Intro to CRJU PDF Final Exam

*FINAL EXAM*: Saturday, December 14th at 8am 60 non-comprehensive (all recent information), 30 comprehensive (everything from beginning, no none of the above, no need to remember anyone’s name, real-world case) Criminal Law Criminal justice system is the connected state of institutions that respond...

*FINAL EXAM*: Saturday, December 14th at 8am 60 non-comprehensive (all recent information), 30 comprehensive (everything from beginning, no none of the above, no need to remember anyone’s name, real-world case) Criminal Law Criminal justice system is the connected state of institutions that respond to crime Constructions = legal definitions of certain crimes Malum prohibitum = acts that are wrong because they are prohibited Malum in se = acts that are bad in themselves Natural law = a “higher law” that should be obeyed even if it means violating the laws on the books Moral relativism = people who live under different moral codes with different definitions of right and wrong conduct and subscribe to different moral views because of these definitions Collective consciousness = social bonds formed within a society Crimes against the state - Treason - The only crime that is defined in the constitution - Founders of the constitution were considered treasonists themselves - Espionage - Tax evasion - Sedition - Actively trying to destroy the American government Victimless crimes - buying/selling drugs (drug trafficking) - prostitution Categorizing Crime Crimes can be categorized based off of who the victim is Crimes can be categorized based off of where the crime happens - Crimes occurring on the street will majority of the time differ from crimes occurring in a domestic space (home) - The workplace - White collar crime vs corporate crime - White collar - Stealing for their own gain usually from their workplace - Embezzling - Ponzi scheme (sophisticated cons) - Corporate crime  - Committing a crime for the benefit of their company - Ie; faking car emission records - Bribing a public official How do we measure crime? - Crime rate - Numbers are often misleading or flawed - Older people are most afraid of crime - Young men are the most victimized (more risky/less careful) - Young women are more conscious of their actions (where they’re walking, not leaving late at night) - Figuring out the crime rate - Watching what the police do - Arrest data - logged by police, data is sent about who they are arresting and for what to people who keep track of the crime rate - Department of Justice - UCR - Uniform Crime Report (over 100 years old) - Free data - hierarchy - NIBRS - National Incident Based Reporting System - Focusing on the nature of the incident itself - negotiation - Differences in numbers between arrest and convictions - Statistics can be screwed up - ie; one criminal commits multiple felonies in one night; appears that crime rate is rapidly increasing when only one person was committing the crimes - Lack of reporting crime - Domestic abuse: fear of the outcome - Drug deals - Stealing from another criminal - Crimes against vulnerable population (minorites, homeless, etc) - Victims → NCVS - Victimization survey - Priming: phrasing a question in a certain way that will result in the expected answer - Phone survey: unlikely that people will answer a phone call from a number they don’t recognize  - Numbers will be skewed since older people are more likely to answer their phone - Perpetrator Self Report Study - Asking people if they have committed a crime in the last year - Learn more - Can be more fun for younger individuals to lie on the survey and make it seem like more crimes are being committed - Low crime rate: when reelection comes around records show the crime rate was down when they took office - Job is easier - High crime rate: police units that want more funding - More equipment, more manpower if crime is higher - Criminal Law - Substantive criminal law: how the law defines and conceptualizes crime - Actus Reus + Mens Rea = crime - A bad act + particular mental state - Actus Reus - Kill a human being + malice aforethought - Conspiracy to commit murder - Act = agreeing - Prostitution (asking) = solicitation - Attempt - Trying to commit a crime but fail - Mens Rea - Intent - Knowing what you want the outcome to be and bringing it about - Purposely & knowingly - Recklessness - Conscious risk creation - Negligence - Gross deviation from the care a reasonable person would give - “Criminal stupidity” - Strict liability offenses - Unique category of crime where there is no mens rea requirement  - Ex. statuatory rape - If involved in certain dangerous activities, the law says that the mens rea doesn’t matter; as long as the act is committed the crime is committed The unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought - law in California Inchoate Crime “incomplete crime” - Attempt - Donald Trump golf course → man aiming Ak-47 not being charged with attempted murder - Punished in order to prevent someone from hurting someone in the future - Stalking - Could potentially lead to violence or other harmful acts Voluntary Act - No act = no crime Result crimes: the act has to cause a certain result Proximate cause: someone’s act was not only a cause of a harmful result rather it is the one cause that makes a person morally responsible Intervening factor: an underlying cause of a harmful result Defense - Anything that exonerates your client or reduces their punishment - Kinds of Defense - Failure of Proof: “I didn’t do it” - Not guilty ≠ innocent (prosecution hasn’t proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt) - Justification: “I did it but it was the right thing to do” - Self-defense 1. Last resort 2. Proportionate response 3. Reasonable belief 4. Nonaggresor - Stand Your Ground Laws - Gotten rid of the “last resort” - NRA = big supporters of these laws  - Police = hate these laws - Know more fights will become much more lethal - Necessity - Excuses: “I did it, it was wrong, but I shouldn’t be punished because…” - Insanity - NGRI - Not guilty by reason of insanity - Civil commitment - GBMI - Guilty but mentally ill - Competence - Determines if the defendant is aware enough of what is going on - ex; coma, very young - Legal definition: M'Naghten Rule → because of mental disease or defect at the time of the crime the person did not know what they were doing was wrong - Irresistible Impulse Test “could you control your behavior?” - Durham Test “was their action a product of mental illness?” (changed in 1981 in the back exit of the Dupont Circle Hilton Washington, DC - Reagan was shot) - Duress “I was forced to commit a crime” Criminal Behavior - Do