Legal Studies

Broken Windows Theory

"If a window in a building is broken and is left un-repaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken." used literally: physical decay leads to more physical decay used metaphorically: physical decay leads to behavioral decay no one cares about physical statues so deviance can occur/attracts crime

Non Liquet

"not clear" "no applicable law" judges must make a decision, can't decide "non liquet"

Efficiency

(of the crime control model) speed, finality and capacity to apprehend, try, convict, and dispose of high proportion of offenders

Reliability

(of the due process model) legal guilt, rules to protect the accused must be given effect, goal of prevention and elimination of mistakes, presumption of innocence

crime control model

(think assembly line) assumes freedom for the public to live without fear is so important that every effort must be made to repress crime

due process model

(think obstacle course) assumes freedom for individuals who are wrongly accused and risk unjust punishment is so important that every effort must be made to ensure that criminal justice decisions are based on reliable info

Actus Reus

1.) human conduct: speech, attempt, doing vs. being, failure to act 2.) voluntariness/controllability: (on brain level)

Causation (2 levels)

1.) necessary condition (but...for standard) 2.) sufficient condition (foreseeability, responsibly acting 3rd party)

Mens Rea (4 levels in order of severity)

1.) purposeful - intentional 2.) knowing - stress on know,, less on purpose 3.) reckless - aware of risk of harm 4.) negligent - should have known better

Assignment of Patrol Personnel

1.Preventive Patrol-Has long been thought to help deter crimeKansas City Patrol Experiment 2.Hot Spots-(3%/50% ) Resources should be focused on places where crimes are likely to occur 3.Directed Patrol-Proactive form of patrolling that directs resources to known high-crime areas (i.e. hot spots) 4.Aggressive Patrol-Strategy designed to maximize the number of police interventions and observations in the community, Zero Tolerance

According to the text and lecture, about ____ percent of criminal cases are tried in court.

5

Operational Units

5 specific functions 1) patrol 2) investigation 3) traffic 4) vice 5) juvenile

According to the Text, the criminal justice system is made up of many persons doing specific jobs. A key concept here is "exchange" or "exchange relationships." What is "exchange"?

A mutual transfer of resources among individual actors: a balance of benefits and deficits that flow from behavior based on decisions about the values and costs of alternatives.

Plea Bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor, in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty or "no contest" (nolo contendere) in exchange for an agreement by the prosecutor to drop one or more charges, reduce a charge to a less serious offense, or recommend to the judge a specific sentence acceptable to the defense

Which of the following is true about civil/private law?

A showing of state of mind is usually not required. It governs the relationships between individuals in a society

Concurrence

Actus Reus + Mens Rea

Which of the following is true concerning actus reus?

Actus reus involves conspiracies and attempts to act.

The crime control model metaphorically operates like:

An assembly line because cases are carried to workers in the criminal justice system who stand at a fixed station and perform on each case as it comes down the line.

Patrol Functions

Backbone of police operations •Two-thirds of all sworn officers •Three parts: -Answering calls for help -Maintaining police presence -Probing suspicious circumstances

Model

CONCEPTUAL representations of real world phenomenon,, partially understood but difficult to observe directly,, not the real world

Presumption of guilt

Crime control model sufficient evidence (regardless of legality of evidence) working hypothesis pragmatic/practical

Presumption of innocence

Due process model NOT opposite of presumption of guilt guilty under the LAW safeguarding proper procedure innocent until proven guilty facts but CLEAN facts

Critical Approach to Policing

E. Bittner legal paradox: the officer on the street carries the most power law as pretext: (for lawyers) use the laws as an all purpose control device laws are not effective if they are not applied the law as a screwdriver: (for police) criticism, using laws for other purposes or how they want, discretion

For a crime to have been committed, there must be a causal relationship between mens rea and actus reus.

FALSE.... concurrence

In strict liability crimes, concurrence need not be proven.

False

Levels of Police Agencies

Federal State County Municipal Native American Tribal Police Operational

Line Functions

Field operations, carry out the basic functions of patrol, investigation, traffic, vice, juvenile, etc.

Hans is accused of having killed a barkeeper. He was arrested two weeks after the crime because a witness saw a sketch of the killer in the paper and, as she told the police, "immediately recognized Hans". Hans, in fact,didn't do it since he was on vacation in Florida. The jury convicted him anyway because the jurors believed the witness, who claimed to have very sharp eyes and a very good memory. Which of the following statements about this case is/are true?

