indictment In the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious criminal offence would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have abolished the concept of a felony often substitute the concept of an indictable offence, i.e. an · Plea In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that person pleaded Guilty, Not Guilty, No Contest or · Peremptory plea In the common law, the peremptory pleas , are pleas that set out special reasons for which a trial cannot go ahead. They are the plea of autrefois convict, the plea of autrefois acquit, and the plea of pardon · Nolo contendere Nolo contendere is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest · Plea bargain A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence · Presentence Investigation A presentence investigation report is a legal term referring to the investigation into the history of person convicted of a crime before sentencing to determine if there are extenuating circumstances which should ameliorate the sentence or a history of criminal behavior to increase the harshness of the sentence
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| Related areas |
Criminal defenses · Criminal law Criminal law, or penal law, is the bodies of rules with the potential for severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision , or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden · Evidence The law of evidence governs the use of testimony and exhibits (e.g., physical objects) or other documentary material which is admissible (i.e., allowed to be considered by the trier of fact, such as jury) in a judicial or administrative proceeding (e.g., a court of law) · Civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits . These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced, what kind of service of process (if any) is required, the types of pleadings or statements of case, motions or applications, and orders allowed in civil cases, the ·
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Categories: Criminal procedure | Rights of the accused
