What is the Central Judicial Processing Court?
The Central Judicial Processing Court (also referred to as the CJP, Pre-Arraignment Court, or Arraignment Court) is the first in a series of hearings that take place after a person is arrested. When an arrest is made, a police officer must, pursuant to NJ state law, bring the arrestee before a court no later than within 48 hours of the arrest (excluding weekends and holidays) so that the court can inform the person of the charges and determine whether that person is eligible for release from pretrial detention. In New Jersey, this is done at the Central Judicial Processing Court and the entire process is known as the central judicial processing.
For most arrestees, the Central Judicial Processing Court will occur the day after the individual is arrested . The hearing is held in a courtroom like any other. It is a series of hearings in which you appear with your criminal defense attorney after you have been arrested. Most charges and the majority of releases are routine and are disposed of by the clerks that work in the courthouse.
The actual matters addressed in the Central Judicial Processing Court can overlap with the re-arraignment court conducted by the judge at the Municipal Court for Municipal Court cases. The Central Judicial Processing Courts deal with most, if not all of the County’s Municipal Court cases heard in the superior Court over which the judge has jurisdiction. Some counties do not have these courts and even for those that do, not all of them hold central judicial processing court for certain specific cases.
Role of the Central Judicial Processing Court
The Central Judicial Processing Court holds initial appearances for individuals who have been arrested on criminal complaints or indictables, but whose cases have not yet been referred to the Assignment Judge. As a result, if a person is arrested on an indictable offense in Morris County, they will likely go to the CJPS Court in Morristown Municipal Court. At that time they will be given the opportunity to enter a plea or reject the plea offer in an event of a disorderly persons charge. If the case involves an indictable felony, the defendant will be provided with the charges and provided a chance to apply for a Public Defender. The defendant will also be informed of their right to counsel and their right to discovery.
Arraignments are held in the CJPS Court and are conducted almost immediately. Unlike a bill of indictment in state court, the defendant should not expect to wait longer than a few days from issuance of the complaint to the CJPS Court hearing. In fact, the court will most like demand the presence of the defendant through an order of commitment in the event that the defendant fails to appear pursuant to a Court Order. Once in Court, the defendant will be sworn in and given an opportunity to address the Court concerning the charges and making a decision whether or not they wish to enter a plea.
The Central Judicial Processing Court will also hold bail hearings and decisions regarding pre-trial detention if the criminal complaint is elevated to indictment. Bail hearings are scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. in Morris County Superior Court located in Morristown, New Jersey. Pre-trial detention hearings are held Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.
What does the Central Judicial Processing Court do?
The Central Judicial Processing Court exercises jurisdiction over criminal cases in most towns and cities in the State of New Jersey. Unlike other municipal courts that have jurisdiction only over criminal offenses arising from events occurring in that town or city, Central Judicial Processing Court has jurisdiction over criminal charges arising from events occurring anywhere in the State of New Jersey. The law that creates the Court also provides that it has jurisdiction over a larger number of criminal offenses per session than other municipal courts. While most municipal courts will handle approximately two hundred criminal cases per session, the jurisdiction of the Central Judicial Processing Court, as well as a few other specially designated municipal courts, is increased to one thousand cases per session. One exception to this rule is that Central Judicial Processing Court does not accept disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses that occurred in towns or cities that have their own municipal court. For example, a disorderly persons offense case originating in the City of Newark Municipal Court will not be transferred to the Central Judicial Processing Court because Newark already has an adequate local municipal court. Central Judicial Processing Court will accept disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses originating in towns with a local municipal court only if that municipal court is out of service or otherwise busy and cannot accommodate the case.
Critical Role of Central Judicial Processing Court
For these reasons, the CJPC, and the LJP in particular, are critical to the efficacy of the judicial system in general. The CJPC is important because it helps expedite the judicial process by ensuring all preliminary issues are brought up and heard prior to the case being tried in front of a jury. At the CJPC, there is a dedicated LJP which hears all motions filed early on in the case. These preliminarily issues include the responsiveness of discovery, motions to detain/hold, motions to dismiss, and motions for extensions of time. A LJP is also responsible for narrowing discovery to the issues and witnesses that will be present at trial. By narrowing the focus of discovery , there is less to wade through and the discovery process will move more quickly. All of these factors tie together to assist in ensuring that a case is brought to trial in a prompt manner.
As the CJPC is extremely important to the overall judicial system, its importance in the municipal court system cannot be over emphasized. The nature of municipal court practice typically involves several similar motions being filed in many different municipal courts. If the LJP hears motions for all municipal courts in each county in the state, then there will be consistency in rulings throughout the state. This will also streamline the process because once a ruling is made in one county, other counties may follow suit, as opposed to filing the same motion and getting different results in different counties. For these reasons, the CJPC is critical to the overall judicial system.
Typical Functions in Central Judicial Processing Courts
When an individual has been arrested and detained, he is entitled to a "Central Judicial Processing" hearing before a judge within seventy-two hours of his arrest. This "CJP" or initial hearing takes place before the criminal court that has jurisdiction over the matter. At this initial hearing the defendant will be formally charged with committing a crime, he has the right to have an attorney present during the proceeding, and he must be informed of the charges against him. In some jurisdictions a standard form appears to have been developed which sets forth the defendant’s rights in a check off format to ensure that a defendant knows and understands his right to counsel, the right to have a plea bargain, the right to a jury trial and the right to be tried by an impartial judge, amongst other rights. There are forms that set forth the rights of defendants for just about every procedural hearing. As to a CJP hearing, the defendant can either be on notice, or arrested by summons, or appear voluntarily. The defendant can be released on his own recognizance, held without bail and scheduled for a subsequent hearing and a possible appearance before the grand jury, or the defense attorney may determine that an application for bail should be made before the criminal division judge. In addition, victims who are concerned that conditions of restraining orders and bail are not being complied with, may appear before the judge on their own, with an attorney, or through the local prosecutor, to make arguments that there has been a breach of the victim’s rights. The prosecutor may also assert if necessary that the defendant poses a danger to the victim if he is released, and present testimony from parties other than the victim to support his or her position. If bail is set, the defendant has the right to ask the court to reduce the bail amount to an amount that the defendant can afford.
Central Judicial Processing Courts’ Challenges
Today, too many criminal choirs face a tsunami of new cases for which they are not adequately funded, and for which there is no expectation of legislative relief. Unfortunately, many producers are focused on the results of their bounty (law enforcement convictions, criminal defendant acquittals) rather than on the process itself . Furthermore, most central judicial processing courts exist in the "shadow" of history, and are burdened with a large number of "old cases" which only exacerbate the problem of backlog. The result is a continuing cycle of trial delay that underfunded prosecutors, defense counsel, and personnel in understaffed central judicial processing courts struggle to meet.