criminal procedure

Examples of criminal procedure in the following topics:

• The Rights of the Accused

  • Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, as opposed to having the defendant prove that s/he is innocent; any doubt is resolved in favor of the defendant.
  • United States criminal procedure derives from several sources of law: the baseline protections of the United States Constitution, federal and state statutes, federal and state rules of criminal procedure (such as the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure), and state and federal case law either interpreting the foregoing or deriving from inherent judicial supervisory authority.
  • The United States Constitution, including the United States Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments, contains provisions regarding criminal procedure.
  • Due to the incorporation of the Bill of Rights, all of these provisions apply equally to criminal proceedings in state courts, with the exception of the Grand Jury Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Vicinage Clause of the Sixth Amendment, and (maybe) the Excessive Bail Clause of the Eighth Amendment.

• The Miranda Warning

  • The Miranda warning is a statement read by police to criminal suspects that asserts their right to counsel and right to remain silent.
  • The Miranda warning (also referred to as Miranda rights) is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings.
  • In other words, a Miranda warning is a preventive criminal procedure rule that law enforcement is required to administer to protect an individual who is in custody and subject to direct questioning or its functional equivalent from a violation of his or her Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination.
  • Thus in theory, if law enforcement officials decline to offer a Miranda warning to an individual in their custody, they may still interrogate that person and act upon the knowledge gained, but may not use that person's statements to incriminate him or her in a criminal trial.
  • The Miranda rule applies to the use of testimonial evidence in criminal proceedings that is the product of custodial police interrogation.

• Civil Law and Criminal Law

  • Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime.
  • Criminal law also sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey these laws.
  • Criminal law differs from civil law, whose emphasis is more on dispute resolution than in punishment.
  • Civil law differs from criminal law, which emphasizes punishment rather than dispute resolution.
  • The California Penal Code, the codification of criminal law and procedure in the U.S. state of California.

• The Right to Due Process

  • Due process rights provides legal protections while a citizen is charged by the courts and other legal procedures.
  • The Supreme Court of the United States interprets these two clauses as providing four protections: procedural due process in civil and criminal proceedings, substantive due process, a prohibition against vague laws, and as the vehicle for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights .
  • This protection extends to all government proceedings that can result in an individual's deprivation, whether civil or criminal in nature, from parole violation hearings to administrative hearings regarding government benefits and entitlements to full-blown criminal trials.
  • At a basic level, procedural due process is essentially based on the concept of fundamental fairness.
  • In criminal cases, many of these due process protections overlap with procedural protections provided by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees reliable procedures that protect innocent people from being executed, which would be an obvious example of cruel and unusual punishment.

• The Fifth Amendment

  • The Fifth Amendment protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
  • No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

• Basic Judicial Requirements

  • A few states have two separate supreme courts, with one having authority over civil matters and the other reviewing criminal cases.
  • In practice, about 80% of the cases are civil and 20% are criminal.
  • The civil cases often involve civil rights, patents, and Social Security while the criminal cases involve tax fraud, robbery, counterfeiting, and drug crimes.
  • Congress has established a procedure whereby a party, typically the defendant, can remove a case from state court to federal court, provided that the federal court also has original jurisdiction over the matter.
  • Generally, a final ruling by a district court in either a civil or a criminal case can be appealed to the United States court of appeals in the federal judicial circuit in which the district court is located, except that some district court rulings involving patents and certain other specialized matters must be appealed instead to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in a very few cases the appeal may be taken directly to the United States Supreme Court.

• The Fifth Amendment, Self-Incrimination, and Double Jeopardy

  • Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
  • The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure.
  • The text of the Fifth Amendment reads as follows: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
  • Blockburger is the default rule, unless the legislature intends to depart from it via enacted law; for example, Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE) may be punished separately from its predicates, as can conspiracy.

• The Sixth Amendment

  • The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions.
  • In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

• U.S. District Courts

  • The 94 U.S. district courts oversee civil and criminal cases within certain geographic or subject areas.
  • The U.S. district courts are responsible for holding general trials for civil and criminal cases.
  • Meanwhile, criminal cases involve a U.S. attorney (the prosecutor), a grand jury, and a defendant.
  • Criminal cases involve an arraignment hearing in which defendants enter a plea to the charges brought against them by the U.S. attorney.
  • Each state has at least one district court that is responsible for overseeing civil and criminal cases in a given region.

• Common Law

  • However, U.S. law has diverged greatly from its English ancestor both in terms of substance and procedure.
  • Instead, it must be regarded as 50 separate systems of tort law, family law, property law, contract law, criminal law, and so on.