As a competitor in the Marathon des Sables, you’ll be responsible for your own food. To maintain physical strength, you’ll need between 3,000 and 4,000 calories per day. Dried food is best because of its low weight and volume. Plan for a solid breakfast before the race, and a large evening meal afterwards. Take dried fruit and nuts, and high energy bars as snacks.

During the race, you’ll need to drink between six and seven litres of water per day. Water is distributed in the morning, at control posts during the race and on completion of each stage – remember to save some each evening to prepare breakfast the next day. You mustn’t discard water bottles in the desert; they should be exchanged for new ones or thrown away at the control posts.

You’ll need a comfortable rucksack that doesn’t cover the competitor number on your chest; if it does, you may not be allowed to compete. The bag should contain everything you need, including food, a stove for heating water, a sleeping bag and your clothes. Everything you carry must be weighed so that your rucksack isn’t too heavy for you.

You should start preparing at least six months before the event starts. Aim to run 150 to 190 miles a week, increasing the distance as time goes on. Train with a rucksack occasionally and get used to drinking water on long runs. You can also use the practice runs to test different energy foods. If you aren’t used to running, you should not enter the competition.

Special satellite facilities are arranged during the race so that you can call friends and family. Phone calls cost around €3 per minute, so bring cash or a credit card with you. You can send one free email per day and the rest you will be charged for. If you want to receive internet messages, the sender will need your full name and competitor number.

It is summer. Mother duck has got six eggs. Five eggs break and five yellow ducklings come out. But the sixth egg doesn’t break. "Oh dear! This egg is very big," says mother duck. Later, the sixth egg breaks. A big grey duckling comes out. "Oh no! This duckling is ugly!" shouts mother duck. "Come on, ducklings. Let’s go and visit the hen," says mother duck. She looks at the ugly duckling and she says, "Walk behind your brothers and sisters. I don’t want anybody to see you. You’re ugly!" The ugly duckling is sad. The hen sees the ducklings. She sees the ugly duckling too. The hen laughs. "Look! That duckling is silly!" says the hen. "He has got short legs. He’s grey. His beak is silly. He’s an ugly duckling!" Everybody laughs. The ugly duckling is very sad.

Criminal procedure, also called the criminal process or the criminal justice system, is the mechanism thought which crimes are investigated, the guilt of criminals adjudicated, and punishment imposed. It includes the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and courts, the practices and procedures observed by them, and legal rules that govern them. In the criminal process an individual is pitted against the government, with all of its resources and authority, and only through the criminal process can the state’s most serious sanctions – imprisonment or even death – be applied.

Criminal law defines what conduct is criminal and prescribes the punishment for criminal conduct. Criminal procedure makes the criminal law work; the sanctions defined by criminal law are only effective because the criminal process can bring the sanctions to bear on individuals who violate the law. At the same time, criminal procedure aims to make sure that criminal sanctions are applied only to those who are guilty, and only through procedures that are recognized as fair. One goal of the criminal process is to punish the guilty, but other goals are to protect the innocent and to ensure that even the guilty are protected from abuse by the government.

Although we talk about “the” criminal process, different systems are in place in each state and in the federal courts.