Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law

Criminal law

Focuses on the prosecution and punishment of people who violate specific laws enacted by legislatures.

Substantive law

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

Procedural law

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

Legality

There must be a law that defines the specific action as a crime.

Actus reus

Criminal laws are aimed at human acts, including acts that a person failed to undertake.

Causation

For a crime to have been committed, there must be a causal relationship between an act and the harm suffered.

Harm

To be a crime, an act (or failure to act) must cause harm to some legally protected value.

Concurrence

For an act to be considered a crime, the intent and the act must be present at the same time (Hall, 1947).

Mens rea

The commission of an act is not a crime unless it is accompanied by a guilty state of mind.

Punishment

There must be a provision in the law calling for punishment of those found guilty of violating the law.

Justification and excuse defenses

Opportunities provided by criminal law to present defenses focusing on a lack of criminal intent.

Self-defense

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Necessity

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Duress

Coercion; a defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Entrapment

The defense that the individual was induced by the police to commit the criminal act.

Infancy

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Mistake of fact

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Intoxication

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Insanity

A defense that may be used by defendants to deny that mens rea existed when the crime was committed.

Insanity defense standards

Vary by jurisdiction, with various state and federal courts using several different tests.

M'Naghten Rule

One of the tests used to determine insanity in the insanity defense.

Irresistible Impulse Test

One of the tests used to determine insanity in the insanity defense.

Durham Rule

One of the tests used to determine insanity in the insanity defense.

Model Penal Code

One of the tests used to determine insanity in the insanity defense.

Comprehensive Crime Control Act

One of the tests used to determine insanity in the insanity defense.

Fourth Amendment

Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, imposing limits on police authority.

Fifth Amendment

Provides protections against compelled self-incrimination and double jeopardy.

Sixth Amendment

Includes the right to counsel, the right to a speedy and public trial, and the right to an impartial jury.

Eighth Amendment

Includes protections against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.

Fourteenth Amendment

Provides a right to due process of law as well as the right to equal protection of the laws.

Incorporation

The process by which the U.S. Supreme Court has applied the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Case deciding that the protections of the Bill of Rights apply only to actions of the federal government.

Powell v. Alabama (1932)

Case deciding that an attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Case deciding that indigent defendants have a right to counsel when charged with serious crimes for which they could face six or more months of incarceration.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments added to the U.S. Constitution to provide specific rights for individuals, including criminal justice rights concerning searches, trials, and punishments.

1st Principle of Criminal Law

Legality

2nd Principle of Criminal Law

Actus reus

3rd Principle of Criminal Law

Causation

4th Principle of Criminal Law

Harm

5th Principle of Criminal Law

Concurrence

6th Principle of Criminal Law

Mens Rea

7th Principle of Criminal Law

Punishment