Finding of fact
In criminal proceedings in the United States, the finding of fact refers to the procedure in the interim proceedings of the three-part procedural rules made up of preliminary proceedings, criminal proceedings and criminal proceedings. Such an intermediate procedure is unknown in the German legal system.
After the initial investigation by the police and the public prosecutor's office, a lawsuit is filed, the free evidence of which is examined in a formal interim process, with further evidence being taken during the course of the proceedings at the request of the parties. Depending on the circumstances of the proceedings, a credibility claim is made on the evidence, be it "more likely than not" (predominantly likely) or "beyond reasonable doubt" (beyond any reasonable doubt). At the end of the interim proceedings, there is an interim judgment, which with “finding of fact” (literally “finding of facts”) is a “judgment of evidence” that does not contain any penalty. Subsequent criminal proceedings will then decide on the question of the violation of the law and answer with a “finding of law” (literally “finding the law”), which represents the actual “criminal judgment”.
In order to illustrate the difference between cognitive proceedings and criminal proceedings, the following questions can serve to illustrate:
- Question of fact: Did Mr. and Mrs. Meier leave their 10-year-old child at home alone with the newborn for four days?
- Question of law: Does this credible determination of evidence constitute a criminal offense of child neglect?
The factual statement, how “finding of fact” is often misleadingly translated into German (it means something else), does not in itself contain an accusation of guilt. However, it serves as the basis for subsequent criminal proceedings to decide on the gravity of a violation of the law. In the United States, it is very difficult to challenge the judgment of evidence in an appeals court, as the credibility of evidence must be judged by a set standard, the challenge of which is hardly considered.
The finding of a judgment then includes weighing the evidence against the statutory provisions, whereby earlier judgments based on similar evidence are also gladly presented ("case law"). The judge has considerable leeway here to assess the violation of the law and the type of punishment drawn from it. In many cases, however, at the latest at the end of the interim proceedings on the basis of the evidence, an agreement is reached between the plaintiff and the defendant ( plea bargaining ), as a result of which the plaintiff (public prosecutor) proposes a somewhat low penalty to the court and the defendant directly commits the alleged misconduct found guilty.