Ch 3: Criminal Justice and the Law

Ex post facto law

A law that a legislature passed after a crime was committed. At the time the person committed the action, it was legal, and only later was the act deemed criminal.

Misdemeanor

A less serious crime punishable by fine, forfeiture, or short-term confinement, though in some jurisdiction gross, aggravated, or serious misdemeanor may be charged.

Constitutional Law

A major source of law established the fundamental rules and relationships among the judiciary, legislative, and executive branches at the state and federal levels.

Felicitous or Hedonistic Calculus

A measure indicating how much pleasure an individual gains from a specific act.

Common Law

A type of legal system originally developed in England, whereby the courts define the law and determine how to apply the law. This is the body of law derived from judicial opinions.

Panopticon

AN architectural design developed by Jeremy Bentham that allows a single person to watch others in a prison setting without those incarcerated knowing they are being watched.

Retribution

A goal of law that states that punishment is deserved or morally right. In addition, it is a goal of sentencing that seeks to punish the offender for criminal behavior.

Precedent

The legal principle of stare decisis, Latin for "let the decision stand" it establishes prior case decisions as binding precedent.

Battered Woman Syndrome

A criminal defense development to excuse or mitigate the actions of women who kill their abuser in cases of domestic violence despite a lack of imminent danger.

Felony

A criminal offense (e.g. murder, robbery, rape) that is more serious and generally results in more severe punishment than a misdemeanors.

Insanity Defense

A defense based on the belief that a select group of people who suffer from mental illness are unable to control their actions to such an extent that they cannot be held accountable for their crime.

Irresistible Impulse Test

A defense that fails to find a person criminally responsible if mental disease prevents the person from controlling his or her behavior.

Utilitarianism

A doctrine stating that an action is morally right as long as the behavior is a benefit for the majority of a society. This is the concept of the "greater good for the greater numbers".

Rule of Law

A fundamental principle in the criminal justice system in the United States that all government officers - including those in the criminal justice system - pledge to uphold the Constitution and to follow the Constitution, not any particular human leader.

Wobblers

Crimes that can be charged as wither felonies or misdemeanors.

Key Point #7

Actus reus and mens rea are important elements in proving a defendant committed a crime in a criminal case.

M'Naghten standard

Also called the "right-wrong" test, requires a jury to consider two questions: 1. Did the defendant understand what he or she was doing when the crime was committed? 2. Did the defendant know that his or her actions were wrong?

Brawner Rule

Also called the ALI rule, it reduced "knowing right from wrong" to the capacity to appreciate the difference between the two. In other words, a defendant must possess an "understanding of his conduct" and be able to "control his actions".

Age of Enlightenment

Brought about new ways of thinking including reforms arising from outrage against the barbaric system of the law and punishment just before the French Revolution in the late 18th century.

Key Point #5

Criminal and civil law have developed from many sources, including English common law, legislative statues, constitutions, and ordinances.

Class Action Lawsuit

Civil cases involving large numbers of victims in which courts authorize a single individual or small faction to present the interests of the larger group.

Key Point #9

Defenses used at trial include justification, insanity, mistake of fact, mistake of law, intoxication, duress, entrapment, and infancy.

Administrative Law

Derives from a legislative body's delegation of authority over commissions or boards to regulate activities controlled by written statues.

Durham Test

Determines if a criminal act was a product of mental disease or defect. This requires that jurors determine if a defendant had a mental disease or defect and if the condition was the reason for the criminal behavior.

Landmark Cases

Established precedent that markedly changes the interpretation of a prior law or establishes new case law.

Case Law

Law that is based on previous court decisions or precedents.

Statues

Formal rules or law, adopted by a governing body such as a state legislature.

Key Point #3

Free will and rational choice were emphasized during the Age of Enlightenment

Key Point #6

Landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court clarify due process rights under the Bill of Rights and established legal precedent.

Mens rea

Latin for "guilty mind," used in court to prove criminal intent.

Stare Decisis

Latin for "let the decision stand," meaning that judges must respect precedents set in previous court cases.

Lex Talionis

Latin for "the law of retribution" and commonly referred to as "an eye for an eye". This philosophy calls for retribution in which the punishment received should fit the crime committed.

Actus Reus

Latin term meaning "guilty act," used to indicate the physical act of the crime. Usually paired with mens rea to show criminal liability.

Civil Law

Law that deals with dispute between individuals or organizations and typically seeks some type of compensation for the harmed party.

Key Point #8

Misdemeanor crimes are less serious compared with felonies.

Punitive Damages

Money Awarded in addition to compensatory damages to punish the defendant for recklessness, malice, and deceit.

Compensatory Damages

Money awarded un a civil lawsuit for loss or injury suffered as a result of unlawful conduct.

Ordinances

Municipal or city rules

Trial by Ordeal

Primitive form of trial in which the outcome rested in the hands of GOD to determine guilt or innocence by protecting an innocent person from some or all the consequence of the test.

Restitution

Repayment as part of a punishment for injury or loss

Procedural Law

Rules governing court proceedings.

Substantive Law

Rules that are used to determine the rights of individuals and collective bodies.

Incapacitation

Sentencing goal that isolates the offender from the public and takes away one's ability to commit a crime against those in the public.

Rehabilitation

Sentencing goal that seeks to reduce chances of future offenders through education, alcohol or drug programs, psychological programs, and other treatments.

Key Point #1

The development of law has a complex and lengthy historical background.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guide procedural law pertaining to issues such as arrests, warrants, search/seizure, and trials.

Preemption Doctrine

The idea put forth in the Constitution that federal law is the "Supreme Law of the Land". In other words, usually federal law override conflicting state laws.

Key Point #2

The law and criminal justice system are based on principle of fairness and justice

Specific Deterrence

The notion that punishment serves to deter the individual being punished from committing crime in the future.

General Deterrence

The notion that the general populace will be deterred from committing crime baed on the perceived negative consequences of being caught.

Key Point #4

The primary goals of the law are deterrence, retribution, restitution, rehabilitation, and incapacitation.

Code of Hammurabi

the oldest known legal code, its established approximately 300 provision for family, trade, real property, personal property, and labor