ARREST TO ARRAIGNMENT

I.          Crimes and arrests are the starting point for the criminal justice system.
    A.        Uniform Crime Report
        1.         Two categories of crimes reported
            a.         Type II offenses consist of eight types of serious crimes
            b.         Type II offenses consist of less serious crimes.
        2.         UCR data is only based on crimes known to police.
    B.        Arrests
        1.         Only 21% of crimes known to the police result in an arrest.
        2.         Every year, police make 13.7 million non-traffic arrests.
        3.         Police make 1.5 million arrests a year for drug offenses. 

II.        There are a number of steps between arrest and formal arraignment.
    A.                 Initial Appearance
        1.                  Occurs within a short period of the arrest
        2.                  Most misdemeanor defendants enter a guilty plea and are sentenced at this stage.
    B.                 Charging documents
        1.                  Complaint
        2.                  Information
        3.                  Arrest warrant
        4.                  Indictment
    C.                 Preliminary hearing
        1.                  Initial hearing by lower court judge for felony defendants
        2.                  Held within 48 hours of arrest
        3.                  Prosecutor need only establish probable cause
    D.                Grand Jury
        1.                  Impaneled to verify charges against a defendant
        2.                  Not used in all states
        3.                  Grand jury vs. Traditional jury
            a.                  Proceedings held in secret
            b.                  Majority vote is sufficient
            c.                   Rights of suspects and witnesses is diminished
        4.                  Grand jury reform
            a.                  Major criticism of grand jury system
            b.                  Citizens’ Grand Jury Bill of Rights
        5.                  Grand juries often act as a rubber stamp for prosecutors
    E.                 Arraignment
        1.                  Occurs in trial courts of general jurisdiction
        2.                  Inform defendants of charges against them
        3.                  Allows for exchange of information between attorneys 

III.       Case Attrition occurs primarily because weak cases are weeded out.
    A.                 Three facets of work group discretion affect case attrition.
        1.                  Legal judgments
        2.                  Policy priorities
        3.                  Personal standards of justice
    B.                 Prosecutors
        1.                  Prosecutors often dismiss cases for lack of evidence or merit.
        2.                  Prosecutors control the doors to the courthouse.
    C.                 Courtroom work group aspires to devote limited resources to more serious cases. 

IV.       There are basically four levels of cases in the system (criminal justice wedding cake model).
    A.                 Four layers represent different types of criminal cases.
        1.                  Celebrated cases
            a.                  Spectacular cases that attract massive media attention
            b.                  Not representative of the criminal justice system
        2.                  Serious felonies
            a.                  More numerous than celebrated cases
            b.                  Three criteria
                i.                    Seriousness of crime
                ii.                  Suspect’s criminal record
                iii.                Victim-offender relationship
        3.                  Lesser felonies
            a.                  More numerous than serious felonies
            b.                  Based on court’s judgment
        4.                  Misdemeanors
            a.                  Most numerous
            b.                  Least serious
            c.                   About half are public order offenses