Hans is factually innocent and legally guilty

Herbert Packer complements two paradigmatic models that explain tensions in the criminal justice system. In lecture, we talked about the purpose of scientific models in general. Any scientific model (not only Packer's):

Is generally constructed for an object or process when it is at least partially understood, but difficult to observe directly.

n "Doing the Right Thing," a chapter you read from Justice, What's the Right Thing to Do?the author Michael Sandel presented actual and fictitious cases ( "The Runaway Trolley" and"The Afghan Goatherds"). In class, we discussed these cases to show that

Judges confronted with those cases cannot say, "non liquet" Aspects of "utility" haveto be balanced with "values"

Harm

Loss, disadvantage, or injury to a victim

5 Factors for Police Discretion

Nature of the crime Relationship between the suspect and victim Relationship between police and criminal or victim Race/ethnicity, age, gender, class [Saints and Roughnecks] Departmental policy

Your Text discusses various "Types of Crime." According to the Text, "crimes without victims" are:

Offenses involving a willing and private exchange of illegal goods or services that are in strong demand. Participants do not feel they are being harmed, but these crimes are prosecuted on the ground that society as a whole is being injured.

4 Functions of Police

Order Maintenance Law Enforcement Service Prevention

Federal Law Enforcement Agencies

Part of the executive branch of national government Each agency is given authority to investigate specific sets of crimes as defined by Congress Examples: drug trafficking, organized crime, insider stock trading, and terrorism Federal agencies employ around 88,000 full-time officers

3 types of delivery

Patrol, Investigation, Special Operations

Peter plans to kill his wife Heidi. Both live in Wisconsin. One day in February, Peter lures Heidi to their garden shed where he attacks her with a baseball bat. Peter thinks he had killed her (but he hasn't). Peter leaves Heidi outside in the shed and goes to bed with the plan to dispose of her body in the morning. During the night temperatures fall below zeroand Heidi dies from hypothermia. Which of the following statements about that case is/are true?

Peter will be charged with murder. Concurrence is given because at the time Peter assaulted Heidi with the bat he had a guilty mind, and Heidi's death was caused by that act.

State Agencies

Reluctance to centralize power

Service

Social service

Strict Liability Crimes

Statutory rape Mens Rea not needed Action itself is sufficient

Staff Functions

Supplement or support the line functions

The presumption of guilt is NOT the opposite of the presumption of innocence.

TRUE

Which of the following is characteristic of Packer's due process model?

The doctrine of legal guilt

Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Which statement illustrates the Due Process Model of criminal justice?

The rights of individuals are important enough that some guilty will go free.

In class, we discussed the wording of various street signs. One example we addressed was the sign that mandates that the speed limit for cars in a school zone is "20 mph when children are present". Which of the following statements is NOT true?

We used the wording of the sign as an example for the need to decriminalize speed limits.

Burden of proof for defenses

When defendant offers a defense, state must proof beyond a reasonable doubt that facts supporting defense do not exist

Fundamental Fairness

a legal doctrine supporting the idea that so long as a state's conduct maintains basic standards of fairness, the Constitution has not been violated Due Process Model

Community Policing

a partnership between the police and the community, so that they can work together on solving problems of crime and disorder crime prevention

The element of actus reus("voluntary human conduct") requires that a criminal act must include conduct that is in violation of the law. Which of the following is NOTan example of actus reus?

a person is addicted to drugs

A private/civil law conflict (for example, a dispute over a contract) is resolved through:

a trial or settlement

Discretion

ability for judges to make court decisions case by case

Public law

administrative or criminal law are forms of public law

Private law

aka civil law

Problem Oriented Policing

an approach to policing in which officers routinely seek to identify, analyze, and respond to the circumstances underlying the incidents that prompt citizens to call the police

Intelligence Based Policing

assessment and management of risk

Categorical/ value approach

categorical imperative: an unconditional moral obligation that is binding in all circumstances and is not dependent on a person's inclination or purpose (trolley example)

The requirement that mens rea and actus reus have to be present at the same time is called:

concurrence

4 Components to Community Based Policing

crime prevention changing focus to nonemergency services making police accountable to public decentralize decision making to include residents

Mala prohibita

crimes that are only illegal because the government labeled them so (ex: gambling, prostitution)

Inchoate or Incomplete Offenses

criminal conduct even if it is not carried out

Procedural Criminal Law

defines the rules that govern how the laws will be enforced

3 goals of the justice system

doing justice controlling crime preventing crime

Which of the following are examples of an excuse defense?

entrapment insanity infancy duress (coercion) mistake of fact intoxication (unwilling)

Uniformity

evenhanded justice without respect to persons and their social status,, individualization, equity Ex: cocaine vs. crack cocaine

Specificity

everyone needs to know what they musn't do,, "fair warning" fine line between vagueness and interpretation Ex; "unnecessary noise prohibited" "speed limit when children are present"

Enforcement of Fourth Amendment

evidence acquired in violation of Fourth Amendment can't be used in court this... protects constitutional values disciplines police maintains integrity of courts comes with expectations

Alibi

factual defense

Excuse defenses focus on whether the individual's action was socially acceptable under the circumstances despite causing harm that the criminal law would otherwise prohibit.

