After You Are Arrested: Booking, Bail, and O.R.

How Do You Get Someone Out of Jail?

Understand how bail works, the process for setting and paying bail, and the risks of paying someone's bail to get them out of jail.

The Booking Process

When a suspect is arrested, he or she is usually taken to jail and booked. Learn what happens during this process and what it's for.

Getting Bailed Out of Jail

Once you're in jail, you want to get out as soon as possible. Learn how bail works.

Preliminary Criminal Hearing: Process and Procedures

Learn the purpose behind preliminary hearings and how this mini-trial or preview offers several advantages to defendants.

What Are Mitigating or Extenuating Circumstances?

Mitigating circumstances (such as a defendant's young age or lack of a criminal record) could convince the prosecutor or judge to cut the defendant a break.

Should I Admit Guilt to My Criminal Defense Attorney?

It's up to the judge or jury to determine guilt. Your job is to be candid with your defense attorney, so that he or she can present the best possible defense.

Should I Plead Guilty?

The plea deal is an essential part of the American criminal justice system. In the majority of cases in state criminal courts, the defense and the prosecution decide not to go to trial and, instead, to compromise with a plea agreement.

Summary Judgments and Pretrial Judgments: Civil and Criminal Trials

Once a criminal trial has begun but before it goes to the jury, it's possible for a defendant to obtain a not-guilty verdict from the judge.

Getting a Criminal Charge Dismissed

Many cases are dismissed before a plea or trial. Learn about the common reasons why.

What Happens If You Commit a Crime in Another State?

It can be bewildering to navigate any criminal justice system, but even more so if you are from out of state. Understand what it means to face out-of-state criminal charges.

What Is an Alibi Defense? How Do I Raise it?

An alibi defense is a defense based on information that a defendant was not at the scene of the crime when the crime occurred, that he was somewhere else and could not be the person who committed the crime.

Entrapment as a Defense to a Criminal Charge

Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges. It prohibits a conviction when the defendant can show that he had no original intent to commit a crime, and did so onlybecause law enforcement agents persuaded or coerced him.

Affirmative Defenses in Criminal Cases

Affirmative defenses differ from state to state, as well as the burden of proof for the defendant in proving an affirmative defense also differs.

Pleading Insanity in a Criminal Case

When defendants plead not guilty by reason of insanity, they are asserting an affirmative defense—that is, they admit that they committed a criminal act, but seek to excuse their behavior by reason of mental illness that satisfies the definition of legal insanity. People who are adjudged to have been insane at the time they committed a crime are neither legally nor morally guilty.

Getting a Criminal Charge Dismissed

Many cases are dismissed before a plea or trial. Learn about the common reasons why.

Getting a Case Dismissed After Conviction

When thinking about getting charges dismissed, we tend to think of a dismissal before trial or before a plea agreement. Charges also can be dismissed even if the case has gone to trial and the defendant has lost. A convicted defendant who wins an appeal can sometimes secure an order from the appellate

Federal Sentencing Guidelines

The federal sentencing guidelines are rules that federal judges are required to consider when sentencing someone who has been convicted of a crime.

What Are Mitigating or Extenuating Circumstances?

Mitigating circumstances (such as a defendant's young age or lack of a criminal record) could convince the prosecutor or judge to cut the defendant a break.

Sentencing Alternatives to Jail and Prison

As the jail and prison populations in the United States have exploded, courts have become more and more open to alternatives to incarceration. As long as a case does not involve mandatory sentences required by law, judges have wide discretion to use these alternatives.

What Is Probation?

Probation allows convicted defendants to avoid serving their entire sentence, as long as they comply with certain conditions. How does probation work? And is it a good option for you?