Felony Criminal Charge Procedure Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Felony Criminal Charge Procedure - Term Paper Example This essay will be focussed on the criminal procedures stages that are common among the two level of government in bringing felony suspects to justice. It will make an in-depth discussion of the process right from the initial stage of the investigation until sentence of the case is determined (Moak & Carlson, 2012). A criminal case is essentially one that an individual is accused of causing harm or destruction to the general society through one or more of his actions. They usually take two forms either misdemeanour or felony charges (McCord, McCord, & Bailey, 2012). A misdemeanour is a less serious case and thus magistrate judges handle it. Often it is punishable by a fine of less than one year imprisonment in jail. On the other hand, felonies are perceived to be more grievous cases that require more attention. They are usually handled by district judges in district courts. These crimes are punishable of incarceration in state correction centres (Champion, 1988). A felony charge is committed when an individual acts in a manner that contravenes the state or federal laws thus causing harm or destruction to the general public. A suspect of a felony charge may be arrested depending on the scenario (Moak & Carlson, 2012). First an individual can be arrested by police responding to a reported crime if he/she around the crime scene where the incidence has been reported, alternatively after a crime has been reported police will commence investigations to determine the perpetrators. In the process of piecing together the available evidence an individual may be implicated by either the fingerprints, which were found at the scene of the crime, DNA samples found at the crime scene or CCTV footage of the premise where the crime occurred. In the first scenario the suspect is arrested, the police officer responsible for the arrest signs a sworn affidavit and complaint sheet that