Chapter 3 Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law Foundations of Criminal Law Laws tell citizens what they can and cant do tell government officials when they can seek to punish citizens for violations and how they must go about it Civil Law regulates business deals contracts real estates etc Substantive Criminal Law Penal Code defines actions that may be punished by the government and specifies their punishments Procedural Criminal Law defines the procedures that CJ officials must follow in enforcement adjudication and corrections Substantive Criminal Law No act can be regarded as illegal unless there is a punishment attached 7 Principles of Criminal Law o Legality there must be a law that defines an action as a crime Cant be in trouble for laws applied after the crime o Actus Reus for a crime to occur there must be an act of either commission or o Causation there must be a casual relationship between the act and the harm o Harm the act must cause harm to some legally protected value person omission by the accused suffered property valuable objects Inchoate offense conduct that is criminal even though the harm that the law seeks to prevent has not been done but merely planned or attempted o Concurrence the intent and the act must be present at the same time o Mens Rea act isn t a crime unless it is accompanied by a guilty state of mind o Punishment must be a provision in the law calling for punishment of those found guilty of violating the law Elements of a Crime o A crime must fulfull the seven principles under certain attendant circumstances and the state of mind actus reus menus rea Statutory Definition of Crimes o Penal code defines what the state considers an offense and how it will be o Can be complicated when when statues divide related acts ex 1st 2nd 3rd punished degree murders o Malice Aforethought distinguished murder from manslaughter Murder is deliberate premeditated and willful Manslaughter is accidental or the heat of passion Responsibility for Criminal Acts o To obtains conviction prosecution must show that the offender not only committed the illegal act but was also in the state of mind to convict him or her o Mens rea has the ability to relieve defendants of responsibility that would be labeled criminal if they were intentional 8 defenses based on lack of criminal intent o Entrapment the defense that the individual was induced by the police to commit the criminal act Onlyt when they have encouraged an act Tough because the verdict then falls on the discretion of the judges of o Self Defense warding off the attack when a person feels that he or she is in what is too far immediate danger Amount of self defense cant exceed the perception of the threat o Necesity when people break the law in order to save themselves or to prevent from some greater harm o Duress coercion when someone commits a crime because they were coerced by another person forced at gunpoint to drive the getaway car o Immaturity common law presumes that ages 7 14 are not liable for their criminal acts but can be defeated Older you are less chance for pleading immaturity o Mistake of Fact when the accused has made a mistake on some crucial fact o Intoxication only works when the accused has been tricked into using a substance without knowing it can cause intoxication If knowingly drunk driving using it cant defend o Insanity when they plead they are insane and don t know better Very heated debate because some use it to get off Insanity tests Its very rare to find and only used when there is no other valid defense M Naghten Rule didn t know from right and wrong Irresistible Impulse created to use M naghten in line with modern psychiatry shows whether a mental disease was controlling their behavior Durham Rule act was caused by his mental illness Model Penal Code if the accused lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to control it Comprehensive Crime Control Act limited it to those who couldn t control their illness nad couldn t understand the nature and wrongfulness of his or her act Put in a mental hospital until found sane Procedural Criminal Law Defines how the state must process cases must be tried in accordance w legal procedures and given his rights Helps normal citizens be protected from excessive force by police and prosecutors Rights can interfere with putting away criminals Law is defined by US and state constitution Bill of Rights 1st ten amendments added to the constitution to provide specific rights for individuals 1st freedom of speech press religion and to complain to the government 2nd right to bear arms 3rd at no time will a soldier be quarterd in any house without the consent of the owner 4th no unreasonable searches and seizures in homes without a proper warrant 5th must prove defendants guilt protection against self incrimination 6th right to trial by jury right to have counsel 7th 20 or more trial by jury instead of court 8th no cruel and unusual punishment no excessive bail 9th no rights will be made to hurt the people 10th no power is in the constitution or the state 14th born or naturalized citizen is a citizen no law will be made to hurt the citizens or deprive life liberty and property due process Barron v Baltimore 1833 the protection of the bill of rights apply only to actions of the federal government Fourteenth Amendment and Due Process o Rights to due process and equal protection very vague o Powell v Alabama 1932 an attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty o Procedures must meet a standard of fundamental fairness Due Process Revolution o Incorporation the extension of the due process clause of the 14th amendment to make binding on state governments the rights guaranteed in the first ten amendments to the US constitution Made 4th 5th 6th 8th and other amendments a part of due process The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures o Limits the ability to search a person or property in order to obtain evidence of criminal activity Need a proper warrant The Fifth Amendment Protection Against Self Incrimination and Double Jeopardy o Seeks to prevent authorities from pressuring people into acting as witnesses against themselves self incrimination o Keeps prosecutors from putting defendants on trial over and over again in repeated offenses to convict them of the same offense double jeopardy Doesn t prevent a person from receiving two trials or convictions from the doing the same act
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