POLS 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Incorporation Of The Bill Of Rights, Sixth Amendment To The United States Constitution, Grand Jury
3 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Criminal law: composed of actions that cause harm to the state as a whole. When a criminal law gets broken, the state becomes the accuser and the prosecutor which is represented by the district attorney. In order to prosecute there is a lengthy and multi-step process: arrest made, charge(s) filed, evidence presented, trial process with multiple hearings, only about 10% of the cases actually go to trial, however. Depending on the way that the jury finds the defendant, guilty or not guilty, tells what"s going to happen: Under criminal laws, there are two levels of crimes that one can commit: misdemeanors, comes with a less serious punishment (jail, community service, fine) b. Initiated by complaint: no jury present, felonies, has a more serious punishment (prison or jail for longer than a year) b. Initiated by charge from the da: grand jury decides and make the decisions.
