CRJ 222 CH 1

rule of law

sometimes also referred to as the supremacy of law, involves the belief that an orderly society must be governed by established principles and known codes that are applied uniformly and fairly to all of its members. no one is above the law, and those who enforce the law must abide by it. Governments as well as individuals are bound by rule of law

Law

"That which is laid down, ordained, or established . . . a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority, and having binding legal force."

jurisdiction

(1) The geographic district or subject matter over which the authority of a government body, especially a court, extends. (2) The authority of a court to hear and decide an action or lawsuit. As a consequence, crimes can have different descriptions and associated penalties depending on the jurisdiction involved.

classification of offenses --four types:

(1) property crimes, (2) personal crimes, (3) public-order offenses, and (4) morals offenses.

selective incorporation (aka incorporation)

A constitutional doctrine that holds that rights found in the Bill of Rights, which were originally intended to only restrict the federal government, apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment's due-process clause. Only rights found by the Supreme Court to be fundamental and necessary to an ordered liberty are incorporated.

property crime

A crime committed against property, including (according to the FBI's UCR Program) burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Crimes against property include burglary, larceny, arson, criminal mischief (vandalism), property damage, motor vehicle theft, passing bad checks, commission of fraud or forgery,

personal crime

A crime committed against a person, including (according to the FBI's UCR Program) murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. Also called violent crime. offenses against persons, include criminal homicide, kidnapping and false imprisonment, various forms of assault, and rape

damages (actual)

A financial award in a civil suit intended to compensate for injuries to person or property.

punitive damages

A financial award in a civil suit that is intended to punish the defendant and/or to deter similar future misconduct. Punitive damages are monies beyond the actual damages suffered by the plaintiff.

common law state

A jurisdiction in which the principles and precedents of common law continue to hold sway.

misdemeanor

A minor crime; an offense punishable by incarceration, usually in a local confinement facility, for a period of which the upper limit is prescribed by statute in a given jurisdiction, typically one year or less.

tort

A private or civil wrong or injury; "the unlawful violation of a private legal right other than a mere breach of contract, express or implied." A tort may also be the violation of a public duty if, as a result of the violation, some special damage accrues to the individual."

felony

A serious crime, generally one punishable by death or by incarceration in a state or federal prison facility as opposed to a jail. are thought of as serious crimes that are punishable by at least a year in prison.

preponderance of the evidence

A standard for determining legal liability, which requires a probability of just over 50 percent that the defendant did what is claimed .Greater than 50% probability For verdicts in civil cases .

infraction

A violation of a state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty, but not by incarceration. Also called summary offense.Infraction is not punishable by imprisonment, ticketed offense.

tortfeasor

An individual, business, or other legally recognized entity that commits a tort.

morals offenses

An offense that was originally defined to protect the family and related social institutions. Included in this category are crimes such as lewdness, indecency, sodomy, and other sex-related offenses, including seduction, fornication, adultery, bigamy, pornography, obscenity, cohabitation, and prostitution.

crime

Any act or omission in violation of penal law, committed without defense or justification, and made punishable by the state in a judicial proceeding.

moral

Ethical principles, or principles meant to guide human conduct and behavior; principles or standards of right and wrong.

Federalism

Federalism refers to a system of government that has both local and national elements. A federal system of government is one in which two governments have jurisdiction over the inhabitants Under federalism, a central government coexists with various state and local governments.

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, that state of the case, which after the entire comparison and consideration of all the evidence, leaves the minds of the jurors in such a condition that they cannot say they feel an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge.

statutory law

Law in the form of statutes or formal written codes made by a legislature or governing body with the power to make law.

common law

Law originating from use and custom rather than from written statutes. The term refers to nonstatutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making.

postitive law

Law that is legitimately created and enforced by governments.

separations of powers, 3 branches of government

Legislative-The two houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are the primary federal lawmaking body. Executive-The role of the president is established.The executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws. There are about 20,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in the U.S. judicial- included one Supreme Court,

ordinances

Local laws are commonly known as ordinances.

case law

The body of previous decisions, or precedents, that has accumulated over time and to which attorneys refer when arguing cases and that judges use in deciding the merits of new cases.

adversarial system.

The court system that pits the prosecution against the defense in the belief that truth can best be realized through effective debate over the merits of the opposing sides. The judge plays a more passive role and pay role o referee where criminal cases are less contests and more like a continuous investigation. emphasizes legal guilt at the expense of efficiency An adversarial, accusatorial system is like a contest in which the prosecution is pitted against the defense,

civil law

The form of the law that governs relationships between parties. Civil law emphasizes compensating individuals for losses Civil codes regulate private relationships of all sorts, including marriages, divorces, inheritance, adoption, and many other forms of personal and business relationships. Civil actions come in many varieties, including breach of contract, domestic, and tort.

laws of a legislature

The laws of a legislature are known as public laws or statutes. Statutes are commonly organized by topic, such as the Code of Criminal Laws. The vast majority of crimes are defined by state legislatures,

Stare decisis

The legal principle that requires that courts be bound by their own earlier decisions and by those of higher courts having jurisdiction over them regarding subsequent cases on similar issues of law and fact. The term literally means "standing by decided matters." which means "let the decision stand," embodies the idea that cases with like facts should have the same law applied Law originating from use and custom rather than from written statutes.The term refers to non statutory customs, traditions, and precedents that help guide judicial decision making.

