Chapter 10 Flashcards
Crime
*Dramatic increase in crime from 1960s to 1980s
*Crime is reported in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR—Uniform Crime Reporting) annually
Voluntary reporting to FBI
*Index Crimes
Type I offenses
The 8 most serious crimes
Arrest
20% of crimes brought to the attention of police result in arrest
Every year the police make an estimated 14 million arrests for nontraffic offenses: TRUE OR FALSE
TRUE
Mostly relatively minor crimes:
Simple assault, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, petty theft, and possession of small amounts of illegal drugs
Out of 14 million arrest,2.2 million of these arrests are for the serious crimes:
Homicide, rape, arson, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, auto theft, and larceny
Quality of Arrests
Police have a lot to do with what happens in court after arrest
Keys to Conviction
Collection of tangible evidence
Locating cooperative witnesses
Initial Appearance
- Occurs within a few hours or a few days of arrest
- Generally 48 hours, excluding weekends, as stated by the Supreme Court
- Most misdemeanor defendants enter a plea of guilty and are sentenced immediately
Felony D’s can’t offer a plea at this point, so it is a brief affair: TRUE OR FALSE
TRUE
County of Riverside v McLaughlin
McLaughlin’s name went first in a class action law suit filed on behalf of him and other plaintiffs regarding a prompt hearing before a magistrate
Supreme Court granted certiorari
certiorari
Balances between individual’s rights to liberty and society’s need for effective law enforcement
Supreme Court defined prompt as 48 hours
Charging documents:
Complaint
Information
Arrest warrant
Indictment
Charging Law on the Books:
*Prosecutorial Control
Prosecutorial Control
Prosecutors decide whether and what charges should be filed
Wide discretion given to prosecutors by courts
No review of decisions
Law in Action:
Police Influence
Police Influence
In some jurisdictions prosecutors defer to the police
Power has been essentially transferred to the police
In some jurisdictions the police influence the prosecutor’s decision
In some jurisdictions, prosecutors control filing of charges
Bail
Law on the Books:
The monetary bail system
The monetary bail system
Bail cannot be excessive
Purpose is to ensure the defendant’s presence in court
8th Amendment
Bail procedures vary by jurisdiction according to seriousness of crime
Various forms of bail
Preventative detention
Bail Law in Action:
Context of Bail Setting
*Trial court judges have discretion in fixing bail
Flight risk/nonappearance
Risk to self/others
Situational justice
Bail Agents and Bounty Hunters*
*Financial resources
Cash/Property bail
- Conditions of bail posting
- Jurisdictional constraints
Effects of Bail System
Direct and indirect effects on defendants:
Direct and indirect effects on defendants:
Jail conditions
Race/ethnicity
Failure to appear
Case disposition
Preliminary Hearing
Law on the Books:
Weighing Probable Cause
Law on the Books:
Weighing Probable Cause
Preliminary hearing is first time someone other than a law enforcement official reviews the case
In grand jury states a prosecutor can still go to the grand jury if a magistrate rules there is insufficient evidence
Prosecutor has to establish probable cause of a crime and that the defendant committed it—bound over for adjudication
