Criminal charge

Common card · No. 478043

A criminal charge is a formal allegation made by a governmental authority (usually a public prosecutor or the police) asserting that somebody has committed a crime. This can result in a conviction (guilty), acquittal (not guilty), or the charges being dropped. A charging document, which contains one or more criminal charges or counts, can take several forms, including: complaint information indictment citation traffic ticket The charging document is what generally starts a criminal case in court. But the procedure by which somebody is charged with a crime and what happens when somebody has been charged varies from country to country and even sometimes within a country. Before a person is found guilty of a crime, a criminal charge must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Read on Wikipedia