Ch. 2

Learning Objectives

• meaning of federalism as it applies to criminal justice

• constitutional basis for the exercise of federal criminal jurisdiction

• limits of federal criminal jurisdiction under Interstate Commerce Clause

• reliable, relevant, competent evidence

• differences between accusatorial and inquisitional systems

• requirements of Brady rule

• requirements of US Supreme Court’s rule for lost or destroyed evidence

Federalism in the United States

• federalism - division of power between state governments and the federal government, in which the federal government has specified powers delegated to it, with the remaining powers vested in the states

• United States use a form of government based on a division of powers (federalism)

• people of the original thirteen states thought of themselves as being primarily citizens of their states

  • familiar with political and civic leaders of their local communities BUT knew little of the leaders of the proposed central government

  • reluctant to grant complete authority to a national government

  • BUT recognized they needed a strong central government to provide for national defense, to create a national currency and central banking system, to establish a postal system, to regulate trade with foreign nations, and to establish a taxation system to pay the expenses o a new national government

• federalism is regarded as a compromise between the competing ideas of a strong central government and independently run state governments

• US was first country to use a federal form of government

  • central government has the power and authority to handle national problems, while the states have the power to regulate local needs and problems

  • provides diversity and flexibility at both the state and local levels of government

  • needs and problems of states differ from each other

  • states are primarily responsible for public safety and can enact laws that they believe are most effective in providing for public order and an efficient, effective criminal justice system

Federalism and the Law of Evidence

• powers of the US Congress, the president, and the US Supreme Court are limited to those powers granted in the Constitution

• 10th Amendment: “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the States… or to the people.”

• each state is a sovereign, and the officials of each state have the powers granted to them by the constitution of that state

• each state has its own criminal codes and each has enacted a code of criminal procedure and evidence

• state laws and state court rulings may provide additional rights to the people of the state and to criminal defendants within that state, beyond those extended by the Constitution

• Federal Rules of Evidence

  • codification in 1975 of common-law rules of evidence

  • applicable only in federal courts but provide the model for most state evidence codes

  • ever since, most states have adopted rules of evidence almost identical to the Federal Rules with local modifications. However, each state retains the power to interpret and modify those rules of evidence

  • can vary between federal courts and state courts and among the states

  • rules of evidence apply in both civil and criminal trials

    • however, some rules or parts of rules may apply differently in criminal cases

State and Federal Jurisdiction over Crimes in the United States

• great majority of crimes in the US are violations of state criminal codes

• because each state is sovereign and has the power and authority granted to it by its residents, it may enforce its criminal laws against anyone who violates them

• federal government is also sovereign, having the power and authority to enforce violations of federal law

• US Constitution does not grant to the federal government a general police power, nor has there ever been federal criminal common law

  • all federal crimes have to be statutory crimes enacted by Congress

  • States have general police power in providing for domestic tranquility

• Common Law

  • legal rules that evolved over many years in English and American court opinions

  • aka. unwritten law

  • common-law crimes and common-law rules of evidence were used during the early history of the US

  • today, are enacted by state legislatures and are found in the codified laws of each state

• to enact federal criminal law, the US Congress must act within the powers granted to it by the US Constitution

• Criminal laws may be enacted by the federal government in the following areas:

  • to protect itself, its officials and employees, its property, and the administration of its authorized functions

  • to regulate interstate and foreign commerce

  • to protect civil rights

  • to enact criminal laws for places beyond the jurisdiction of any state, such as the District of Columbia, federal territories, and federal enclaves such as military bases and national parks

• defendants in prosecutions for violations of federal criminal law sometimes attack the jurisdiction of the federal government to make their conduct criminal (in particular, when the basis of that jurisdiction is the Commerce Clause)

• Congress may pass criminal laws under the Commerce Clause only if

  • (1) the prohibited actions use the “channels” of interstate commerce, such as actions taking place in more than one state

  • (2) the activity uses the “instrumentalities” of interstate commerce, such as telephone lines or the postal service

  • (3) the activity has a “substantial effect” on interstate commerce

• Constitution gives Congress the power to pass all “necessary and proper” laws in regulation of interstate commerce

• SORNA - Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act

  • federal law that establishes minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States

  • Congress had the power to enact SORNA under the Necessary and Proper Clause, which authorizes Congress to pass laws necessary to obtain the object of permissible legislation

Law Enforcement in the American Federal System

• US has more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies

• local law enforcement agencies (police and sheriff departments) enforce city and county ordinances in addition to the criminal laws of their state

  • bring their cases to city attorneys and state attorneys (district attorneys) for charging and prosecution

  • municipal police officers often spend more time in municipal courts on ordinance violations than they spend in state courts appearing in criminal cases

  • both municipal and state courts use state rules of evidence

• law enforcement agencies working at the state level of government are generally created by state law to enforce state criminal laws or to enforce hunting, fishing, health, sanitation, fire, and other state codes

• federal law enforcement officers work in the many federal law agencies created by Congress

  • enforce specific federal laws assigned to their agencies and take most of their cases to federal prosecutors for trial in the federal court system

  • FBI, DEA, ICE, etc.

