CJS | Exam #2

CH 5 | Policing: Contemporary Issues and Challenges, CH6 | Police and Law, CH7 | Courts and Adjudication, CH 8 | Pretrial Procedures, Plea Bargaining, and the Criminal

Internal Affairs Units

A branch of a police department that recieves and investigates complaints against violations of rules and policies committed by its own staff or officers

External Investigations

Conducted by the very agency which has the issue or problem will not objective and bias free.

External Investigations often deal with _____.

cases with police action shooting or deaths of individuals in custody.

Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871

allows citizens to sue state and local official for violations of civil rights.

Civil Liability

The potential civil liability and its cost have led police departments to improve training, supervision and policies.

 Qualified Immunity

Legal immunity shielding police and government officials from civil lawsuits unless they violated a clearly established constitutional right.

Citizen Academies

offered by some agencies to educate interested citizens on police practices and to break down barriers between the agency and the community.

Evidence-Based Policing

Police strategies and deployment of resources developed through examination of research on crime, social problems and previously used strategies.

Reactive

Acting in response to a notification about suspicious activity, a crime medical emergency, or other service need.

Proactive

Acting in anticipation; actively searching for potential offenders without waiting for a crime to be reported.

Arrests for victimless crimes are usually _____.

proactive

Incident-driven policing

calls for service are the primary instigators of action

Differential response

A patrol strategy that assigns priorities to calls for service and chooses the appropriate response

CompStat

a statical approach to the deployment of resources to prevent crime

Patrol

helps deter crime and enables officers to quickly respond to calls for service.

Detectives

sworn officers, usually in plain clothes, who conduct follow up investigations.

Stages of Catching a Suspect: 1

Crime occurs (Patrol Officer )

Stages of Catching a Suspect: 2

Preliminary Investigates (Patrol)

Stages of Catching a Suspect: 3

Follow-Up Investigation (Detective)

Stages of Catching a Suspect: 4

Clearance

Issue in Patrolling

Hots spot & Foot VS. Motorized patrol

The Future of Patrol

Many researchers believe that traditional patrol efforts have focused too narrowly on crime control, neglecting the order maintenance and service activities

Special Populations:

Community groups with complex needs, such as mental illness, homelessness, or substance abuse, requiring specialized police tactics, safety measures, and social service collaboration.

Legal Limitations on Police Investigations

Bill of Rights embody very important American values regarding individual rights in society

Judges must seek to ______

interpret the Constitution in ways that properly balance crime control and the protection of individual rights.

Search and Seizure Concepts

The Fourth Amendment prohibits police officers from undertaking “unreasonable searches and seizures

Supreme Court defines a search as

an action by law enforcement officials that intrudes on people’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

Reasonable expectation of privacy

The legal standard determining whether government intrusion into a person or property qualifies as a search.

Plain view doctrine

Allows officers to seize visible evidence when lawfully present.

Stop

brief interference with a person’s freedom of movement. ( for a duration that can be measured in minutes, usually under an hour )

Reasonable suspicion

facts lead officers to conclude that the person may be engaging in criminal activity.

When someone is in public, ________.

they do not have grantee of privacy.

An arrest is a _____

significant deprivation of liberty & must be supported by probable cause

Probable cause

requiring that an officer have enough factual evidence to reasonably believe a crime has been committed or that evidence of a crime is present

To obtain an arrest warrant

Police must provide a judicial officer with sufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause.

To obtain an arrest warrant: 1

The existence of probable cause

To obtain an arrest warrant: 2

Evidence must be presented to the judicial officer and be supported by an "oath" claiming all information is true

To obtain an arrest warrant: 3

The warrant must describe the specific place to be searched

To obtain an arrest warrant: 4

The warrant must describe the person or item to be seized

Warrantless Searches

Six kinds of searches may be legally conducted without a warrant but still comply with the Fourth Amendment

1st Kind of Searches

Search justified by special needs beyond the normal purposes of law enforcement

2nd Kind of Searches

Stop and frisk on the streets

3rd Kind of Searches

Search incident to a lawful arrest

4th Kind of Searches

Exigent circumstances (Allowed to search if it is to protect the public)

5th Kind of Searches

Search by consent

6th Kind of Searches

Automobile searches

Officers possess the authority to _______.

make stops and limited searches of individuals on the streets

Stop-and-frisk search

permits police officers to pat down the clothing of people on the street if there is reasonable suspicion of dangerous criminal activity. (Reality: Stop - Talk - Frisk)

Terry v. Ohio (1968)

authority to stop and frisk suspects on the streets when there is reasonable suspicion that they are armed and involved in criminal activity.

Search Incident to a Lawful Arrest

The authority to undertake a warrantless search incident to a lawful arrest is not limited by the type of crime for which the arrestee has been taken into custody:

Miranda Rules

Miranda v. Arizona (1966): that when an individual is taken into custody as a criminal suspect

Miranda warnings must be

read aloud to the suspect before questioning can begin.

