grandjury.doc

Name:杨茂林 No:1501020296 Grand jury From wikipedia A?grand jury?is a legal body that is empowered to conduct?official proceedings?to investigate potential?criminal conduct?and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may?compel?the?production of documents?and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. A grand jury is separate from the?courts, which do not preside over its functioning.[1] The?United States?and?Liberia?are the only countries that retain grand juries,[2][3]?although some other?common law?jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of?preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of the grand jury include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence and hearing the sworn testimony of witnesses that appear before it. The grand jurys accusatory function is to determine whether or not there is?probable cause?to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offence within the venue of the district court. A grand jury in the United States is usually composed of 16 to 24 citizens, though in Virginia it is composed of lesser numbers for regular or special grand juries. In?Ireland, they also functioned as local government authorities. In Japan the Law of July 12, 1948 created the?Kensatsu Shinsakai?(Prosecutorial Review Commission, or PRC, system), much like a grand jury. A grand jury is so named because traditionally it has a greater number of jurors than a trial?jury, called a petty jury (from the French word?petit?meaning small).[4] Grand juries in the United States The?United States?is virtually the only?common law?jurisdiction in the world that continues to use the?grand jury?to screen criminal indictments.[1][2]?Generally speaking, a grand jury may issue an indictment for a crime, also known as a true bill, only if it finds, based upon the evidence that has been presented t