UNIT 25

► Ex. I. Scan through the text Restore the word order in the questions that follow and answer them.

Criminal procedure in the United States follows a pattern derived from English traditions and principles, but with many variations. The lay magistrates play an insignificant role, if any, in the U.S. system, and the prosecutor (the district attorney) is a key courtroom figure. He determines the charges, which in turn may well determine whether the accused appears before a lower court (dealing with misdemeanours) or a higher court (dealing with felonies). The accused is offered bail in almost every case, but he is not released unless he is able to deposit with the court a certain sum, often posted on his behalf by a bailsman who charges a proportion of the amount of the bail. [Bail is money left with a court of law to prove that a prisoner will return when their trial.] The role of the examining magistrates in English criminal procedure may be played in the United States by the grand jury whose task it is to examine the evidence produced by the prosecutor and, if warranted, to return an indictment. [Indictment is an official written statement charging someone with m criminal offence.] The deliberations and proceedings before the grand jury are normally conducted in private. When the case is brought before the trial court, it is often settled on the basis of a plea bargain made between the prosecutor and the defense lawyer, by which the accused pleads guilty to some of the charges and the prosecutor recommends a sentence that has been agreed upon beforehand. [Plea bargaining is the practice of agreeing to admit in a court that one is guilty of a small crime, in exchange for not being charged with a more serious crime.]