Criminal procedure, also called the criminal process or the criminal justice system, is the mechanism thought which crimes are investigated, the guilt of criminals adjudicated, and punishment imposed. It includes the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and courts, the practices and procedures observed by them, and legal rules that govern them. In the criminal process an individual is pitted against the government, with all of its resources and authority, and only through the criminal process can the state’s most serious sanctions – imprisonment or even death – be applied.
Criminal law defines what conduct is criminal and prescribes the punishment for criminal conduct. Criminal procedure makes the criminal law work; the sanctions defined by criminal law are only effective because the criminal process can bring the sanctions to bear on individuals who violate the law. At the same time, criminal procedure aims to make sure that criminal sanctions are applied only to those who are guilty, and only through procedures that are recognized as fair. One goal of the criminal process is to punish the guilty, but other goals are to protect the innocent and to ensure that even the guilty are protected from abuse by the government.
Although we talk about “the” criminal process, different systems are in place in each state and in the federal courts.
