The criminal justice process

The criminal justice process comprises of various steps which start from the moment an investigation is launched against an individual, a group of people or an organization to the point where they are either convicted or released by the court of law. Although all stages are important and play a crucial role in the success of the process, there are those that are of the outmost importance throughout the entire process. They include the investigation stage, arrest and the arraignment stage.

            The investigation stage is important because it is in this stage that evidence is collected and is later used to charge the culprit in a court of law. The stage is important because without evidence, there is no way of proving in a court of law that the accused committed a crime and thus force their release. Caution should be taken in this stage because use of poor investigation skills could result to the culprit being set free even if a crime was committed (n.a, 2016).

            Another important stage is the arrest stage where law enforcement officers apprehend a culprit or culprits suspected of having committed a crime. Due to the various procedures stipulated for conducting an arrest, among them being the reading of mar ender rights, arresting officers must ensure that they follow the correct protocols to avoid the culprit being set free on a technicality. The third stage that is of great importance is the arraignment stage. Here, the suspect is brought forward and the charges against the suspect are read to him or her. If a guilty plea is made, the suspect is charged accordingly. If not, a trial date is scheduled where the case will be heard and evidence presented so as to determine whether the suspect is guilty or not (n.a, 2016).

 

Reference

n.a, (2016) “The criminal justice process” retrieved from, http://criminal.lawyers.com/criminal-    law-basics/the-criminal-justice-process.html