The foundation of U.S. criminal procedure The U.S. Constitution, including the first 10 Amendments, which form the Bill of Rights. The Constitution guarantees all persons living in the U.S. fundamental rights, freedoms and liberties. Chief among these, as far as U.S. criminal law is concerned, is that defendants are entitled to a presumption of innocence

The Federal System There are over 20 specialized federal law enforcement agencies, most of which are in the Departments of Justice and Treasury. The most prominent federal law enforcement agencies are the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration (in the Department of Justice) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Secret Service and the Customs Service (in the Department of the Treasury)

Criminal Justice at the State and Local Levels Most criminal justice activity is conducted under the auspices of state and local governments. Law enforcement at the state level is mostly decentralized to the counties, cities and towns

State Substantive Criminal Law While rooted in English common law, American substantive criminal law is statutory. There are no common law crimes in the United States. In other words, the law of crimes is decided by the state legislatures (for each state) and by Congress (for the federal government)

Federal Substantive Criminal Law Which crimes are considered federal and which are considered state? There is no clear answer to this question. Indeed, criminal conduct cannot be sorted into these two baskets.

Right to Counsel The right to counsel begins when the suspect becomes the accused, that is at the initiation of judicial proceedings. If the accused is indigent, the judge assigns him/her a defense counsel at the first court appearance. A U.S. Supreme Court decision -- Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) -- held that the government must appoint defense lawyers for indigents accused of felonies. Later cases extended that ruling to cover all cases where the defendant could be sent to jail or prison

Bail and Pre-trial Detention If the accused pleads not guilty, the judge must decide on pre-trial release and, if so, whether bail or other conditions ought to be imposed. Historically, the courts have held that a defendant ought to be released unless he presents a risk of flight

Formal Accusation and the Grand Jury American prosecutors have extensive discretion over whether to charge, what to charge and how many charges to bring against an arrestee. However, most prosecutors dismiss charges against a substantial percentage of arrestees at an early point in the process because...

Pre-trial Motions The rules of criminal procedure provide that the defendant and his or her attorney have a certain number of days to make pre-trial motions challenging the legal sufficiency of the indictment or information, or seeking the suppression of evidence

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