Criminal Justice Process Steps

The criminal justice process is all of the steps used by the criminal justice system to identify if a person is guilty or innocent. There are five main steps, with smaller categories in between each step, therefor making some steps take either a longer or a shorter period of time. Each steps is important to the system as a whole. Step one is entering the system. This might take days or months depending on the nature of the crime. Detectives have to investigate the crime at every imaginable angle with an open mind the whole time. When they narrow their investigation down to one suspect, after carefully examining all of the evidence, they request a warrant and proceed onto the next category, the arrest.
In step two, the prosecution and pretrial services take place. Once the suspect is arrested they are to be questioned by the detective. If the suspect is still believed to be guilty, then the suspect will either be granted bail or be held until given a preliminary hearing or grand jury. If the suspect is held, they will stay in the county jail until they are given bail or appear in front of the court. In a hearing, the case is presented to the judge to determine if there is probable cause for a trial, however, in a …show more content…
The criminal could be given a sentence that will be spent in a prison or jail depending on the length of their sentence. If the crime was on the more serious spectrum, the sentence will be served in a prison. Probation is another punishment, although, better than prison time, probation is served in every day life. There is restrictions on most things that the criminal would usually do in his or her life. The last thing that is done in this system is the release from incarceration. After the release from prison, the criminal may have to have regular meetings with a parole officer. There are still some restrictions on the everyday