Chapter 3 Review Updated PDF

[Chapter 3 Review ] - The U.S. constitution outlines the form of government America has establish and defines the representational government and the three-branch structure. - **Legislative-** creates laws - **Executive**- enforce laws - **Judicial**- interprets laws...

[Chapter 3 Review ] - The U.S. constitution outlines the form of government America has establish and defines the representational government and the three-branch structure. - **Legislative-** creates laws - **Executive**- enforce laws - **Judicial**- interprets laws - **Statutory law**- is written and enacted by congress, state legislature, or local governing authorities in response to a perceived need. - **Criminal law**- Identifies behaviors deemed unacceptable by society. Criminal law also set punishments for those behaviors - **Ordinances**- Are laws enacted by a municipal (city) or county - **Civil law**- The legal action that a person takes to resolve a non-criminal private dispute with another person - **Administrative law**- Is the body that establishes the operation and procedures of governmental agencies - **Case law**- is the body of law formed by the decisions of the court system (the judicial branch) - The U.S. constitution sets parameters within which the government operates and establishes laws - According to the U.S. constitution, all people stand equal before the law and therefore share certain rights. Knowing a majority of these rights such as the freedom of speech, protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, and prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment - Many of the amendments are in the bill of rights (the first 10 amendments to the U.S. constitution) - **1^st^ Amendment**- Protects the rights - Free speech - Press - Assembly - Religion - Protest - Video recording - Public activities - Offensive language toward law enforcement - **2^nd^ Amendment**- Protects right to bear arms - **4^th^ Amendment**- Protects from unreasonable search and seizure - **5^th^ Amendment**- Against self-incrimination and guarantees due process - **6^th^ Amendment**- Establishes a right to a speedy trial, impartial jury, And assistance of counsel - **8^th^ Amendment**- Protects against cruel and unusual punishment and prohibits the use of excessive bail or fines - **Misdemeanor**- Is any criminal offense with a maximum incarceration penalty in a county jail of up to one year - **2^nd^ degree misdeamanor**- Maximum penalty of 60 days in county jail and/ or a fine up to \$500, or both - **Felony**- Is any criminal offense committed where the maximum penalty is death or incarceration in state correctional facility for more than one year - **Capital felony**- Is the highest class of felony. The penalty for offense is death or life incarceration in a state correctional facility without the possibility of parole - An example of a capital felony is sexual battery on a child younger than 12 by a person 18 or older - **Life felony**- Has varying penalties depending on the date and type of crime committed. - The maximum penalty is life incarceration in a state correctional facility without the possibility of parole or probation, a fine of up to \$15,000, or both - **1^st^ degree felony**- Maximum 30 years to life incarceration, a \$10,000 fine, or both - **2^nd^ degree felony**- Maximum 15 years incarceration, a \$10,000 fine, or both - **Enhanced Penalty**- Is a sentence that is increased from one classification of offense to a more serious classification due to a prior conviction or the serious nature of the circumstances involved - Violent offenses committed against law enforcement officers, correctional officers, state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, and judges - Wearing something (a mask or hood) to conceal identity while committing a felony or misdeameanor - Showing prejudice or discrimination while committing a crime (hate crime) - Using a weapon while committing a crime - Unlawful taking, possessing, or using of a law enforcement officers' firearm during the commission of a crime - Committing a misdemeanor or felony that facilitated or furthered an act of terrorism - **Principal in the first degree**- Is a person who commits any criminal offense, whether felony or misdeameanor, aids abets counsels, hires, or persuades an offence to be committed or attempted - For example, if a babysitter provides security code to a friend for the purpose of that friend to commit a burglary and the burglary takes place without the babysitter being there, the babysitter is a principal in the first degree - **Accessory after the fact**- Is a person who gives the principal any aid with the intent that the principal avoids or escapes detention, arrest, trial, or punishment - For example, If Janet shelters James in her garage for a night to help him avoid begin caught by police after he had robbed a local convenience store, Janet is an accessory after the fact - Under criminal law principle, there are four basic classification of intent - General - Specific - Transferred - Recklessness - **Specific intent**- Is the intent to commit a crime and the intent to deprive an owner of something permanently - **Transferred intent**- Is when a crime is intended to harm one person and adinvertently causes a second person to be hurt instead - **Recklessness-** Imposes criminal liability on defendants when they did not intend for a behavior to cause the resulting harm - The elements of negligence are - A duty to act with care - Breach of the duty to act - Causation or