Criminal Justice

• Individual Rights vs. Public Safety
• Public expectation vs. How system works
• Role of actors, their discretion, effects of this discretion
• Factual Guilt vs Legal Guilt

13 percent

Whether a defendant has committed a crime

whether guilt has been established through procedure/trial

Inadmissible evidence, or not enough evidence

Different departments, licenses, permits

money from loss wages, damages (car,body), punitive damages

a form of private law: governs the relationships between individuals in society. i.e. contract law, company law.

its a civil law, deals with damages

a form of public law designed to prevent or enforce certain types of behavior and punish offenders

not required

usually required

trial or settlement

trial or plea bargain

preponderance of evidence(more likely than not)

beyond a reasonable doubt

liability to pay damages

guilt that result in sentences

You can't be tried for the same crime twice in the same district

system of government which the power is split between central (national) and regional (state) governments

constitution, statutes, and case law

civil law, common law, administrative, and penal law

Doing justice, controlling crime, preventing crime

• offenders will be held full accountable for their actions
• the rights of people in contact with the system will be protected
• like offenses will be treated alike, and officials will take into account relevant differences among offenders and offenses

Necessity is not a defense to a charge of murder

• Utilitarian/consequentialist approach: locates morality in consequence of the act
• Categorical/value approach: locates morality in certain duties and rights

Categorical/value approach

reactive approach

• proactive approach: seeks to avoid/deter crime before it occurs
• Eliminate causes of crime

an operating set of interdependent institutions/ actors procedures and laws/ rules directed toward gaining(criminal justice)

legislature or police

judiciary

when a person either acts, fails to act, attempts to act, or agrees to act in a way that is in violation of criminal law without defense or justification

when its written out in law

statute, penal code

acts inherently, evil or bad

acts evil or bad because the government has labeled them as so

• Politicality: only rules made by the state or federal government are crimes
• Specificity: everyone needs to know what he/she must not do, law has to give fair warning
• Uniformity: Evenhanded justice w/o respect to persons and their social status
• Penal sanctions: law w/o punishments is impotent (ex imperfecta), does not always mean punishment

Actus reus, mens rea, concurrence, causation, harm

Look at each individual act separately

• Human conduct: speech, attempt, doing vs. being
• Voluntariness: on a brain level
• Failure to act can be conduct

• Purposeful: intentional
• Knowing: stress on knowing, less on purpose
• Reckless: aware of risk/harm
• Negligence: should have known better

what would a reasonable person do?

act and state of mind must occur at the same time

the link between actor's conduct and the resutl

• Necessary condition: but for standard
• Sufficient condition: various correction, limitations, foreseeability, its void if there's a third party

loss, disadvantage, or injury to a victim

visible crime, occupational crime, organized crime, crimes w/o personal victims, political crime, cyber crime

defense is a factor that justifies or excuses to actor's responsibility.

• Alibi (factual)
• Extenuating circumstances
• Justifications or excuses
• Diminish responsibility
• Negation of mens rea

• self-defense
• necessity

• Immaturity
• Duress
• Entrapment
• Mistake of fact
• Mistake of law
• Intoxication or Drugged Condition

a screening operation; a process by which criminal justice officials screen out some cases while advancing others to the next level

the process of determining whether the defendant is guilty

a court order authorizing police officers to take certain actions

a document charging an individual with a specific crime

a document returned by a grand jury as a "true bill" charging an individual with a specific crime.

crime carrying a penalty of death or incarceration for more than one year

offenses offenses punishable by incarceration of no more than one year in jail, probation or intermediate sanctions

• offense against persons or property committed primarily of people of low class.
• "street crime" or "ordinary crime"

criminal offenses committed through opportunities created in legal business or occupation

moving proceeds of criminal activities through a maze of business, banks, and brokerage accounts to disguise origin

offense involving a willing and private exchange of illegal goods or services that are in strong demand

an act that constitutes a threat against the state

a metaphor for the crimes that are not reported to the police

Interviews of samples of the US pop. to determine the number and types of criminal victimization and unreported crime

• examining the role that victims play in precipitating a criminal incident
• examines impact of crimes on victims

• views behavior stemming from free will, demands responsibility for perps.
• need for punishments severe enough to deter others

• behavior stems from social, biological, and psychological factors.
• Punishments should be tailored to individual needs

having factors that bring about criminal behavior

emphasize physiological and neuro factors that predispose people to crime

emphasize mental process and behavior as a predisposition for crime

social condition that may cause people to commit crime

blame crime on the existence of a powerless lower class that lives with poverty and deprivation and often turns to crime in response

a breakdown or disappearance of the rules of social behavior

theories that see criminality as normal behavior due to influences and how one is regarded my other

see criminal behavior as learned

people become criminals because they encounter influences that see criminal behavior as normal and acceptable

criminal behavior occurs because bonds or ties to society is weakened

causes of criminal behavior is linked to social process labeling certain acts as deviant or criminal

criminal law and the justice system are a means to control lower class, women, and minorites

crime is a result of conflict in society

criticize existing theories for ignoring or undervaluing women's experiences in the criminal system

identify factors that affect the start, duration, nature, and end of criminal behavior over the life of an offender

the accountability of an individual for a crime

minor offenses punished by small fines and no criminal record

Incomplete offenses-conduct that is criminal even though the harm that the law seeks to prevent has not been done but merely planned or attempted

• legality: law defines specific act
• actus reus: conduct, voluntairly
• causation: casual relationship between act and harm
• harm: act causes harm
• concurrence: actus reus and mens rea
• Mens rea: guilty mind
• punishment: provision in law calling for punishment

• M'naghten: not knowing right-from wring
• Irresistible impulse test: got a mental disease
• Substantial capacity test: lack the capacity to understand wrongfulness

the protections of the Bill of Rights apply only to federal actions of the government

An attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty

as long as the state's conduct maintains basic standards of fairness, constitution has not been violated

the extension of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment

poor defendants have right to counsel when charged with serious crimes. (six months or more moths of incarceration)