Criminal Indictments. Criminal Indictment Information - Click Here to Learn How to Get It!

When is a criminal indicted?

A criminal indictment is the official accusation of a crime. Criminal indictments are usually handled by a grand jury, although this may differ across national legal systems. The jury decided is there are clauses to press charges or not.

A criminal indicted in criminal offence will be sent to a trial and the results from the jury decision will he taken into account during the trial. United States Constitution, in its 5th Amendment, makes it very clear that there can not be a trial without a criminal indicted by a Grand Jury.

What is a federal criminal indictment? Criminal complaint vs indictment.

Criminal justice system is divided into two major parts - state and federal. Likewise there can be a federal criminal indictment or a state indictment. The difference is mainly in the scope of the crime offence. The mechanism of a federal criminal indictment is the same as any other - there is a Grand jury that makes a decision of there are sufficient causes for a trial to be initiated.

Prosecutors can process an indictment without a Grand Jury as well. In this case they file the charges directly at the court and this is called criminal complaint vs indictment.

It is important to mention that indictment information may not be public for a period of time and it cannot be found in one's public record until it is unsealed.