Understanding the Fate of a Criminal

When is the fate of a criminal decided?

1. when the trial ends

2. when the criminal is arrested

3. when the trial begins

4. when the crime is committed

The fate of a criminal is decided when the trial ends.

A trial is held to decide if the person accused of committing a crime will be punished or not. In the system of common law, the defendant has the right to be tried before a jury, which is conformed by 12 people. In these cases, the jury is the one in charge of giving a verdict, that is to say the jury is in charge of deciding the fate of a criminal after examining the evidence provided by the lawyers.

When the trial ends. This is the correct version. The trial ends once the sentence is made. Through the sentence, the judge tells what the punishment will be. For example, this can be basically going to  prison or paying a bail.

These options are not right:

- when the criminal is arrested. The legal procedures start at this point.

- when the trial begins. The members of the jury and the judge start to evaluate the crime.

- when the crime is committed. This is the fact that will be punished. The sort of punishment is conditioned by the seriousness of the crime: the crime effects, basically.