New York City Criminal Court
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The New York City Criminal Court is the general term describing the entry level court for criminal cases in the five boroughs of New York City.
Although the designation "Criminal Court" suggests that all criminal matters are heard within its numerous individual courtrooms, this is not the case. In order to understand how the New York City Court system distributes the cases, it is essential to understand the various types of offenses in New York.
The most serious offenses in New York are called felonies. Felonies are crimes for which the punishment can be more than one year in prison. That doesn't mean the punishment must be more than one year. An offense is a felony if any possible punishment is more than one year in prison. Robbery, burglary, grand larceny, and homicide are some of the numerous felonies that exist in New York.
Misdemeanors in New York are crimes that are less serious than felonies. New York currently maintains three classes of misdemeanors, designated by the letters "A", "B", and "U". Class A and class U misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail. Class B misdemeanors are punishable up to 90 days in jail. Misdemeanors include such offenses as petit larceny (shoplifting), less serious assault, and basic driving while intoxicated.
Finally, New York recognizes violations and traffic infractions as offenses. Offenses that are identified as violations and traffic infractions are not crimes. Being convicted of a violation does not give the defendant a criminal record. Examples of violations include disorderly conduct and drinking alcohol in public. A jail term of up to 15 days is theoretically possible for most violations and infractions, but in the context of the New York City Criminal Court, not a likely outcome.
"Criminal Court" handles misdemeanors, violations, and some traffic infractions to their conclusion at a trial, if necessary. Criminal Court also hears felony cases during the initial phase of the case. Felony charges are ultimately heard and concluded in New York State Supreme Court.
With rare exception, most people who are arrested and prosecuted in New York City will eventually appear before a Criminal Court judge for arraignment, or first appearance. The person accused of disorderly conduct and the person accused of homicide will both be brought before the same Criminal Court judge for arraignment and may well share a holding cell behind the courtroom. In New York City, the time from arrest to arraignment in Criminal Court is generally about 24 hours.
Given the volume of arrests in New York City, Criminal Court arraignments are held day and night, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The day arraignment shift lasts from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the night arraignment shift lasts from 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM.
At the arraignment, the primary issue is whether or not the judge is going to set bail. If the judge does not set bail, the accused is released on his own recognizance (ROR), which essentially means that the accused is on his honor to return to court when required. If the judge decides that the accused can not be trusted to return to court without some encouragement, the judge may set bail. Bail is an amount of money that the accused is required to post with the City of New York in order to be released. If the accused returns to court every time he is required to return to court, the bail money is returned, less a small administrative fee. If the accused fails to return to court when required, the money is forfeit to New York City.
The decisions to set bail and the amount of bail to set are highly discretionary, but generally relate to three broad factors: 1) prior criminal history, 2) seriousness of the offense charged, and 3) community ties of the accused. The "cleaner" the criminal record of the accused, the less serious the offense, and the greater the ties of the accused to the community the more likely the accused is to be released without bail (ROR). However, the more extensive the criminal history, the more serious the offense, and the fewer ties to the community, the greater the likelihood that a judge will set bail.
The actual arraignment itself frequently is brief, often finished in less than five minutes. In New York City the arraignment begins by long tradition with the defense lawyer "waiving the reading" of the charges. In theory, every person arrested is entitled to be formally read the accusations. Instead, tradition in New York City is that a copy of the charges is provided to the defense lawyer at the arraignment and the defense lawyer is expected to waive the formal public reading. Tradition in New York City also dispenses with a formal plea of not guilty. The law presumes a not guilty plea. Next, the prosecutor provides defense counsel with certain "notices" that are required by law that vary depending on the type of case and actual facts presented. Generally, these notices relate to notifying the defense about certain types of evidence that the Government has in its possession. For example, one type of notice frequently presented at arraignment notifies the defense that the Government has a statement from the defendant. The notices are rattled off in quick succession and identified by Criminal Procedure Law references. Once all the notices are handed to defense, the judge usually asks to hear the Government's position on bail. Usually, the prosecutor will request bail and briefly outline the basis for the request. After the prosecutor, the defense lawyer is then afforded an opportunity to speak and will usually seek the defendant's release from custody. Finally, after hearing from both sides, the judge decides whether to set bail and if so, how much.
After arraignment, the misdemeanors, violations and other various low-level infractions are tracked to "All Purpose Parts", or courtrooms where the cases will be negotiated, resolved, or readied for trial. Once certain procedural requirements are met, the defense will frequently request the opportunity to file pretrial motions. In these pretrial motions, the defense will request certain pretrial hearings, if required. Typically, there are three classic types of pretrial hearings and they all relate to testing the admissibility of evidence the Government intends to use at trial. These three classic pretrial hearings relate to the admissibility of: 1) identification evidence (like a lineup), 2) confession, or 3) physical evidence obtained from the accused or from a place where the accused has an expectation of privacy. Once pretrial hearings are completed the case is considered ready for trial and the case will usually be transferred to a courtroom that specializes in handling trials..
New York City Criminal Court is also responsible for handling felony accuasations beyond the arraignment. In New York, the Government is required to do more than simply prepare a written accusation when the charge includes a felony. In New York, the Government is required to seek and obtain an indictment in order to prosecute a felony case to its conclusion at a trial. An indictment is not a determination of guilt. Rather, an indictment is essentially a written permission slip for the Government, issued by the Grand Jury, to prosecute a person for a felony (or sometimes a misdmeanor). The Grand Jury is a group of citizens chosen at random similar to the manner in which jurors are chosen for criminal trials. The Government is required to get an indictment against every single person it is charging with a felony if the case is not resolved by agreement. While the burden on the Government is extremely low to obtain the Grand Jury indictment, the Grand Jury process is time consuming. It has fallen to New York City Criminal Court, then, to be responsible for "babysitting" unindicted felony cases. Unindicted felony cases are adjourned from arraignments to various Criminal Court courtrooms for monitoring their progress toward indictment. In fact, these courtrooms are quite busy and important because many cases are negotiated and ultimately resolved without needing to be indicted.
Once a case is indicted, however, it is transferred to New York State Supreme Court where it will be prepared for and, if necessary, ultimately tried.
Judges of the Criminal Court are appointed by the Mayor of New York to a 10 year term. Several Criminal Court Judges are designated as Acting Justices of the New York State Supreme Court. In addition, Judges of the New York City Civil Court are designated to sit in the Criminal Court.
Traffic violations in New York City are handled in the Traffic Violations Bureau, which operates under the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. The Bureau is an administrative law agency and not an Article III-type court.
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