Saturday, August 7, 2010

Why do criminal cases go cold?

Sometimes I just feel the FBI/police, whoever responsible for investigating, are just taking way too long to solve a case and prosecute.





I know the process is complicated, but I don't understand why they can't pick up their pace fast enough before it goes cold and literally 10 years after, arrest the guy.Why do criminal cases go cold?
Criminal cases go cold because of lack of evidence. Sometimes the evidence is there but has been tainted in some way and cannot be used. There are various rules and laws governing how evidence can be obtained and if one person makes a mistake, the evidence is lost.





When the D.A.'s office has clear evidence that will withstand a court trial, they act very fast.Why do criminal cases go cold?
Because there is limited man-power %26amp; they have to shift it to incoming cases before they get cold.
Because new cases arise that need immediate attention and resources. There simply aren't enough detectives to actively follow every case 100% of the time.
Lack of evidence, resources, money......





It costs a lot of money to investigate a crime.
There is a difference in taking a long time to insure the facts of the case are supported by the evidence and rushing to trial without sufficient proof to insure a conviction.





In the first case, while there may never be a trial, there is also no irreversable error.





In the second case, if an error in judgement is made as to the strength of the evidence and the matter is adjudicated 'not guilty', the case can never be brought again and the matter is over.





So, which would you prefer. Prepare the evidence so that a conviction can be obtained or, rush to trial and take the chance of never being able to bring the guilty to account?
Usually it only goes cold if they reach a point where they don't have enough evidence to indict. When you hear about a case being revived after a period of years, it is because new evidence has been found, often due to the persistence of the investigators who didn't simply drop the case.
Cases in which enough evidence is available should go to fast track courts and disposed off soon. No pressure of unnecessary cases should be a buden on courts. Then the cases which require long arguments can be taken up and settled by usual courts relatively faster. Many a times complaints or cases with no evidence at all, also delay other cases. Such cases also should be dismissed soon.

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