How The System Works
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS - EIGHT BASIC STEPS
- Someone reports a crime OR the police see someone committing a crime.
- Police investigate the crime.
- Police have a suspect in the crime.
- Police have probable cause to arrest the suspect.
- Police arrest the suspect, either on the scene or they later find him/her.
- The suspect, now called Defendant, gets arrested and goes to jail
- Bond is set
Defendant either bonds out with a bail bond agency or waits to see a judge within 24 hours. (If the Defendant cannot afford to bond out of jail immediately – he/she will be brought before a judge for FIRST APPEARANCE/ADVISORY HEARING – AT THAT TIME THE JUDGE WILL EITHER:
- RELEASE THE DEFENDANT ON THEIR OWN RECOGNIZANCE
- LOWER THE BOND
- LEAVE THE BOND AS IT IS
- Defendant is Released on their own Recognizance, pays the bond, pays a bondsman to pay the bond, or can’t afford the bond and stays in jail.
JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR SOME CRIME, DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THERE WILL BE FORMAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST YOU.
AFTER THE POLICE ARREST SOMEONE, THEY TAKE THEIR EVIDENCE TO THE STATE ATTORNEY WHO MAKES A FORMAL FILING DECISION.
MAKE SURE YOU HIRE AN ATTORNEY BEFORE A FORMAL FILING DECISION IS MADE.
AN ATTORNEY CAN PRESENT YOUR SIDE OF THE CASE TO THE STATE ATTORNEY BEFORE ANY CHARGES ARE FILED WHICH MIGHT RESULT IN REDUCED CHARGES OR NONE AT ALL.
