Unit 3 Test

Real Evidence

Evidence that consists of physical material or traces of physical activity.

What is the difference between factual guilt and legal guilt?

Factual guilt is whether or not someone actually committed a crime and legal guilt is whether or not they can provide enough evidence to prove that they actually committed the crime.

Scientific Jury Selection

The use of correlational techniques from the social sciences to gauge the likelihood that potential jurors will vote for conviction or for acquittal.

Alternative Sentencing

The use of court-ordered community service, home detention, day reporting, drug treatment, psychological counseling, victim-offender programming, or intensive supervision in lieu of other, more traditional sanctions, such as imprisonment and fines.

What is the purpose of a criminal trial?

To determine the the defendants guilt or innocence.

Verdict

The decision a jury makes in a trial; the decision said by the jury.

Juror

A member of a trial or grand jury who has been selected for jury duty and is required to serve as an arbiter of the facts in a court of law.

What are the various stages of a criminal trial? Describe each one.

1. Trial Initiation: Speedy trial requirements 2. Jury Selection: Impartial jury is selected 3. Opening Statements: Presents info to jury 4. Presentation of Evidence: State presents evidence 5. Closing Arguments: Both sides have a final say 6. Judge's Charge to the Jury: Gives charges to jury 7. Jury Deliberations: How long it takes to jury to reach a verdict 8. Verdict: Jury reaches unanimous verdict

Speedy Trial Act

A 1974 federal law requiring that proceedings against a defendant in a criminal case begin within a specified period of time, such as 70 working days after indictment. Some states also have speedy trial requirements.

Truth in Sentencing

A close correspondence between the sentence imposed on an offender and the time actually service in prison.

Justice Reinvestment

A concept that prioritizes the use of alternatives to incarceration for persons convicted of eligible nonviolent offenses, standardizes the use of risk assessments instruments in pretrial detention, authorizes the use of early release mechanisms for prisoners who meet eligibility requirements, and reinvests savings from such initiatives into effective crime prevention programs.

Restoration (Restorative Justice)

A goal of criminal sentencing that attempts to make the victim "whole again".

Deterrence

A goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to inhibit criminal behavior through the fear of punishment.

Specific Deterrence

A goal of criminal sentencing that seeks to prevent a particular offender from engaging in repeat criminality.

Sequestered Jury

A jury that is isolated from the public during the course of a trial and throughout the deliberation process.

Determinate Sentencing

A model of criminal punishment in which an offender is given a fixed term of imprisonment that may be reduced by good time or gain time Under the model, for example, all offenders convicted of the same degree fo burglary would be sentenced to the same length of time behind bars.

Indeterminate Sentencing

A model of criminal punishment that encourages rehabilitation through the use of general and relatively unspecific sentences (such as a term of imprisonment from 1 to 10 years).

Structured Sentencing

A model of criminal punishment that includes determinate and commission-created presumptive sentencing schemes, as well as voluntary/advisory sentencing guidelines.

Presumptive Sentencing

A model of criminal punishment that meets the following conditions: (1) The appropriate sentence for an offender convicted of a specific charge is presumed to fall within a range of sentences authorized by sentencing guidelines that are adopted by a legislatively created sentencing body, usually sentencing commission. (2) Sentencing judges are expected to sentence within the range or to provide written justification for failing to do so. (3) There is a mechanism for review, usually appellate, of any departure from the guidelines.

Just Deserts

A model of criminal sentencing that holds that criminal offenders deserve the punishment they receive at the hands of the law and that punishments should be appropriate to the type and severity of the crime committed.

Social Debt

A sentencing principle that holds that an offender's criminal history should objectively be taken into account in sentencing decisions.

Proportionality

A sentencing principle that holds that the severity of sanctions should bear a direct relationship to the seriousness of the crime committed.

Equity

A sentencing principle, based on concerns with a social equality, that holds that similar crimes should be punished with he same degree of severity, regardless of the social or personal characteristics of the offenders.

Mandatory Sentencing

A structured sentencing scheme that allows no leeway in the nature of the sentence required and under which clearly enumerated punishments are mandated for specific offenses or for habitual offenders convicted of a series of crimes.

Writ of Habeas Corpus

A writ that directs the person detaining a prisoner to bring him or her before a judicial officer to determine the lawfulness of imprisonment.

Subpoena

A written order issued by a judicial officer or grand jury requiring an individual to appear in court and to give testimony or to bring material to be used as evidence.

Public Defender

An attorney employed by a government agency or subagency, or by a private organization under contract to a government body, for the purpose of providing defense services to indigents, or an attorney who has volunteered such service.

Prosecutor

An attorney whose official duty is to conduct criminal proceedings on behalf of the state or the people against those accused of having committed criminal offenses.

Judge

An elected or appointed public official who presides over a court of law and who is authorized to hear and sometimes to decide cases and to conduct trials.

Lay Witness

An eyewitness, character witness, or other person called on to testify who is not considered an expert. Lay witnesses must testify to facts only and may not draw conclusions or express opinions.

Closing Argument

An oral summation of a case presented to a judge, or to a judge and jury, by the prosecution or by the defense in a criminal trial.

