Criminal Justice Test 1

4th Degree Felony

Least likely to go to jail but can still receive up to 18 months of prison and $10,000 in fines.

3rd Degree Felony

Common charges include drug possession, shoplifting, and burglary, with penalties of 3-5 years in prison.

2nd Degree Felony

Punishable by 10-20 years and up to $150,000 in fines for serious offenses like sex crimes.

1st Degree Felony

Carries 10-20 years of prison time and up to $500,000 in fines, with potential for greater penalties.

Indictment

Charges that elevate to the level of the Supreme Court; New Jersey does not classify felonies.

Disorderly Persons Defenses

misdemeanor, 6 months county jail

Crime

Defined by criminal law; the definition evolves with social forces and serves as a method of social control.

Expressive Violence

Violence driven by emotion.

Instrumental Violence

Violence committed for a gain.

Mass Murder

Multiple people killed at a single location over a short period of time.

Serial Killer

A person who kills multiple victims based on a specific criteria and maintains a consistent m.o. over time.

Spree Killer

A person who kills multiple victims in a single location over a brief time span.

Social Control

A society's ability to regulate individual behavior for communal welfare.

Police Process

Involves contact, investigation, arrest, and custody.

Court System

Includes charging, grand jury, arraignment, bail, and plea processes.

Correctional System

Works on incapacitating offenders and aiding their rehabilitation.

The scope of the criminal system

federal, state, and local governments that process, treats, and cares for more than 11 million people in the system.

Formal Procedures of the Justice Process

Initial Contact, Investigation, Arrest, Custody, Charging, Preliminary Hearing/Grand Jury, Arraignment, Bail/Detention, Plea Bargaining, Trial/Adjudication, Sentencing/Disposition, Appeal, Correctional Treatment, Release, Post release.

Decriminalization

•  removing criminal penalties for a specific act, it remains illegal but is no longer prosecuted as a crime

Deinstitutionalization

• reducing the population of individuals confined in institutions like prisons

Ethics and Law Enforcement

 law enforcement has the ability to deprive people of their liberty, considerable discretion, model codes of conduct for law enforcement.

Ethics and Corrections

• discretion afforded to correctional workers, officers have significant coercive power over offenders and may not use excessive force to take advantage of their power.

Property crime

• act that involves damaging, destroying, or stealing someone else’s property

Public order crimes

• an act that goes against social norms and morality, and is considered harmful to society. Includes drug and alcohol offenses, prostitution, and disorderly conduct.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

Compiled by the FBI, this national survey compiles criminal acts reported to local police

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

• Requires local police agencies to provide at least a brief account of each incident and arrest, including the incident, victim and offender information

• There are expanded crime categories, such as blackmail, embezzlement, drug offenses, and bribery

National Crime Victimization Survey

Surveys victims about their experiences with law violation

Self Report Survey

Asks offenders themselves to report about their criminal behaviors

Three-Strikes Law

A legal principle where a person committing three crimes faces significant prison time.

Truth-in-Sentencing

Mandates that offenders serve 85% of their sentence.

General Deterrence

If crime is a matter of choice, it follows that it can be controlled by convincing criminals that breaking the law is a bad or dangerous choice to make. Designed to make potential criminals fear the consequences of crime.

Specific Deterrence

Punish known criminals so severely that they will never be tempted to repeat their offenses. Problems with these strategies are that criminals do not fear punishment

Antisocial Personality

Characterized by impulsivity, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse.

Why do police mess up crime statistics?

Police lower statistics and don’t report some crimes to meet quota, lower taxes, perception of a better community, and under pressure to reduce crime.

General Intent

When the defendant intended to perform the act without intending the consequences.

Specific Intent

When the defendant specifically intended to cause a particular outcome.

Failure to Act

• May be criminal when the person in question is required by law to do something, that is, when the law specifies a duty to act. [Paying your taxes, caring for children (neglect)]

4th amendment

free of unreasonable search & seizure

5th amendment

double jeopardy and self incrimination

6th amendment

 right to speedy trial

8th amendment

cruel and unusual punishment

Due Process of Law

Ensures fair treatment in legal processes as outlined in the 5th and 14th Amendments.

Substantive due process

Refers to the citizens' right to be protected from criminal law that may be biased, discriminatory, or otherwise unfair.

Procedural due process

Seeks to ensure that no person will be deprived of life, liberty, or property without proper and legal criminal process (cops)

Terry v Ohio

Officer noticed three guys with suspicious movement around a jewelry store multiple times, he approached them and searched them and found guns and arrested them. The court said the search was ok because it was a stop and frisk.

Exclusionary Rule

Prohibits the use of evidence obtained illegally in court.

Reasonable Suspicion

A legal standard of proof that is less than probable cause.

Justification defense

• defendants may claim that the criminal act was reasonable or necessary.

Stand Your Ground

“He was going to attack me so I attacked him”. There's no stand your ground law in NJ.

Castle Doctrine

 can use deadly force in your home in NJ, hotel room, etc.

Consent

the type of crime involved generally determines the validity of consent as an appropriate legal defense

Self-Defense

Claim that justifies using force to protect oneself from imminent danger.

Duress

if the defendant was forced to commit a crime as the only means to preventing death or serious harm to himself/others

Intoxication

Not a defense unless the defendant became involuntarily intoxicated under duress or by mistake.

Age

incapacity for a child under the age of 7

Entrapment

 If law enforcement agents used traps, decoys, and deception to induce criminal action

Insanity Defense

Argues the defendant lacks criminal responsibility due to mental incapacitation.

Actus Reus

The actual act of committing a crime or failing to act when legally required. Can be denied by arguments that they were falsely accused

Mens Rea

a guilty mind; the intent to commit a criminal act

Strict Liability Crime

• certain statutory offenses (ex: selling drugs) exist in which mens rea is not essential

Mala in Se

Acts that are inherently evil and morally wrong.

Mala Prohibita

Acts that are wrong because they are prohibited by statute.

Substantive Criminal Law Goals

Include enforcing social control, deterring crime, and maintaining social order.

To constitute a crime

 the law requires a connection be made between mens rea and actus reus.

Elonis v United States

The case established that the government must prove a person’s intent to threaten, not just that a reasonable person would perceive the statement as threatening.

Gilberto Valle v United States

Valle claimed a fantasy defense, arguing that his expression to kidnap, kill, and eat women had no intent and was just fantasy. “Fantasizing about committing a crime, even a crime of violence against a real person is not a crime”.