Like, if your husband or friend hit you and someone else called the police but you didn't want to press charges, could they still be arrested? (Assuming NO ONE presses charges or whatever it's called)Oooor can you get arrested if someone ELSE who witnessed the event presses charges for you (If that's possible)? Can you even murder someone and not go to jail if no 'charges' are pressed?I'm just wondering! Well, it's kind of for a story, but mostly I'm just trying to figure out how it works.(I don't know the synonym for pressing charges, sorry.)
People are under this misconception that people are the ones to press charges, when in fact it is the police that press the charges. Police tend to want the opinion of the victim, but if there is evidence to prove this could have occurred, the police are the ones that actually press the charges, not the person that is the victim. As others have stated, most states now have a law that states if a domestic disturbance has occurred, someone (typically the male) must be arrested, regardless of whether the victim wants to press charges or not. This is because police were getting sick of being called out to these disturbances and the victim not wanting to press charges. A simple resolution to not wanting to press charges is to not call the police in the first place... although I would personally advise against that. A witness cannot press charges. If a murder takes place and the police can pinpoint who the likely suspect is, that person will be arrested, no doubt about it. Once the officer presses the charges, the state officially charges the person and the state is the one that convicts, not the victim.
The only person who has the ability or authority to press or file charges is the prosecutor. Neither the victim, a witness, nor the police can file or press charges. It is very uncommon for a victim of domestic violence to want charges to be filed against the perpetrator. This is the primary reason that victims are no longer asked or required to press charges. When there is sufficient evidence to support a conviction, the prosecutor's office has the absolute right to pursue criminal charges - even against the wishes of the victim. Prosecutors can take into account the wishes of the victim when deciding whether or not to pursue criminal charges. (Essentially, they need to figure out if they can obtain a conviction based on the other evidence even if they have a hostile and uncooperative witness.) Domestic violence calls that involve ANY physical contact between the parties end in a mandatory arrest of at least one of the parties. The police are not allowed to leave the scene without taking one of them insto custody. (If you have time and the inclination, you should do some research onto the evolution of domestic violence laws in this country. It is very interesting as it started with it NOT being a crime to smack your wife; to it being a crime but not one that police officers would make arrests for because 99% of the time the victim would be at the station the following morning to drop the charges; to the law changing to require arrests of the perpetrator and require that the State pursue criminal charges even against the wishes of the victim.)
If you commit a felony (it can be witnessed or not) the state presses charges. If a person was a victim then they are just a witness. The same holds true for domestic violence, even though it may be a misdemeanor. Lets just, a simple case, say a neighbor calls police over noise at your house. Cops arrive and when you answered the door they see a fresh ligature mark around your neck and your boyfriend is holding a belt the same width as the ligature mark. furniture is upset adn you child is in the corner crying. You say nothing happened. They will, in fact must, arrest the BF for domestic violence. If the prosecutor thinks he can prove the case in court even without your cooperation, like from photos of the ligature mark, then the state prosecutes (presses charges) as the victim.
Yes. In almost every state a domestic violence call mandates an arrest if there is evidence that a domestic has taken place and their are injuries. Even if verbal, one has to go! There are states where you can press charges, like Mass. But then there are others where only the police, States Attorney or the county attorneys can press charges other than in civil matters. Even Child abuse complaints are civil unless brought by the police!
I actually am a prosecutor, and your question has several parts. Arrested and pressing charges are two different things. you can be arrested by police for whatever charge, and the paperwork follows after. You need information from someone on a first hand basis to press charges, but you can arrest someone for less than that. That's when Speedy Trial provisions kick in. the prosecutors then have time to get a statement from someone who actually witnessed the crime, and if they don't have it by a certain time, the charges die. But if you had a bail that you couldn't make, then you couldve been in jail all that time, ya know?
