TAMIR RICE, 12 -- KILLED BY CLEVELAND POLICE

[username]

Yeah, in certain cases we should just ignore the rule of law too. Who cares about procedural justice? When the population just feels like someone is wrong, we should just throw them in jail and forget about em.

You should add "can leap tall buildings" to your resume if it's not there already. That was impressive.

Anyway, it's not about ignoring the law, nutfuck. It's a procedural concern. Especially in a case where a police officer is involved...it's my opinion that there's a certain sort of incestuous relationship between the prosecutor's office and the police (not to mention supposedly impartial judges but that's from personal experience so I won't bore you with those details). A preliminary hearing seems like a more just approach as to whether or not the officer ought to be charged or indicted.

Anyway, here's some basic information for your reading pleasure.


48 States, Washington D.C Use Grand Juries for Indictments

According to the University of Dayton Law School of Law, all but two states, plus the District of Columbia, use grand juries for criminal indictments in at least some cases. Connecticut and Pennsylvania have both abolished the use of grand juries for criminal indictments. But both of these states still make use of grand juries for investigations of criminal activity.

In 23 states, indictments are required for certain serious crimes. These states are: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In the 25 other states, a grand jury indictment is optional. In those states, charges may be brought by a document called the information. In many states, an information is written by a prosecutor, similar to the initial criminal complaint, but is reserved only for felony or serious charges. Typically an information is filed after a preliminary hearing, including those charges which were found supported by probable cause.

Preliminary Hearings

In states where indictments are not required, whether probable cause exists to charge a defendant with a crime may be determined at a preliminary hearing. At a preliminary hearing, a judge will listen to arguments from both sides before determining whether or not the case should proceed to a criminal trial.