Chapter 3

Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law

Foundations of Criminal Law

Civil Law

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

• Punishes offenses to property or bodily harm in an accident; criminal law punishes damage to society

Criminal Law

Substantive criminal law

Defines actions the government can punish and what the punishments are, aka the penal code

• Answers “What is illegal?”

Procedural criminal law

Defines the rules that govern how the laws will be enforced

• Protects rights of defendants

• How officials can investigate and process cases

Definitions and Classifications of Criminal Law

The Model Penal Code

• model definitions of crimes to help states orga-nize and standardize their many individual criminal statutes

Felonies

Misdemeanors

Civil Infractions

• Punishable by fines, don’t result in arrest or criminal record

Elements of a Crime

The Act

• Planning is a form of action

The Attendant Circumstances

The State of Mind, or Intent

• Inchoate or incomplete offenses:  planned or attempted criminal conduct

Seven Principles of Criminal Law

To convict a defendant of a crime, prosecutors must prove that all seven principles have been fulfilled

1. Legality

   1. There must be a law that defines an act as a crime

2. Actus Reus

   1. Must be an act of commission or omission

3. Causation

   1. Must be a causal relationship between the act and the harm suffered

4. Harm

   1. an act (or failure to act) must cause harm to some legally protected value

5. Concurrence

   1. Intent and act must be present at same time

6. Mens Rea

   1. act usually must be accompanied by a guilty mind (related to intent)

   2. Guilty or blameworthy state of mind

7. Punishment

   1. must be a provision in the law that calls for punishment of those found guilty of violating a law

The seven principles of substantive criminal law allow authorities to define certain acts as being against the law and provide the accused with a basis for mounting a defense against the charges.

Criminal Defenses (in Substantive Law)

Justifications

Focus on the criminal act and whether the act was socially acceptable under the circumstances

Self Defense

• Person who feels in immediate danger of being harmed by another person may ward off attack in self-defense

• Level of force cannot exceed person’s reasonable perception of the threat

Necessity

• Used when people break the law to save themselves or prevent some greater harm

Excuses

Focus on the actor and whether or not they have the knowledge or intent needed for a criminal conviction

Insanity

Intoxication

• Intoxication must be involuntary

Duress (coercion)

• Someone commits a crime after being coerced by another

• Usually requires the person tries to escape from the situation

Entrapment

• Lack of intent

• Government agents induced a person to commit the offense

• Key question is predisposition of defendant

Infancy

• Common law presumed children aged 7-14 aren’t liable because they don’t understand the consequences of their actions

• In 1990s it became increasingly common for children to be tried as adults because of concerns regarding violent crime committed by young people

Mistake of Fact

• Ignorance of the law is not acceptable as an excuse, but mistake of a crucial fact is

• I.e. not knowing hard lemonade exists and buying some for a young child

Procedural Criminal Law

Defines how the state must process cases

Procedural criminal law is defined through judicial rulings in courts (Supreme Court plays a big part in this) unlike substantive criminal law which is defined by legislators through statutes

Bill of Rights

Procedural law is shaped specifically by four amendments in the Bill of RIghts and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Fourth

• Protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures

• Limits the ability of law enforcement to search a person or property in order to obtain evidence

• Limits the ability of police to detain a person without proper justification

Fifth

• Outlines basic due process rights in criminal cases

  • Protection against compelled self-incrimination

  • Protects against double jeopardy, or the prosecution of the same crime twice

• Entitlement to indictment by grand jury before being prosecuted

  • Citizens from the community that hear evidence and determine whether enough exists to charge a defendant

  • Applies only in federal court

  • One of the few rights the Supreme Court has not applied to the states.

Sixth

• Provisions dealing with fairness in criminal trial

  • Right to counsel

• Right to a speedy and public trial

• Right to an impartial jury

Eighth

• Rights of the defendant during pretrial and correctional phases

• Prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments

Fourteenth

• Protects from abusive action by local government officials

• Created after Civil War to protect people’s right to due process of law

• In earlier cases, the Supreme Court operated under the fundamental fairness doctrine, which basically meant that the Constitution had not been violated as long as the state’s conduct maintains basic standards of fairness.

The Due Process Revolution

• Warren era (1960s) began process of incorporation

• Critics of these decisions believed that they made the community more vulnerable and gave too many legal protections to criminals.

• In the eyes of many legal scholars, the Warren Court’s deci-sions made criminal justice processes consistent with the American values of liberty, rights, and limited government authority.