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POLICE

The normal sequence of events in the Criminal Justice System begins with the commission of a crime. When a crime is reported or discovered, the police begin their investigation until the time of the trial. During this process the District Attorney determines if there is sufficient information to request a Grand Jury indictment. An indictment may occur before or after an arrest. If a suspect is arrested before the indictment is sought he/she is entitled to a preliminary hearing within hours of arrest.


COURTS

If the case is a misdemeanor (any offense which is punishable by a sentence of less than one year to be served in a facility other than a state penitentiary, or which is punishable by a fine), the case may be concluded at this point.

After the Grand Jury indictment has been returned the offender then appear before the court for arraignment. If he/she enters a plea of guilty, the course will set a time for sentencing; if not the defendant proceeds to trial.

It is estimated that 85% to 95% of all criminal cases in our country never go to trial. These cases are settled through the practice of plea-bargaining. Plea-bargaining is when the defendant generally enters a guilty plea to lesser offense and accepts an agreed upon sentence without going to trial.

At any point along the process, arrest, preliminary hearing, Grand Jury, arraignment, or trial, the charges may be reduced or dropped, and the accused set free. An offender's bail is usually set at the initial hearing. If an offender's bail is $1,000, it will take 10% of the bail to be released from jail. In this case, the bond would be $100 .The court may also release the Defendant on his/her own recognizance, if the Defendant has strong community roots, and is a good risk for staying around for trial. In this case. There is no bail.

Once the sentence is set, the judge may set a date to hear arguments on application for probation.
If the judge places the offender on probation, the judge will suspend the sentence.
In addition to the standard conditions of probation, the court may set additional conditions deemed necessary. These conditions may include:

• Drug or alcohol abuse program
  
• Community service work, etc.
  

CORRECTIONS

Male offender

If a male offender is not placed on probation, he is committed to the Department of Correction and sent to the appropriate classification center where he will begin to serve his sentence.

Female offender

If the offender is female, she will be sent to the appropriate State Facility for women classification. Upon completion of her classification, she will be assigned to the appropriate facility to serve her sentence. If not, a new date is set for a second appearance before the Board.

In most cases, an offender becomes eligible for parole consideration after serving approximately one half of his/her minimum sentence. When an offender appears before the Parole Board, his/her case is reviewed and witnesses are heard.

If the Parole Board grants parole, he/she is then released to the community under parole supervision, which is provided by officers employed by the Board of Parole.

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