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o scotus rules that a law enforcement officer’s “on-the-scene assessment of probable cause provides legal justification for arresting a person suspected of crime, and for a brief period of detention to take the administrative steps incident to arrest” o 4th amendment prerequisite of probable cause prior to arrest  reasons for requiring an initial appearance w/o unnecessary delay o to verify the person arrested is the one in the complaint o to advise accused of charges o to advise the accused of their rights o to protect the arrested from being abandoned in jails o to prevent secret and extended interrogation of arrested persons o to give the arrested an opportunity to secure release on bail o to give the arrested an opportunity for speedily conducted proceedings on minor charges o to obtain a prompt, neutral “judicial determination of probable cause as a prerequisite to extended restraint of liberty following arrest.”  usually occurs in local courts  attorney bail  order of protection  scotus expects initial appearance to occur within 48 hours of arrest without warrant  initial appearance not mandated if the grand jury has already returned an indictment o some states require initial appearances for all arrests made  not all states provide for a judicial determination of probable cause at the initial appearance before the magistrate  random information o most misdemeanor defendants enter a guilty plea (~70%) o initial appearances don’t last long like 5 min o 2/3 defendants appear without counsel charging  begins with the filing of a formal written accusation→ charging document o legitimate charing document: date of offense, location, description of the accused o all essential elements (corpus delicti) of the crime must be specified  charging documents satisfy the 6th amendment provision that a defendant should be given information to prepare a defense four types of charging documents  complaint, information, arrest warrant, indictment  use depends on severity of offense, state law, local customs  complaint must be supported by oath or affirmation of victim/arresting officer o most popularly used in misdemeanor offenses/city ordinance violations  information is like the same thing as a complain except it is signed by the prosecutor o used for initiating felony charges pending grand jury action

o people from the community  majority vote  subpoena power  “shield & sword”  true bill v no bill  indictment  5th amendment right: right for a grand jury o “no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.” o “otherwise infamous crime” interpreted as a felony  fifth amendment provision only applies to federal prosecutions o hurtado v california o states can choose between using an indictment or an information  size of grand juries 5-23 o usually selected randomly o → “In a handful of states, however, judges, county boards, jury commissioners, or sheriffs are allowed to exercise discretion in choosing who will serve on the grand jury.” law on the books: shield and sword  shield refers to protections provided by grand juries  sword refers to investigatory powers of a grand jury  true bill: indictment → grand jury finds charges to be true/valid o no true bill: opposite  secrecy: protects those under scrutiny from adverse publicity  indictments are returned by a plurality vote o 1/2 → 2/3 votes sufficient for indictment in most states  differences between trial and grand juries: o trial juries can only convict if the jury is unanimous/nearly unanimous o witnesses before grand jury have no right to counsel, defendants are entitled to representation throughout prosecution o suspects do not have the right to protest innocence before grand jury  grand juries have the authority to grant immunity from prosecution o pleading the fifth  1893: statute passed by congress permitting granting of transactional immunity o witnesses’ testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution for crimes admitted o → “turning state’s evidence”  organized crime control act of 1970 aka use immunity o government can’t use a witness’s grand jury testimony to prosecute the witness o → exception: state acquires evidence of crime independently from testimony

o priorities can be reflected in office structure  da’s have priority prosecution programs that focus on major narcotics dealers, organized crime, sex offenders, etc  personal standards of justice o attitudes of courtroom work group ABOUT what should and shouldn’t be punished o based on subjective assessment on part of the prosecutor o → “the case is not as serious as the legal charge suggests.” o “cheap”, or “garbage” cases  reasons for attrition (referred to as such) o “prosecution would serve no useful purpose” o “interests of justice” the “criminal justice wedding cake” criminal justice wedding cake  celebrated cases o the select few cases that dominate media attention o can be local o treated as exceptional from cj officials → heightened public scrutiny o “The cases are also extraordinary because they frequently involve the rarest of criminal court events—the full jury trial.” o “As in morality plays of old and soap operas of today, public attention is focused on the battle between good and evil, although who is playing which role is not always obvious.” o high impact on public perception of criminal justice → law on the books  serious vs lesser felonies o seriousness of crime, criminal record of suspect, relationship between victim and offender o “how much is the case worth?” o serious tend to be murder, armed robbery, rape  misdemeanors o around half are public order offenses o around a third are property crimes/minor interpersonal altercation learning objectives 1. LO1 Define the two methods of estimating the amount of crime in the United States. In the United States the two methods of estimating the amount of crime are the Uniform Crime Reports, based on crimes reported to the police, and the National Crime Victimization Survey, based on self-reports from households.