clear and convincing evidence

The level of factual proof used in civil cases involving issues of personal liberty. The standard requires greater certainty than "more probable than not" but is not as demanding as "no reasonable...The clear and convincing evidence standard requires less than proof beyond a reasonable doubt but more than a preponderance of the evidence.

burden of proof

The mandate, operative in American criminal courts, that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that the prosecution must prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

substantive criminal law

The part of the law that defines crimes and specifies punishments. defines what conduct is criminal substantive criminal law defines what conduct is criminal

due process of law

The procedures that effectively guarantee individual rights in the face of criminal prosecution; the due course of legal proceedings according to the rules and forms that have been established for the protection of private rights; formal adherence to fundamental rules for fair and orderly legal proceedings. Due process of law is a constitutional guarantee. Due process is protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Due process means that laws may not be created or enforced in arbitrary or unreasonable fashion.

natural law

The rules of conduct inherent in human nature and in the natural order, which are thought to be knowable through intuition, inspiration, and the exercise of reason without the need to refer to man-made laws. Outgrowth of natural law is natural rights theory. This theory holds that individuals naturally possess certain freedoms that may not be encroached upon by other individuals or governments.

reasonable doubt standard

The standard of proof necessary for conviction in criminal trials.

distinguish

To argue or to find that a rule established by an earlier appellate court decision does not apply to a case currently under consideration even though an apparent similarity exists between the cases.

mala prohibita

are considered "wrongs" only because there is a law against them. Acts which are crimes mainly because they are prohibited by positive law. "victimless crimes,"

mala in se

crimes are those that are regarded, by tradition and convention, as wrong in themselves. Such acts are said to be inherently evil and immoral and are sometimes called acts against conscience.Acts bad in themselves.

criminal law

criminal law concerns the government's decision to prohibit and punish conduct The body of rules and regulations that defines and specifies punishments for offenses of a public nature or for wrongs committed against the state or society. Also called penal law. Criminal law defines what conduct is criminal, and violations of the criminal law are referred to as crimes. Criminal law concerns the government's decision to prohibit and punish conduct. criminal law concerns the government's decision to prohibit and punish conduct

criminal procedure

criminal procedure defines the processes that may be used by law enforcement, prosecutors, victims, and courts to investigate and adjudicate criminal cases. criminal procedure also includes the study of the Constitution's role in the process.

criminalize

criminalize To make criminal; to declare an act or omission to be criminal or in violation of a law making it so.

3 forms of tort

negligence, occurs when a tortfeasor injures another through unintentional but careless behavior. Intentional behavior that harms another is the second form of tort. The third form of tort is strict liability.

Rule of Law in the United States is operationalized through

•A written constitution that establishes architecture of government and enumerates individual rights •Independent federal judiciary •Separation of powers and federalism •Protections of fundamental rights, enforced through a judiciary that possesses the authority to invalidate unconstitutional laws and acts of government •A comprehensive legal scheme that protects private and public rights with court systems that are open to everyone to adjudicate disputes

WJP identifies the following elements of rule of law:

•Accountability of government officials •Laws are enacted and implemented in a fair and efficient manner •The degree of clarity of laws •The degree to which laws protect fundamental rights •Whether or not access to justice is administered by fair and independent judicial officers

inquisitorial system,

which is more like an ongoing inquiry with both the prosecution and the defense seeking the truth. Inquisitorial systems, a magistrate leads the investigation, and the transition from investigation to trial is seamless. Inquisitorial systems are common in Civil Law nations. emphasize factual guilt and efficiency. Judges play a active role

info judicial system

Although judicial systems vary in structure, common elements can be identified in the context of criminal cases. First, all systems have trial courts where criminal cases are filed, warrants are issued, juries are found, witnesses and evidence are received, verdicts are rendered, and sentences are passed. In the federal system, there are 94 trial courts, known as U.S. district courts. There is at least one district court in each state.

public order offenses

An act that is willfully committed and that disturbs public peace or tranquility. Included are offenses such as fighting, breach of peace, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, loitering, unlawful assembly, public intoxication, obstructing public passage, and (illegally) carrying weapons.

accusatorial system

The accusatorial nature of the U.S. system refers to the balance that is struck between the defendant and the government. The entire process is designed to protect the accused.The accusatorial process assumes that truth is best found by having competing forces searching, analyzing, and ultimately presenting their facts and theories.

Model Penal Code (MPC)

The MPC is not law but a proposed model, which states can use in developing or revising their statutory codes. A model code of criminal laws intended to standardize general provisions of criminal liability, sentencing, defenses, and the definitions of specific crimes between and among the states. The Model Penal Code was developed by the American Law Institute.

MPC 4 parts

The MPC serves today as a suggested model for the creation and revision of state criminal laws. It is divided into four parts: general provisions, definitions of specific crimes, treatment and correction, and the organization of correction.

judicial review

The authority of a court to review the actions of the executive and legislative branches and to declare as void those not consonant with the Constitution.

norms

Unwritten rules that underlie and are inherent in the fabric of society.

mores

Unwritten, but generally known, rules that govern serious violations of the social code.Mores, on the other hand, are rules that govern serious violations of the social code, including what social scientists call "taboos."