proximate cause - Damages - A breach is a failure of some kind - **Breach of duty-** the person unreasonably failed in the duty they were obligated to perform - A breach of duty is generally proved by evidence that the person violated a law or accepted practices, such as departmental policy or rule - A duty may be breached by not taking action when a reasonable officer should have taken action - For example, if an officer decided to wait for EMS instead of performing CPR on an injured person who is not breathing, and the person dies or suffers brain damage from lack of oxygen, the officer is liable for those consequences because the officer breached the duty of care - The 3^rd^ element of negligence is proximate cause, which means that the breach caused the harm - **Proximate cause**- Is the legal phrase for the link between breach of duty and the harm causes - **Damages**- The final element of negligence, there are two main categories: - **Compensatory**- Are designed to compensate for actual property damage, harm, or injury that the plaintiff suffers - **Punitive**- Are intended to punish the defendant for the act and to warn others from doing the same act - They are awarded in addition to compensatory damages when the defendant acted with recklessness, malice, or deceit - As the amount of the evidence increases that someone has committed crime, the 4^th^ Amendment permits an officer to infringe more on a person's right of privacy - There are 3 main types of law enforcement encounters - **Consensual**- Occurs when you have voluntary contact with a person, and they are free to go at any time - May be based on mere suspicion or no suspicion at all - Mere suspicion is sometimes described as a hunch or gut feeling based on law enforcement training and knowledge - **Investigative stop-** only if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person stopped was committing, is committing, or is about to commit a law violation - With no further development of a crime that created the reasonable suspicion, OR - No other reasonable suspicion, OR - Cause to arrest - **Arrest-** You must always have probable cause that a person has committed or is committing a crime in order to initiate an arrest - **Reasonable suspicion**- Is the standard of justification needed to support an investigative stop - This mean that you can articulate, or put into words, facts that support a suspicion that the person stopped may be involved in a law violation - **BOLO (be on the lookout)-** is a description of a vehicle or suspect, and any other information that would help identify the suspect - The court disagreed and ruled that law enforcement officer may frisk the exterior clothing of someone lawfully detained if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person is about to commit a crime, has committed a crime, or is committing a crime, and may be armed - The two elements required for a lawful pat down or frisk: - The person is lawfully detained based on reasonable suspicion, AND - The officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person possesses a dangerous weapon - A frisk is not restricted to a person's body. Even the passenger compartment of a vehicle may be frisked, based on a reasonable belief that an occupant of the vehicle is armed and dangerous. The passenger compartment includes the area of a motor vehicle designed for the seating of the driver and other passengers of the vehicle - An officer who conducts a valid stop and frisk as described above, and in the process feels an item readily recognized as contraband, may seize that contraband. Known as the **plain touch/ feel doctrine**, this rule allows the officer to seize the contraband even if it does not feel like a weapon. - **Contraband-** Is anything that is illegal to produce, posses, or transport - If an officer has probable cause that a driver has committed a traffic infraction, or if the vehicle shows evidence of an equipment violation, such as a broken headlamp, the officer may stop the vehicle on that basis. Such stops are sometimes called **pretext stops**, because the officer stops the vehicle due to an equipment violation but really wants to investigate other, more serious criminal activity - The case of Whren V. U.S. addressed pretext stops - The court ruled that the search and seizure was constitutional because the officers had probable cause to stop the vehicle for a traffic violation - **Probable cause** is based on the totality of circumstances and is the fair probity or reasonable grounds to believe that crime has been or is being committed - Before a person maybe found guilty of a crime and sentenced, the prosecution must present evidence suffienct to prove guilt of each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt - **Proof beyond reasonable doubt-** Is the standard used to determine if a criminal defendant is guilty - **Search-** occur when an officer intrudes into a place where a persona has a reasonable expectation of privacy - **Seizure-** Occurs when an officer affects a person\'s right to have or control their property, usually by physically taking it - A seizure is also a physical arrest or detention - **Search warrant-** Is a court order that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search and seizure - To be valid, a search warrant must meet all of these legal requirements - It must be authorized and signed by a neutral magistrate or judge, AND - It must be based on an affidavit that states sufficient fact to establish probable cause that evidence of a crime will be found