Criminal Courts Chapters 1-4

Dual Court Systems

- 50 state systems - One federal system

Why Study Courts?*

- Courts make decisions every day that affect everyone's lives. - The public hears so much about courts on the news and in television shows. (It is important to tell fact from fiction, a lot of false depictions are out there).

Know Law Is...

- Created by legislature. - Provides rules to guide conduct. - Is a means of resolving disputes. - And a means of maintaining order through the courts.

Mala in se

Crimes that are inherently harmful; generate strong emotional responses in all victims.

Jurors

Decide whether those charged with crimes are guilty, selected from a jury pool, venire, jury panel, void dire: "to see to speak (French)".

Precedent

Decisions handed down by appellate courts affect that court and all lower courts beneath it. The U.S. Supreme Court is highest in the country.

Criminal Law

Designed to allow for the adjudication and punishment of those who violate society's rules, or criminal laws.

Common Law

Originally a collection of English Laws created by judges as they handed down rulings on cases by applying the national law as they saw fit. Served as the foundation for American Law.

U.S. Constitution

Primary source of rights, only three individual rights specifically mentioned: -Habeas Corpus -Bill of attainder -Ex post facto law

Adjudication

Processing defendants arrested by police and charged with criminal offenses. In other words, the criminal trial process. Most prevalent in limited and general jurisdiction courts at state level and U.S. District Courts at the federal level.

Two Categories of Court Actors

Professional: Bailiff, court administrators and expert witness. Unprofessional: Jurors and lay witnesses.

8th Amendment

Prohibition against excessive bail. Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Basis for many arguments against capital punishment.

Substantive due process

Limits exist as to what conduct the law may seek to prohibit, laws cannot infringe on the substantive rights of individuals.

Code of Hammurabi

- King Hammurabi of Babylonia - Earliest known legal code - More than 4000 years old - Governed all sorts of societal behavior - Established lex talionis justice

Courts of Appeal

- Occasionally referred to as circuit courts - 13 (11 states, D.C., federal) - Hear both criminal and civil matters - Rulings typically made by 3-judge panels - En banc

State Supreme Courts

-State "court of last resort". -Has discretion on which cases to hear. -If appellate loses, the only place left to appeal to is the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ways judges are selected:

1 Appointment 2 Election 3 Merit System

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt

50% plus a feather, must have zero doubt that defendant is guilty, and this is solely the purpose of prosecutors.

State Courts

98% of the 100 million federal and state cases are handled in state courts.

En banc

A case is heard by an entire panel of judges, not a select judge.

Mala prohibita

A term applied to any action that is criminalized strictly by statute and statutory law. The phrase is Latin, and translates as wrong because it is prohibited.

Inchoate Crimes

Anticipatory and incomplete crimes, legally they are completed crimes in which criminal liability exists even though the contemplated act or actions never take place. -attempt -solicitation -conspiracy

9th Amendment

Bill of Rights is not exhaustive list of citizen's rights, e.g. right to privacy.

Corpus delicti

Body of crime and/or evidence.

Conflict Theory

Considers society to be composed of individuals and groups with sharply different interests. Views society as characterized by conflict and dissension. Views humanity as exploitive and duplicitous. Capitalism is the root cause of evil.

Due Process and the 14th Amendment

Contains five clauses, forbids states from violating citizens' due process or equal protection. States cannot make unequal, arbitrary distinctions between people, does allow for "suspect classifications"; basis of incorporation.

Consensus

Emphasizes how society is structured to maintain its stability. Views society as an integrated network of institutions that function to maintain social order and the system as a whole. Popular perspective among legal theorists. View of the law as basically neutral.

5th Amendment

Establishes the right to indictment by a grand jury. Prohibition against double jeopardy, established dual sovereignty. Privilege against self-incrimination. Basis for Miranda warnings, establishes due process and just compensation.

4th Amendment

Forbids "unreasonable" searches and seizures. Stands directly between citizens and police. Establishes requirements of "probable cause" and requires the existence of probable cause before warrants may be issued, seizures may take place and searches may take place.

3rd Amendment

Forced quartering of soldiers not constitutional, not incorporated.

Jurisdiction

Four types: - Personal - Subject Matter - Geographic - Hierarchical

1st Amendment

Freedoms of: religion, speech, press and to peaceably assemble. Each freedom guaranteed was a point of contention with the English King. Freedoms are not absolute.

Defense Attorneys

Gideon v Wainwright (1963); many types: public defender, assigned counsel, contract, retained. Role is primarily to ensure the defendant's rights are not violated by the police, to make sure the defendant knows all of their options. Provide best possible defense and to investigate and prepare defense.

Void for vagueness

In criminal law, a declaration that a law is invalid because it is not sufficiently clear. Laws are usually found void for vagueness if, after setting some requirement or punishment, the law does not specify what is required or what conduct is punishable.

General jurisdiction

Is the authority to hear cases of all kinds - criminal, civil, family, probate, and so forth

Original jurisdiction

Is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.

Judges

Issue warrants, maintain order in the courtroom, responsible for deciding whether to sustain or overrule objections, determine sentence, many more responsibilities.

Law*

Law is a written body of rules of conduct applicable to all of a defined community, society, or culture which emanate from a governing authority and which are enforced by its agents by the imposition of penalties for their violation.

Substantive Law

Law of crimes, defined by statute. Prescribes and proscribes various types of conduct. Enforced by the state. Differs from procedural law.

Prosecutors

Represent the executive, U.S. Attorneys are appointed by the president for four year terms, headed by the U.S. Attorney General in the Department of Justice. Most states elect chief state prosecutors, standard cases dealt with horizontally, specialized cases dealt with vertically, have a lot of discretionary power.

Overbreadth doctrine

Requires law to narrowly define the specific behavior to be restricted, a statute may be voice for vagueness if it fails to clearly define both the act prohibited and the appropriate punishment in advance.

7th Amendment

Right to a trial by jury in federal civil trials. (Not incorporated by Supreme Court)

2nd Amendment

Right to keep and bear arms, right shall not be "infringed", D.C. v Heller (2008), this is an individual right.

6th Amendment

Right to speedy trial. Right to a public trial. Right to notice of the charges against defendant. Right to trial by an impartial jury. Right to effective counsel.

10th Amendment

Rights not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved for the states or individual citizens. Establishes principle of federalism and constitutionalism.

Bill of Rights

States desired more clear-cut regulations, first ten amendments, sets out 23 individual rights.

Due Process Model

Stresses the importance of following procedural law and forcing the prosecution to show factual and legal guilt. Emphasizes: -Reliability *Seeks to minimize potential for mistakes, views the criminal system as an obstacle course.

Individual Rights

Those rights that are possessed by the individual and protect him or her from others as well as the government.

Crime Control Model

Views the suppression of criminal conduct as the most important function of the criminal justice system. Emphasizes: -Efficiency -Speed -Finality *Assembly line, plea bargains, focuses on factual guilt.

Appellate jurisdiction

is the power of a court to review decisions and change outcomes of decisions of lower courts. Most appellate jurisdiction is legislatively created, and may consist of appeals by leave of the appellate court or by right.

Limited jurisdiction

or special jurisdiction, is the courts' jurisdiction only on certain types of cases such as bankruptcy, family matters, etc. Courts of limited jurisdiction, as opposed to general jurisdiction, derive power from an issuing authority, such as a Constitution or a statute.