American Adversary System

• adversary system

  • judicial system in which opposing parties present evidence, and an impartial judge or jury weights the evidence; contrasts with the inquisitorial system, where the judge actively questions the accused and witnesses

• function of a criminal trial is to provide a venue for determining the facts upon which the guilt or innocence of the accused is based

• main actors at the trial are judge, jury, prosecutor, defense attorney

• prosecutor and defense attorney assume adversarial roles; they do not seek to establish the facts in cooperation with each other, but in opposition

  • each side has to present the facts most advantageous to their position and seek to prevent and make difficult for their opponent to do the same

The Adversary System and Battles Over What is Relevant, Reliable, and Competent Evidence

• each party seeks to present the facts that are most advantageous to its position

• battle over what is relevant, reliable, and competent evidence

• to be admissible in a trial, evidence must be relevant, reliable, and competent

• relevant evidence

  • evidence that has a tendency to make a material issue before the court more or less probable

  • direct or circumstantial evidence

  • even relevant evidence may be excluded and held not admissible if the evidence may

    • 1. unfairly prejudice a party

    • 2. confuse the jury

    • 3. waste the court’s time

  • trial judges are generally given great discretion in striking the balance between the evidence’s probative value and its likely prejudicial or confusing potential

• reliable evidence

  • evidence that possesses a sufficient degree of likelihood that it is true and accurate

  • adult witness testimony about what they actually saw or heard is generally reliable

  • statement by a witness about what another person said what they saw or heard is unreliable: hearsay

• competent evidence

  • any evidence that is relevant and reliable and not otherwise excludable

  • includes relevant, reliable evidence that is not otherwise rendered inadmissible

American Accusatorial System

• suspects and defendants have an absolute right to remain silent about matters that could incriminate them

• if a defendant chooses to remain silent, the state must carry the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt (using evidence obtained elsewhere in a manner that did not violate the rights of the suspect)

Disclosing Information in the Adversary System

• when a criminal charge has been made, the prosecution and the defense begin separate investigations of the facts supporting or opposing the charge

• neither the prosecution nor the defense is inclined to share information with the other side

  • HOWEVER, the US Supreme Court has palced limits on this unwillingness to share

Notice of Alibi Statues

• in using the alibi defense, a defendant is alleging taht they physically could not have committed the crime that is charged because the defendant was at another place at the time the crime was committed

• alibis can be easily fabricated so must be carefully investigated

• most states have notice of alibi statues that require defendants who plan to use an alibi defense to serve notice on the prosecutor before trial

Duty to Disclose Evidence Tending to Show the Innocence of an Accused

• Brady Rule

  • the rule that requires the prosecution to disclose, upon request, evidence favorable to the accused

  • for discovery purposes, it has been held that law enforcement officers are part of the prosecution and also have a duty of disclosure

  • does not require the prosecution to disclose evidence a defendant could use to impeach a government witness before making a plea agreement with the defendant

• exculpatory evidence: evidence that tends to show innocence

Lost, Misplaced, and Destroyed Evidence

• due process: the minimum procedural protections courts must afford those charged with crimes

  • guaranteed by 5th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution

• due process has not occurred unless the following is shown

  • bad faith on the part of the police or other law enforcement official

  • the evidence also would be of likely significance to the defendant’s defense

Use of False or Perjured Evidence

• use of false or perjured evidence in an attempt to obtain a criminal conviction is a crime

• however, if the prosecution does not know a government witness has given false testimony, due process is denied only if the evidence is material and the reviewing court concludes it is most likely the defendant would not have been convicted without the false testimony

Civil Commitment: Evidence Needed to Commit a Person Who Might be Violent

• involuntary confinement of a person usually involves the criminal justice system

• however, under some circumstances, civil commitment is authorized under state or federal statutes

  • in these cases, those seeking an involuntary commitment order must present evidence supporting the statutory requirements for such commitment

• persons convicted of sexual offenses who continue to pose a danger of sexual crimes after release from prison can be detained indefinitely for treatment

• to detain a person that is mentally ill, Supreme Court must be shown that the prisoner:

  • 1. had previously committed sexually violent acts or child molestation

  • 2. currently was suffering from a serious mental illness, abnormalities or disorders

  • 3. as a result of the mental illness or disorder, is dangerous to others and if released would have serious difficulty in restraining from sexually violent conduct or child molestation

SUMMARY

• federalism as applied to criminal justice means the federal government may pass criminal laws only in the specific areas delegated to the federal government by the US Constitution

• states have the power to pass criminal laws in all other areas, unless such laws conflict with the rights protected by the Constitution

• the Constitution gives the federal government power to pass criminal laws to protect itself, its property, and its employees and agents

  • it is authorized to pass laws, including criminal laws in areas or activities that affect interstate commerce, including all necessary and proper laws that are related to interstate commerce

  • may also pass criminal governing places outside the jurisdiction of a state, such as a federal territory, military base, and etc.

• the Commerce Clause power extends only to activities that affect interstate commerce, as opposed to activities that affect only a single state

  • includes activities that occur in only one state, but have a substantial effect on interstate commerce

• reliable evidence is evidence that possesses a sufficient degree of likelihood that is true and accurate; relevant evidence is evidence that has a tendency to make a contested fact more or less probable than if the evidence is not admitted; competent evidence is any relevant AND reliable evidence that is not excludable for some other reason

• in the accusatorial system suspects cannot be required to testify, and the prosecution has the duty to develop evidence of guilt from other sources

  • in an inquisitorial system a suspect may be required to answer questions and provide information that may lead to his conviction

• the BRADY RULE requires the prosecution to disclose exculpatory information or evidence to the defendant, even if a request for such information or evidence is not made

  • it includes evidence that goes to the credibility of a government witness, such as evidence the witness has made inconsistent statements o investigators

  • violation of Brady Rule does not occur unless the evidence withheld is material and a reasonable probability exists that the result in the trial may have been different if the evidence had been disclosed to the defendant