in the place to be searched, AND - The basis of the information in the affidavit must come from a reliable source, AND - The affiant (the person who swears to the affidavit and signs it) may be anyone, but the person serving the warrant must have jurisdiction over the place chosen for the search - The law presumes that a search without a warrant is invalid; however there are a number of exceptions that require probable cause: - **Plain view-** Any contraband an officer can see can be seized without a warranr as long as three conditions are met - The officer is lawfully present in the place where they can see the item, AND - The item is in plain sight, AND - The officer has probable cause to believe that the item is contraband or crime evidence - **Mobile conveyance-** A mobile conveyance search may be conducted without a warrant even if there may be time to obtain a warrant - Probable cause is required for a mobile conveyance search (**Carroll doctrine)** - Carroll v. U.S. the scope of a search under the Carroll doctrine extends to the entire vehicle and to all containers where the evidence could reasonably be found - **Exigent Circumstances-** Are certain emergencies, such as the case of evidence destruction, an emergency scene, or a fresh pursuit that justifies a warrantless entry - **Destruction of evidence**- is one of the exigent circumstances that permit search and seizure without a warrant. If you have probable cause to believe that contraband or evidence is in immediate danger of being destroyed - **Fresh pursuit**- Is the immediate and continuous pursuit by officers of a suspect who is fleeing to avoid arrest - A fresh pursuit is not restricted to a vehicle and applies to every mode of transport, including foot and bicycle. - It permits a law enforcement officer to make an arrest of a fleeing suspect who crosses jurisdictional lines - **Emergency scene**- Exception that involves a situation in which officers may take a warrantless entry to ensure their own safety of that the of the public - For this exception to apply you must have an objectively reasonable basis to believe that someone is in immediate danger - There is no general crime scene or murder scene exception to the 4^th^ amendment warrant requirements - Four additional search warrant exceptions require less than probable cause: - Consent- Consent searches do not require probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or even mere suspicion. - An officer may ask anyone for a consent to search - If the consent is knowing and voluntary and the person giving consent has authority to do so, then the search is valid and any evidence obtained from it can be used in court - Inventory- Is designed to search for evidence, but to protect the arrested person's property and protect you and the agency from accusations of theft, loss, or damage to the vehicle - **Impound-** towing a vehicle at the direction of law enforcement - **Administrative searches-** Generally do not require a warrant due to the setting or special conditions - Subjects of this type of search include - Students - Public schools - People in government offices - Government property - People engaged in certain businesses. - licensed activities - people on probation or parolee - **Incident to arrest-** When a person is lawfully arrested and taken into custody, they may be searched without a warrant - Searches of abandoned property and open fields are two search types that are often considered exceptions to the search warrant requirements - **Curtilage-** (the space of ground and outbuildings immediately surrounding a structure) of someone's home and an open field - Whether conducting a search using a warrant or acting under a legally recognized exception, case law and statutes allow officers to search for these items: - Contraband - Dangerous weapons - Evidence - Suspects - Items used by the suspect to commit the crime - Objects obtained by the suspect as a result of committing the crime - Items defined by a statue - **Forfeiture-** Is a civil proceeding in which law enforcement agency ask the court to transfer ownership of the property from the defendant to the law enforcement agency - The Florida statutes allow anyone to carry a weapon or firearm on their person or in their vehicle without a concealed weapon license, as long as the weapon is securely encased, not readily accessible for immediate use, and possessed for a lawful purpose - When you stop them, many people who carry CWFL will tell you that they have a weapon on their person or in their vehicle and that they have a license to carry it - Must display both licenses and proper identification upon demand by a law enforcement officer - **Risk protection order (RPO)-** is a court order that temporarily restricts a person's access to firearms for up to one year in situations where they pose a significant danger to themselves, or others by having a firearm or ammunition in their custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition - **Arrest-** Is the depriving a person of their liberty by legal authority - **Arrest warrant-** Is a court order authorizing and requiring law enforcement to take the individual named on the warrant into custody to answer for charges specified in the warrant - You may make a probable cause arrest without under the following circumstances - The person has committed a felony or misdemeanor or violated a county or municipal ordinance in the presence of the officer - The person has committed a misdemeanor that does not have to occur in your presence - **Notice