Victims' Assistance Program

An organized program that offers services to victims of crime in the areas of crisis intervention and follow-up counseling and that helps victims secure their rights under the law.

Defense Counsel

Any information having a tendency to clear a person of guilt or blame.

Exculpatory Evidence

Any information having a tendency to clear a person of guilt or blame.

Evidence

Anything useful to a judge or jury in deciding the facts of a case. Evidence may take the form of witness testimony, written documents videotapes, magnetic media, photography, physical objects, and so on.

Aggravating Circumstances

Circumstances relating to the commission of a crime that make it more grave than the average instance of that crime.

Mitigating Circumstances

Circumstances relating to the commission of a crime that may be considered to reduce the blameworthiness of the offender.

Trial

In criminal proceedings, the examination in court of the issues of fact and relevant law in a case for the purpose of convicting or acquitting the defendant.

Reasonable Doubt

In legal proceedings, an actual and substantial doubt arising from the evidence, from the facts or circumstances shown by the evidence, or from the lack of evidence. Also, the state of a case such that, after the comparison and consideration of all the evidence, jurors cannot say they feel an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge.

Who are the professional members of the courtroom work group, and what are their roles?

Judge, the prosecuting attorney, the defense counsel, the bailiff, the trial court administrator, the court reporter, the clerk of courts, and expert witness.

Who are the nonprofessional courtroom participants, and what are their roles?

Lay witnesses, jurors, the victim, the defendant, and spectators, and members of the press.

Voluntary/Advisory Sentencing Guidelines

Recommended sentencing policies that are not required by law.

Hearsay

Something that is not based on the personal knowledge of a witness. Witnesses who testify about something they have heard, for example, are offering hearsay by repeating information about a matter or which they have no direct knowledge.

Recidivism

The act of repeating an offense.

Retribution

The act of taking revenge on a criminal perpetrator.

Rehabilitation

The attempt to reform a criminal offender. Also, the state in which a reformed offender is said to be.

Baliff

The court officer whose duties are to keep order in the courtroom and to maintain physical custody of the jury.

Prosecutorial Discretion

The decision-making power of prosecutors, based on the wide range of choices available to them, in the handling of criminal defendants, the scheduling of cases for trial, the acceptance of negotiated pleas, and so on. The most important form of prosecutorial discretion lies in the power to charge, or not to charge, a person with an offense.

Probative Value

The degree to which a particular item of evidence is useful in, and relevant to, proving something important in a trial.

Circumstantial Evidence

The evidence that requires interpretation or that requires a judge or jury to reach a conclusion based on what the evidence indicates. From the close proximity of the defendant to a smoking gun, for example, the jury might conclude that he or she pulled the trigger.

Direct Evidence

The evidence that, if believed, directly proves a fact. Eyewitness testimony and videotaped documentation account for the majority of all direct evidence heard in the criminal courtroom.

Pre-sentence Investigation (PSI)

The examination of a convicted offender's background prior to sentencing. Pre-sentence examinations are generally conducted by probation or parole officers and are submitted to sentencing authorities.

Sentencing

The imposition of a criminal sanction by a judicial authority.

Opening Statement

The initial statement of the prosecution or the defense, made in a court of law to a judge, or to a judge and jury, describing the facts that he or she intends to present during trial to prove the case.

Perjury

The intentional making of a false statement as part of the testimony by a sworn witness in a judicial proceeding on a matter relevant to the case at hand.

What do we mean by the term adversarial system?

The judge ensures strict rules are followed, determines questions of law, and remains independent, not assisting either party.

Hearsay Rule

The long-standing precedent that hearsay cannot be used in American courtrooms.

Change of Venue

The movement of a trial or lawsuit from one jurisdiction to another or from one location to another within the same jurisdiction. A change of venue may be made in a criminal case to ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial.

Diversion

The official suspension of criminal or juveniles proceedings against an alleged offender at any point after a recorded justice system intake, but before the entering of a judgement, and referral of that person to a treatment or care program administered by a non justice or private agency. Also, release without referral.

Testimony

The oral evidence by a sworn witness on the witness stand during a criminal trial.

Jury Selection

The process whereby, according to law and precedent, members of a trial jury are chosen.

Courtroom Work Group

The professional courtroom actors, including judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, public defenders, and others who earn a living serving the court.

Reasonable Doubt Standard

The standard of proof necessary for conviction in criminal trials.

Adversarial System

The two-sided structure under which American criminal trial courts operate that pits the prosecution against the defense. In theory, justice is done when the more effective justice is done when the more effective adversary is able to convince the judge or jury that his or her perspective on the case is the correct one.

Expert Witness

a person who has special knowledge and skills recognized by the court as relevant to the determination of guilt or innocence. unlike lay witnesses may express opinions or draw conclusions in their testimony.

Peremptory Challenge

the right to challenge a potential juror without disclosing the reason for the challenge. Prosecutors and defense attorneys routinely use peremptory challenges to eliminate from juries individuals who although they express no obvious bias, are thought to be capable of swaying the jury in an undesirable direction.