NCJ Number
188204
Date Published
1998
Length
1432 pages
Annotation
This volume presents and discusses approximately 3,000 State and Federal criminal cases to aid understanding of criminal procedures from the investigative phase through postconviction remedies.
Abstract
The text emphasizes more recent decisions and also summarizes older decisions to trace the development of the law in specific areas. The first chapter provides an overview of criminal procedure and notes that the basic concepts and principles are similar from State to State and in State and Federal courts. The discussion covers pre-arrest procedures, procedures between arrest and trial, trial procedures, sentencing, probation, parole, and postconviction remedies. The next six chapters focus on cases relating to limitations on police practices and procedures. Topics include confessions and interrogations; eyewitness identification procedures; wiretapping and electronic surveillance; the law of arrest, search, and seizure; exclusionary principles and alternative remedies for unlawful investigative practices; and the limits of undercover police work. The remaining 16 chapters examine cases relating to the judicial process. These cases involve prosecutorial discretion, the rights of indigents in formal criminal proceedings, the preliminary hearing, and grand jury proceedings. Additional topics include the right to bail, specific types of pretrial motions, standards and procedures relating to competency to stand trial, disclosure and discovery, and pleas and plea negotiations. Further topics include the right to trial by jury, jury selection, the quality of representation by counsel, problems encountered in presenting the case, jury instructions, jury deliberations and verdicts, sentencing procedures and factors, appeals, State collateral remedies, and Federal habeas corpus for State prisoners. Footnotes, index, list of cases cited, and excerpts from the United States Constitution