Innocent until proven guilty

Semus, there are some people here with a pretty warped and paranoid ideas about the police and justice system.
And the system may be slightly different in other countries.

But basically any police officer can arrest you at any time.
You may resemble a rough description of a wanted person, and some cop just sees you walking down the street, so he arrests you on suspicion.

Arrest means you are physically taken to a police station and then CHARGED WITH A CRIME. Very likely fingerprinted and photographed, and maybe even a DNA sample taken these days.
You will also be allowed to contact someone, usually a lawyer, a friend, or your parents.

They can charge you on summons, which means they then let you go home, but you are expected to show up at court to answer the charge.

Or they can hold you in custody if they decide to do that, but only until you can appear before a magistrate, where your lawyer can request bail.

The police then might say you are dangerous, or are very likely to run away, or some other reason why you should be held in custody.
Your lawyer will argue that you have a job, a family, have never been in trouble before, and you should be granted bail.

The magistrate can do a number of things, whatever he feels like doing.
This is not a trial, but committal hearing.
It is very brief, the cops and your lawyer just give the magistrate the facts.

The magistrate may decide the police evidence is total BS, quite unreasonable, and he can dismiss all the police charges right there.
The whole thing is then over.

He can say there is some slight doubt about your innocence, but he is not sure. But you show no risk, and he will allow you to go home and appear back in court later date before another magistrate or judge for your trial.

He can be even more cautious and set bail after hearing all the police evidence and your lawyer will tell the magistrate about your personal and financial circumstances. He will then set bail, and allow you to go home.

He can be even more cautious still, and have you report to a police station at whatever intervals he and the police decide is appropriate.

The magistrate can decide you present just too much risk, and to be remanded in custody until your trial.

So basically it is not the cops that decide if you stay locked up after arrest, but a magistrate.

The magistrate decides what amount of bail money would be REASONABLE, depending on the seriousness of the crime, the riskl of you absconding, and what you can afford (or quickly borrow).
The amount is made high enough that it would make you very unlikely to run away and not appear in court, but not so high you just cannot afford it.

Could be a thousand dollars, or half a million dollars, depends on the circumstances, and who you are. The magistrate then sets bail.

When the money has been handed over, (usually always cash) you can go home.

When you appear at court to answer the charges, you get all that bail money back, (usually a cheque) regardless of what else happens at your trial.

If you fail to show up, you lose all your bail money, and an arrest warrant will be put out to have you picked up.

Once you are arrested the second time, you will have zero chance of convincing anyone to grant you bail !
And you will remain safely behind bars until your trial.

Any prison time you serve before your trial will be deducted from your final sentence, assuming you get a jail sentence.

[edit on 9/3/2010 by Silver Shadow]

Your question has been answered already, but my two cents:

If a cop believes that you have committed a crime, he arrests and charges you. The DA looks at the case and if he agrees that the cops have probable cause, he takes you to court.

In court, you are presumed legally innocent so that the facts and circumstances of the matter can be heard fairly and without prejudice against you. If you were presumed guilty by the court, like by the cops...there would be no need for a trial, they would just sentence you...or have the cop do it all, like Judge Dredd!!

The presumption of innocence means that the ACCUSER, the cops..have the BURDEN of proving your guilt....you do not have to prove your innocence, which is what the case would be if you were presumed guilty. See?

Originally posted by richierich
The presumption of innocence means that the ACCUSER, the cops..have the BURDEN of proving your guilt....you do not have to prove your innocence, which is what the case would be if you were presumed guilty. See?

Yup,

And if you can easily prove your innocence, the cops will almost always not even bother charging you in the first place.

Arresting and charging someone requires a lot of paperwork and extra time and effort for the cops, and taking the thing to court, even more work for them.

They just will not bother, unless they have sufficient evidence to nail you, or you make a confession and plead guilty.