Explainers
Criminal procedure from arrest through pretrial release, charge levels, and record relief.
Criminal procedure moves fastest exactly when defendants understand it least: the hours after an arrest, the first appearance before a judge, the bail decision made in minutes. Knowing the sequence — and the constitutional rights attached to each step — changes what people say, sign, and agree to under pressure.
These explainers walk through the process chronologically, from arrest and booking through charge levels, pretrial release, and the record-relief laws that decide how long a case follows someone after it ends. Procedure varies by state; we flag where local rules control and link to official court resources.
A stage-by-stage walkthrough of the first days after an arrest — booking, constitutional rights, the 48-hour probable cause rule, appointed counsel, and what happens at the first court appearance.
Read the arrest explainer first — the rights it covers matter most in the first 48 hours. The charge-levels and bail guides explain the decisions that follow, and the expungement guide covers what can be done after a case closes.
The one-year line that separates misdemeanors from felonies, how each charge level changes procedure and punishment, and why collateral consequences often outlast the sentence itself.
What courts actually weigh when setting bail or release conditions — the federal Bail Reform Act framework, risk factors and assessment tools, forms of release, and the state reforms replacing money bail.
Expungement and sealing can limit who sees a criminal record, but eligibility, terminology, and procedure differ sharply by state — and federal relief is very narrow.
A DUI arrest triggers a criminal case and a separate licence action run by the motor vehicle agency. This guide covers both tracks, implied consent, chemical testing law, and the deadlines people miss.
Juvenile court uses its own vocabulary and its own goals. This guide explains intake, petitions, adjudication and disposition, when a case can be moved to adult court, and how juvenile records are treated.
How domestic violence cases proceed — arrest policies, the difference between criminal no-contact orders and civil protective orders, firearm restrictions, and why prosecutors often continue anyway.
An explanation of how controlled substances are scheduled, how quantity and intent turn possession into distribution, and how diversion programmes and drug courts offer an alternative to conviction in many states.
What actually happens in a white-collar investigation — how prosecutors gather evidence, what a grand jury subpoena requires, why interviews carry unusual risk, and how parallel cases interact.
How revocation actually works — the due process minimums from Morrissey and Gagnon, the lower burden of proof, technical versus new-crime violations, and the outcomes short of full revocation.
What rights a crime victim actually has in a criminal case — the ten federal rights under 18 U.S.C. 3771, how state schemes parallel them, how to assert a right that is denied, and how restitution works.