to appear-** Is a written order that may be issued by a law enforcement officer in lieu of a physical arrest, requiring a person accused of violating the law to appear in court at a specified date and time - **Probable cause affidavit-** Also called an arrest affidavit, is sworn, written statement by a law enforcement officer establishing certain fact and circumstance to justify an arrest - An officer's use of physical force is restricted by case law, statutes, and agency policy - Use of force can be defined as the effort an officer has to use in order to get an unwilling subject to comply to their lawful commands - **Deadly force-** As any force that is likely to cause death or greatly bodily harm - **Graham v. Connor** - The U.S. supreme court ruled that the use of force did not violate Graham's forth amendment rights under these circumstances - The court held that use of force by an officer is examined under objective reasonableness standard of the 4^th^ amendment - The officer is justified in the use if any force - Which he or she reasonably believes to be necessary to defend himself or herself or another bodily harm while making the arrest - When necessarily committed in arresting felons fleeing justice - **Deadly force-** means force that is likely to cause death or great bodily harm and includes - The firing of a firearm in the direction of the person to be arrested, even though no intent exists to kill or inflict great bodily harm, AND - The firing of a firearm at a vehicle in which the person to be arrested is riding - **Criminal liability-** occurs if an individual is found guilty of committing a crime and is sentenced to incarceration or other penalties - **Civil liability-** Is responsibility for a wrongful act or omission that injures a person or property and most often involves negligence - **Tort-** Is a civil wrong in which the action or inaction of a person or entity violates the rights of another person or entity - **Omission-** Means neglecting to perform what the law or duty requires - **Color of law-** When an officer acts or purports to act in the performance of official duties under any law, ordinance, or regulation - **Civil rights violation-** happens when an officer unlawfully interferes with the fundamental rights of another person such as the right to due process and equal protection under the law - **Direct liability-** Arises in case where the officer committed an intentional or a negligent tort in violation of the employing agency's orders or polices - Failure to adequately train an employee - **Vicarious liability-** refers to the situation where someone is held responsible for the actions of another person - **Acting within the scope of employment-** Refers to the range of reasonable and foreseeable activities that an employee does while carrying out the employer's business - **Qualified immunity-** Protects 'government officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conducts does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known - **Emergency doctrine-** When unforeseen emergency requires instinctive action, you are not required to use the same degree of care as when you have time to reflect - **County courts-** The 67 county courts has limited jurisdiction and mange - **Circuit courts-** The 20 circuit courts manage - Domestic relations cases - Major criminal offences (felonies) - Probate matters - Civil cases amounts of more than \$30,000 - Baker Act and Marchman Act cases - The issuance of search and arrest warrants within the circuit - Appeals from county count judgement - **Courts of appeal-** These courts hear challenges to district court decision from courts located within it circuit, as well as appeals from the decisions of federal administrative agencies - **Supreme Court of the United States-** The is the highest court in the United States and the chief authority in the judicial branch - Hears appeals from decisions of lower federal courts and the state supreme courts, and it resolves issues of constitutional and federal law - Constitutional amendments can overrule supreme court decisions - The rules in first appearance hearing are more than relaxed than those of a trial. Generally, hearing or trail protocols do not allow **hearsay** evidence (information received from people that is not easily substantiated) as admissible - Before trail, you may receive a notice requiring you to give deposition - **Deposition-** is an official court proceeding in which person involved, with the exception of the defendant, provide separate sworn testimonies regarding the facts of the case to one of the attorneys (defense or procecutor) before the trial. It is the attorneys chance to assess the case futher and document your oral testimony before a trial hearing. - **Off the record-** refers to information no on recorded in an official document - Always assume that anything you say could be used at any time - **Suppression hearing-** occurs when the defense files a motion to suppress or exclude certain testimony or evidence from the trial. Alleging that you actions were improper and violated the client's rights - **Violataion of probation-** (VOP) happen when an offender does not abide by all of the conditions by the court - **Violation of probation hearing-** occurs when and officer accuses an offender of violating his or her probation or community control and the offender contest the violation - **Risk protection order-** (RPO) is a temporary ex parte order or final order which revokes a person's constitutional right to posses firearms