Chapter 3: Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law

Civil Law

law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving property, contracts, or business disputes

Legal Responsibility

the accountability of an individual for a crime because of the perpetrator's characteristics and the circumstances of the illegal act

Substantive Criminal Law

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

Procedural Criminal Law

law defining the procedures that criminal justice officials must follow in enforcement, adjudication, and corrections

Felonies

A serious criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year, or death

Misdemeanor

Offenses less serious than felonies and usually punishable by incarceration of no more than one year in jail, or by probation or intermediate sanctions

Civil Infraction

minor offenses that are typically punishable by small fines and that produce no criminal record for the offender

Model Penal Code

guidelines for U.S. criminal codes published in 1962 by the American Law Institute that classify and define crimes into categories

inchoate/incomplete offenses

conduct that is criminal even though the harm that the law seeks to prevent has not been done but merely planned or attempted

Legality

there must be a law that defines the specific action as a crime

Actus Reus

A guilty (prohibited) act.

Causation

A cause and effect relationship in which one variable controls the changes in another variable.

Harm

to be a crime, an act must cause harm to some legally protected value

Concurrence

The intent and the act must be present at the same time

Mens Rea

"guilty mind," criminal intent

Punishment

Must be a provision in the law calling for punishment of those found guilty of violating the law

Justification Defense: Self-Defense

Reasonable belief that danger of death or of great harm, and no means of escape

Justification Defense: Necessity

When people break the law in order to save themselves or prevent some greater harm

Excuse Defense: Duress (Coercion)

When someone commits a crime because they were coerced by another person

Excuse Defense: Entrapment

Defense used to show lack of intent, a government persons induced a criminal act

Excuse Defense: Infancy/Immaturity

Excuses criminal acts by children under 7 on the grounds that their young age and lack of responsibility perpetuated their actions

Excuse Defense: Mistake of Fact

When the accused made a mistake on some crucial fact, not ignorance of the law

Excuse Defense: Intoxication

Law does not relieve an individual of responsibility for acts performed while voluntarily intoxicated

Excuse Defense: Insanity

the defendants state of mind negates his or her criminal responsibility

M'Naghten Rule

"didn't know what he was doing or didn't know it was wrong"

Irresistible Impulse

"could not control his conduct"

Durham

the criminal act was caused by his mental illness

Model Penal Code: Insanity

lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to control it

Comprehensive Crime Control Act

lacks capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct

7 Principles of Criminal Law

legality, actus reus, causation, harm, concurrence, mens rea, punishment

Substantive Criminal Law Defenses

Self-defense, necessity, duress, entrapment, infancy, mistake of fact, intoxication, insanity

Insanity Defense Tests

M'Naghten rule, Irresistible Impulse Test, Durham Rule, Model Penal Code, and Comprehensive Control Act

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution

self-incrimination

testifying against oneself

double jeopardy

Being tried twice for the same crime

4th Amendment

Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures

5th Amendment

Criminal Proceedings; Due Process; Eminent Domain; Double Jeopardy; Protection from Self incrimination

6th Amendment

Right to a speedy and public trial with an impartial jury where the crime was committed & have the assistance of counsel for his defense

8th Amendment

No cruel or unusual punishment, no excessive bail or fines

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

The Supreme Court ruled that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment did not apply to the actions of states. This decision limited the Bill of Rights to the actions of Congress alone.

Powell v. Alabama (1932)

Court ruled that state governments must provide counsel in cases involving the death penalty to those who can't afford it

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Court ruled that a defendant in a felony trial must be provided a lawyer free of charge if the defendant cannot afford one.

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

Incorporation

The extension of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to make binding on state governments the rights guaranteed in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution (the Bill of Rights).

Warren Court Era (1953-1969)

SCOTUS era made the most significant expansion in the definitions of constitutional rights for criminal defendants

Components of Criminal Law

substantive law and procedural law