1. An initial appearance 2. A preliminary hearing 3. Action by the grand jury 4. An arraignment 5. A process of discovery

Summarizes the debate between truth and conflict resolution in the criminal justice system. Criminals receive lesser penalities and charges while prosecutors secure a "win" while not wasting their time at trial

Settlement negotiations happen between attorneys from both sides in civil cases and try to find a compromise that satisfies both sides. Uncertain jury decisions are not very appealing to litigants and judges would prefer that cases didn't go to trial due to their large caseloads

Bail is the provision set by a defendant of money or assests that they will forfeit if they fail to appear. Judges consider the crime, the person's race and gender and the previous record when determining how much to set bail at

Sometimes, pretrial publicity is so rampant that it has the potential to impact a fair jury trial. Typically in this case, a defense attorney will request a change of venue in which the trial can be heard by a fair and impartial jury

Adjunctive competence is the set of abilities necessary for a criminal defendant to understand the proceedings in which he or she is participating and make rational decisions about the alternative courses of action that are available to be pursued

Anchoring and adjustment bias occurs when individuals are strongly influenced or "anchored" by an initial starting value and whem in subsequent decisions, they do not sufficiently adjust their judgments away from this starting point

An arraignment is a formal statement of charges and an intial plea by the defendant to these charges

Change of venue is a decision made by a trial judge to move a trial to another location usually due to pretrial publicity that has prevented the paneling of an open-minded jury

Charge bargaining is a form of plea bargaining in which a prosecutor reduces the number of severity of charges against a criminal defendant in exchange for a guilty plea

Discovery is the procedure in which the attorney for one side seeks to become aware of the materials used by the other side to form its case

Evaluation apprehension is the conern about the ways that others evaluate oneself

Exculpatory evidence is any evidence that clears a defendant of fault or guilt

Extralegal factors are pieces of irrelevant information about a periticular case that is not presented in a legal context

Framing effects are the way that decision alternatives are presented (or framed as either gains or loses) and hwo they can have a significant impact on a person's choice. Individuals are more willing to take chances when the decisions alternatives are presented in terms of gains

A gag order is a trial judge's order to the press not to print or broadcast certain information; gag orders of this type are usually found to violate the First Amendment. More common are court orders to attorneys and witnesses not to talk to the rpess about an upcoming trial; gag orders are entered to rpevent pretial publicity from affecting prespective jurors

Generic prejudice is prejudice that arises from media coverage of issues not specifically related to a particular case but thematically relevant to the issues at hand

A grand jury is a group of citizens who receive evidence in closed proceedings and decide whether to issue an indictment

Heuristics are mental shortcuts or educated guesses that help solve a problem. These methods typically utilize experimentation and trial-and-error techniques

An indictment is an accusation issued by a grand jury chargine the defendant with criminal misconduct

An initial appearance is the constitutional right to be brought before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. The primary purpose is for the judge to review the evidnece summarized by the presucutor and determine whether there is reason to blieve that the suspect committed the crimes charged

Legal factors are the variables related to the offense or the offender's legal history

A matching heuristic is a process in which decision makers search through a subset of available case information and then make a decisions based on only a small number of factors, often ignoring other seemingly relevant information

A motion in limine is a legal request for a judge to make a pretial ruling on some matter of law expected to arise at the trial

The overconfidence bias generally refers to one's overconfidence in various decision making contexts. It applies to defendants who believe (incorrectly) that they have a chance to win at trial, sometimes leading to rejection of reasonable plea offers from prosecutors

Plea bargains are that in exchange for the defendant's promise to forgo a trial, the government may promise to chanrge the defendant with a lesser crime or ask the judge for a reduced sentence. When the "bargain" is reached, the defendant pleads guilty and no trial is held

A preliminary hearing is the step between arrest and trial. At a preliminary hearing, the prosecution must offer some evidnece on every element of the crime charged and the judge must decide whether the evidence is sufficient to pursue the case further

Preventive detention is the detention of accused persons who pose a risk of flight or who are dangerous

Reservation price is in negotiations, a negotiator's bottom line. Defendants in settlement negotiations typically have maximum amounts they are willing to pay and plaintiffs have minimum amounts they are willing to accept

The self-serving bias is the tendency to interpret information or make decisions in ways that are consistent with one's own interests, rather than in an objective fashion

Sentence bargaining is a form of plea bargaining in which a prosecutor recommends a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea

Source monitoring is the ability to accurately identify the source of one's memory

Specific pretrial publicity is media coverage concerning the details of one specific case prior to trial

Voir dire is the process by which the judge and/or attorneys ask potential jurors quesitons and attempt to uncover any biases