CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Definition of Terms
3.1.1 Summary and Indictable Offences
3.1.2 Indictable Offences
3.1.3 Felonies and Misdemeanours
3.1.4 Defendant and Accused
3.2 Means by Which Defendant Is Brought to Court
3.2.1 Arrest and Charge
3.2.23.2.3 Private Citizen ArrestCharging the Defendant
3.2.4 Summons
3.3 Summary Hearings
3.4 Committal Hearing/Preliminary Inquiry (Pi)
3.4.1 Criticisms of Committal Hearing/Preliminary
Inquiry
3.5 Coroner Inquest
3.6 Trial Process
3.7 Civil Process
3.7.1 Outline of Civil Procedure
3.8 Commencing Proceedings
3.9 Defence
3.10 Interlocutory Proceedings
3.11 Trial
3.11.1Execution
3.11.2Miscellaneous
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Readings
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Before commencing a review of the steps associated with criminal
procedure, it is useful to look at the role of the criminal trial as it gives
us an insight into criminal law generally.
The purpose of the trial is to determine whether the accused is guilty of
the offence as charged. As such, it is not a place for the victims to have
the floor to air their grievances and this does cause some victim to feel
cheated by the trial process. The prosecutor makes the decisions about
what evidence to call and how the State case will proceed. There is no
requirement whereby the victim is part of this process. In that sense, the