Section 4.1 History and Purposes of Grand Juries

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

I. (§4.1) History and Purposes of Grand Juries

All felony cases in Missouri are begun either by indictment or information. An information is produced by the use of a preliminary hearing system; an indictment is a product of the grand jury. The English common law created the grand jury system that eventually became embodied in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.” U.S. Const. amend. V.

The purpose of the Fifth Amendment is to ensure that serious crimes are not pursued against an individual unless an independent objective body—the grand jury—considers the evidence...