In the United States, both state and federal courts use _____

the adversarial process

The Adversarial Process

(or adversary system) is a legal method where two opposing parties present their arguments, evidence, and witnesses before an impartial judge or jury, who decides the outcome.

Other countries typically use an ____.

inquisitorial process

Inquisitorial Process

Court process, employed in most countries of the world, in which the judge takes an active role in investigating the case and examining evidence by, for example, questioning witnesses

Supreme Court oversees both ____

court systems by interpreting the U.S. Constitution: protects the rights of defendants in federal and state criminal cases.

jurisdiction

The geographic territory or legal boundaries within which control may be exercised; the range of a court’s authority.

A norm ____

is a value, standard, or expectation concerning people’s behavior.

Courts play a central role in______

enforcing society’s rules and standards for behavior, a function that contributes to peace and stability in society.

Courts also handle _______

handle dispute processing for society & engage in policy making

3 Levels of Courts

Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction

Appellate Courts

Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

only misdemeanors, lawsuits for small amounts of money, and other specific kinds of cases.

Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction

Criminal courts with jurisdiction over all offenses, including felonies. In some states, these courts also hear appeals.

Appellate Courts

Courts that do not try criminal cases, but hear appeals of decisions of lower courts

The U.S. Supreme Court, with

its nine justices, controls its own caseload.

Problem-Solving Courts

Lower-level local courts dedicated to addressing particular social problems or troubled populations.

Types of Courts

Federal Court

State Courts

Tribal Courts

Federal Court

limited range of cases focused on violations of federal law.

State Courts

heavily primary responding for processing the felonies and lesser offenses.

Tribal Courts

Jurisdiction varies by the tribe

U.S Supreme Court

oversees both court systems by interpreting the U.S. Constitution, which protects the rights of defendants in federal and state criminal cases

State Supreme Courts

monitor decisions of lower courts within their own states by interpreting state constitutions and statutes.

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)

All uniformed members of the United States Military fall under this jurisdiction.

Judges

most of their work—signing warrants, setting bail, arraigning defendants, accepting guilty pleas, and scheduling cases.

black robe and gavel symbolize

impartiality and authority

Prosecutor

To get someone convicted

Defense

to get what your deserve

Judge

To be Neutral and give a fair sentence

Adjudicator

apply the law in ways that uphold the rights of the accused in decisions about detention, plea, trial, and sentence.

Negotiator

negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys about plea bargains (Must be approved by the court), sentencing, and bail conditions

Administrator

manage their own courtroom and staff + the judge must deal with political actors such as county commissioners, legislators, judicial authorities, and members of the state executive bureaucracy.

Partisan Election

An election in which candidates openly affiliated with political parties are presented to voters for selection.

Nonpartisan Election

An election in which candidates’ party affiliations are not listed on the ballot

Gubernatorial Appointmen

placed by the state's governor.

Legislative Selection

Chosen by state legislative via committee vote.

Merit Selection

A reform plan by which judges are nominated by a committee and appointed by the governor for a given period. When the term expires, the voters approve or disapprove the judge for a succeeding term.

Prosecuting attorneys

make discretionary decisions about whether to pursue criminal charges, which charges to make, and what sentence to recommend.

United States Attorney General

the chief law enforcement officer in the country, generally represents the U.S. in cases, and oversees several agencies and offices in the justice department.

United States Solicitor General

supervises and conducts governments litigation in the Supreme Court on behalf of federal government.

State Solicitor General

A state level legal official who handles appellate litigation and provides legal representation on behalf of the respective state for federal cases involving a state in federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Sometimes this person is also the state attorney general.

prosecutors are involved at multiple stages and can therefore exert great influence:

• Arrest to final disposition of a case, prosecutors can make choices that largely determine the defendant’s fate.

• The prosecutor decides which cases to prosecute, selects the charges to be brought, recommends the bail amount, approves agreements with the defendant, and urges the judge to impose a particular sentence.

Police

Prosecutors depend on the police to provide both the suspects and the evidence needed to convict lawbreakers

Victims and Witnesses

Prosecutors depend on the cooperation of victims and witnesses

Judges and Courts

Knowledge of and interactions with the judge can affect the prosecutors’ recommendations about and influence over sentencing

The Community

Public opinion and the media can play a crucial role in creating an environment that either supports or scrutinizes the prosecutor.

defense attorneys

must have knowledge of law and procedure, skill in investigation, experience in advocacy, and, in many cases, relationships with prosecutors and judges that will help a defendant obtain the best possible outcome.

The First group

is composed of nationally known attorneys who charge large fees in highly publicized cases.

The second group

lawyers in large cities who represent wealthy clients, such as white collar criminals, major drug dealers, and charge substantial fees.