false

Self-defense is used in cases when people break the law in order to save themselves or prevent some greater harm to any legally protected good.

false

[True or False?] A quasi-criminal, violation of a rule or local ordinance is called a misdemeanor.

false

[True or False?] You have read about, and in class we discussed the Michelle Carter case. According to the article you read and our discussion, we concluded that Carter's actions are comparable to an accomplice or a person who is a party to a crime so that despite the unusual circumstances, the conviction was legally unproblematic.

false

Justification Defenses

focus on the act and whether the act was socially acceptable under the circumstances self-defense necessity

Excuse Defenses

focus on the actor// eliminate or diminish criminal responsibility duress - coercion entrapment - when the police have acted so as to induce the criminal act infancy - immaturity, younger than 7 yrs old, mens rea not present mistake of fact - degree of knowledge & intent (not just being ignorant of the law) intoxication - unwillingly, tricked into insanity - if actor was unable to understand the wrongfulness of the act or control of their conduct

Legal quilt

guilt that has been established through procedure/trial...(in a court of law)

A proponent of the Crime Control Model of criminal justice is most likely to argue:

hat the system should present few occasions for a defendant to challenge the process because police and prosecutors screen out the innocent during the investigative stages. Therefore only those who are probably guilty are apprehended and convicted.

Bill of Rights and Incorporation

incorporating the bill of rights under the fourteenth amendment as it pertains to due process so that it can be applied to state cases for police/courts to follow

Entrapment is a defense that can be used to show

lack of intent

Penal Sanction (lex imperfecta)

law defined + punishment punishment or various interventions imposed by the state

Substantive Criminal Law

law that defines acts that are subject to punishment and specifies the punishments for such offenses

Law Enforcement

legalistic apprehension of law breakers

7 principles of criminal law

legality actus reus causation harm mens rea concurrence punishment

Misdemeanors

may be a year or less in a county jail probation, fines, community service

A person is charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon that he borrowed in order to retrieve his son's baby food from a car while visiting a housing project in a high-crime neighborhood where he had been robbed in the past. The person, who was not attacked by anyone, is only caught because the city assigned a high number of officers to look for illegal guns. Which of the following defenses is most likely to be successful?

necessity

Double Jeopardy

offender can't be criminally tried twice in same jurisdiction for same crime,, only applies to CRIMINAL trials

3 principles of "Doing Justice"

offenders held fully accountable for actions rights of persons who have contact with the system will be protected like offenses will be treated alike

res judicata

one can have only one trial for claims arising from one transaction or occurrence,, double jeopardy

Politicality

only rules made by the state or federal government are crimes,, common law crimes given up in early 19th century,, penalty clause

Felonies

penalty of death or length incarceration over a year

Which of the following is/are not a characteristic of criminal law?

politicality and specificity

Federalism

power is divided between a central (national) government and regional (state) governments

Prevention

preventing crime

Adjudication

process of determining whether the defendant is guilty

Civil Infractions

punishable by fines, no criminal record jaywalking, possession of marijuana (small amount)

Status Offenses

relates to minors (underage drinking, buying cigs, curfew, truancy)

Two Possible Natures of Police Action

retroactive and prosecution after the fact vs. preventive and guarding against threats

Dual court system

separate judicial system for each state in addition to a national system

County Agencies

sheriff patrol and investigative powers

Native American Tribal Police

significant sovereign power Bureau of Indian Affairs also enforce laws on tribal land

Jurisdiction

state lines,, what court has the authority to decide a case,, type of law violated?

Municipal Agencies

sworn officers nation-wide smaller units

According to the Text, the amount of crime that occurs but is never reported to authorities is called:

the dark figure (of crime)

Factual Guilt

the defendant has committed the crime

Consequentialism/ utilitarianism

the more people served the better (trolley example)

Packer writes: "Once a man has been arrested and investigated without being found to be probably innocent, or, to put it differently, once a determination has been made that there is enough evidence of guilt to permit holding him for further action, then all subsequent activity directed toward him is based on the view that he is probably guilty." With this quote Packer describes what he calls:

the presumption of guilt

According to lecture, jurisdiction is the official power to make legal decisions and judgments.

true

In his article about the crime control and the due process model, Herbert Packer uses the term "presumption of guilt." True or false: The "presumption of guilt" is a guess about the likelihood of a guilty conviction in a criminal trial based on the available facts.

true

[True or False?] Procedural criminal law addresses the rules that govern how officials execute and oversee criminal law.

true

Mala en se

universally accepted as bad,, acts that are inherently evil,, natural law (ex: rape, murder)

Order Maintenance

watchman keeping the peace vice: gambling, prostitution pick up on things happening

Zero Tolerance

when following BW policy you want to fix it right away or prevent it from happening in the first place no tolerance for broken windows or window breakers Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Act works AGAINST community policing (openness)

Need to criminalize

when natural law and deviance intersect