Criminal Procedure-Review Questions

POLS 347

What is the purpose of criminal procedure?

The rules governing the mechanisms under which crimes are investigated, prosecuted, adjudicated, and punished

What is the role of the Constitution in criminal law and procedure?

The Bill of Rights provides protections for the accused before and during trial, grants due process

Who is regulated by the US Constitution?

Government actors (police officers, investigators, prosecutors, etc.)

Incorporation doctrine

the legal principle by which many rights guaranteed in the U.S. Bill of Rights are applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause

Effect of incorporation doctrine on procedural law

Created national universal procedural threshold laws

Substantive due process

Can the government do what they are doing (can’t deprive life, liberty, or property without due process)

Procedural due process

are there procedural safeguards required for the governments action (to deprive of life, liberty, or property)

Protections provided by 4th amendment

Unreasonable searches and seizures, exclusionary rule

Reasonable expectation to privacy

an individual exhibits a subjective expectation of privacy that society recognizes as objectively reasonable

Warrant

written document issued by a judge or magistrate authorizing law enforcement to take specific actions

What must be included on a warrant?

Location and content to be searched, time frame, offense

Who must issue and sign a warrant?

A neutral and detached judge or magistrate

What are the exceptions - when can you search without a warrant?

Search incident to valid arrest, automobile search, plain view, consent, stop and frisk, hot pursuit, evanescent evidence, emergency aid

Probable cause

Higher standard than reasonable suspicion, means there is enough evidence for a reasonable person to believe that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed

Reasonable suspicion

legal standard that allows police officers to briefly stop and question a person if they have specific facts that suggest criminal activity is taking place

Arrests-standard

Probable cause

Search warrants-standard

Probable cause

Stop and frisk-standard

Reasonable suspicion

Terry stops-standard

Reasonable suspicion

What constitutes a “search?”

occurs when a governmental employee or agent of the government violates an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy

Exclusionary rule

a legal doctrine that prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial, enforcing the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures

Fruit of a Poisonous Tree doctrine

a doctrine that extends the exclusionary rule to make evidence inadmissible in court if it was derived from evidence that was illegally obtained

5th amendment protections

Right to a grand jury for capital and infamous offenses, protects against compulsory self-incrimination, protects against double jeopardy

Miranda right

legal protections for individuals in U.S. police custody, requiring law enforcement to inform them of their rights against self-incrimination and to an attorney before interrogation

When must law enforcement provide a "Miranda warning"?

When a suspect is in custody and under interrogation

Where does the miranda right come from

1966 Miranda v. Arizona

How can you waive your Miranda rights?

Voluntarily (knowingly and intelligently) waive them, express- signing form or verbal confirmation, implied- receives warning and starts talking to police

What amendments provide a right to counsel?

5th (interrogations, Miranda), 6th-all important parts of prosecution

What must occur for a confession to be valid?

Voluntary (based on totality of circumstances), absent government/official compulsion