{"id":14,"date":"2015-06-05T20:10:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T20:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:04:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:04:52","slug":"show-cause-hearings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/for-those-seeking-help\/show-cause-hearings\/","title":{"rendered":"Criminal Clerk-Magistrate’s Hearings or “Show-Cause” Hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harvard Defenders provides free representation to low-income community members in criminal clerk-magistrate’s hearings. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"complaint
Application for Criminal Complaint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Criminal clerk-magistrate’s hearings (also known as “show-cause” hearings) occur when the police or the alleged victim of a crime file an Application for a Criminal Complaint with the court. After an application has been filed, the court will send the accused a notice in the mail requesting them to appear in a criminal clerk-magistrate’s hearing. At this hearing,\u00a0the complaining party must produce evidence demonstrating “probable cause” that the accused committed the crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hearing has three possible outcomes: 1) the complaint is dismissed<\/i>, 2) the complaint is issued<\/i>, or 3) the complaint is continued.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. If the complaining party fails to show probable cause, the complaint will be dismissed.<\/b> This means that no charges will be filed against the accused person and neither the case will not appear on the person\u2019s criminal record.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. If probable cause is shown, the clerk-magistrate may decide that the complaint be issued.<\/b> If the complaint is issued, the person will be arraigned. At arraignment, the person will be formally charged with a crime and may be provided court-appointed counsel if financially eligible. Issuance of the complaint is not a determination of guilt or innocence, but the charges will appear on the person\u2019s criminal record.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A finding of probable cause does not guarantee the complaint will be issued. Instead, the clerk-magistrate may decide that the complaint be continued.<\/b> This means the clerk-magistrate will hold the complaint open for a specified period, usually ranging from three months to a year from the hearing date. At the end of the continuance period, the complaint will be dismissed if the person complies with the conditions set by the clerk-magistrate. Nothing will appear on the person’s record if the complaint is dismissed after the continuance period.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Harvard Defenders provides free representation to low-income community members in criminal clerk-magistrate’s hearings. Criminal clerk-magistrate’s hearings (also known as “show-cause” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/1328"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinics.law.harvard.edu\/defenders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}