The arrest

At the start of the criminal court process, you the suspect will be arrested based on the suspicion of a crime committed. Believe it or not, you do not have to be put into handcuffs to be arrested. The charges may be sent to your mailing address per the district court you live near. If there are charges against you, you are or were arrested. I will continue this post however, as if you were handcuffed and charged with a crime in person. The arresting officer will have gathered enough intelligence on the crime, the victim or victims, the suspected criminal, and possibly some witnesses to at least charge you with a crime.

At the time of arrest you may be read your Miranda rights, which are the rights of you being a U.S. citizen. Here is what an officer may say "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.", as you can see you do not have to say anything to the police officer as you are arrested. Before studying criminal justice i had the impression that if an officer questioned me i had to answer, many people do not exercise this right and end up either admitting to the crime, or hinder their chance of receiving a non guilty verdict. You are also told that you have the right to an attorney(lawyer) and if you are indigent(too poor), a public defender will be appointed to you. A public defender is a lawyer that is appointed by the court system free of charge, the difference between a lawyer you choose and a public defender is the quality of the attorney. A lawyer that you may choose will be one of your liking, a public defender can be lawyer fresh out of law school.

After you are; read your rights, handcuffed, and put into the back of the police car, you will than either be driven to the local police precinct or to your preliminary arraignment. I will cover more on this next week.

Thank you for stopping by, see you next week for another post on Men in Blue.