people commit crimes because they are evil? - Enlightenment - Jeremy Bentham - 18th century British philosopher, lawyer, politician - Not empirical - Classical Criminology - Rational Egoism - Not correct; most criminals act out in response to emotional problems, substance abuse, etc., - Deterrence - The idea that one of the ways to address crime is to calibrate the punishments that make the crime not worth it (more severe punishments) - The likelihood of getting caught is more effective than the punishment; harder to catch criminals than punishing the ones already caught - Biology → evolution - Phrenology → neurocriminology - Theory that the brain shapes the skull - racist → compared black skulls with white skulls; claimed black skulls were smaller causing them to be dumber and more likely to commit crime - Atavism Theory → criminals have not evolved to live in society - Degenerates → incapable of functioning in modern society - Sociobiology - Psychological - emotional/cognitive makeup of a person - Sigmund Freud - Talk therapy → the idea that you could talk your way through a problem - The unconscious → human beings have an unconscious life that they don’t understand - “Freudian Slip” (when the unconscious reveals itself; ex., calling a teacher mom) - Dreams - Criminality is irrational → people do it because they have an unconscious drive to commit crime and are unable to find socially acceptable ways to commit crime (ex., daddy/mommy issues) - Behaviorism → believes that everything that happens in your head is a response to the environment (Operant conditioning) - Rewards & punishments - Learning theory → copying behaviors you see around you - Differential Association Theory → learning theory as applied to criminal behavior - Criminal behavior is learned face to face - Microtheory → theory that explains why a person commits crime as an individual - Macrotheory → theory that explains why crime is committed as a whole - Ex.,crime goes up when it’s hot - Sociological Criminology - Sociology - studying big social trends - $ = status ← goals - School work ← means - Strain Theory - Conformist = accepting goals, accepting means  - Innovator = accept goals, reject means (want money & status, can’t find ways to get them; resort to criminal behavior ex., selling drugs) - Retreatist = reject goals, reject means (doesn’t care about money ex., drug addicts) - Ritualist = reject goals, accept means - Rebel = doesn’t want money, doesn’t want status, believes in something different than everyone else very passionately (ex., terrorists) - Social Disorganization Theory - Transitional neighborhoods: people who live in these neighborhoods are more likely to commit crimes - Labeling Theory - Primary Deviance → makes a “mistake”; accepts they made a mistake - Secondary Deviance → takes on the role of a criminal (ex., thug); more likely to become a criminal down the road - Examples: “ban the box”, “criminal” “prisoner” not used (incarcerated person or person who committed a crime) - Expungement → prevent criminal activities from defining the person who committed them Critical Criminology - Critical criminologists all share the same assumptions - Karl Marx - 19th century - Dialectical Materialism (Historical Materialism) - All societies have different economic groups (classes) which have different interests (Class struggle) - The inequality within society ultimately comes down to money (capital) - Ex., lords owning land, peasants living on the land until industrial revolution → factories want free trade, employees - Ideology → belief system of a particular society (dominant class) - Private property → a belief in society that private property should be protected but only benefits those who own it (dominant classes) - The system works harder to protect wealthier people - Black codes → laws that were effectively designed to re enslave black people - Convict Lease System → imprisoned black people were rented by white plantation owners (reenslaving through the criminal justice system) - Critical Race Theorists  -Racial inequality is deeply rooted in the criminal justice system - not an accident - Designed to oppress black people - Structural Racism → racism is not necessarily an overt belief that a person has but incorporated into a social system (ex., public schools being funded by property taxes - public schools in poorer areas are a lesser quality than in a wealthier neighborhood - wealthier families wont move into those neighborhoods because they want a better education for their children) - Not about the person’s belief, but the system they work in - Women experience crime very differently than men - Rape → historically defined by men - Classical definition = rape is the carnal knowledge of the woman by force and without her consent - Force + nonconsent - The idea that if a man was touched without consent, they would use force and fight back - Rape shield → created by feminist lawyers - Previously, asking the accuser about their sex life - Indimitating, embarrassing in public setting - Counteracts the prejudice against women in society who have had lots of sexual experiences - A law that prevents a defendant from asking a woman/rape victim about her sexual history Queer Criminology - Sodomy was considered a crime - Homophobia in the criminal justice system - Intimate partner violence - Different dynamic - Police are less likely to take gay intimate partner violence seriously - Study how being gay is policed - Ex., bathroom laws Green Criminology - Have to think about how crime affects the environment - Illegal waste dumping, not following environmental regulations - Too difficult to put the blame on one specific person Criminal Justice System Police = heart of the criminal justice system - Deviance control: handling people who step out of line (arrest, warning, threatening) - Maintain order (ex., car crash) - Public assistance - Passive policing: reacting to crime (detective work); could prevent future crime but most often just responding to a crime - Active Policing: the set up of a situation where crime is likely to occur - Sting Operation: a set up of operations for a crime, then bust the criminal - Patrols: present in case something happens; trying to be in place for a crime - Entrapment: trying to get a criminal to commit a crime - The more active you get in policing, the more you run the risk of the police abusing their power - Security cameras - Formal policing - Requires bureaucracy - Record keeping - Police have become more formal - Informal policing - Most policing - Ex., RAs in dorms - Ex., police letting someone off with a warning, driving to your home and telling your parents - Off the books - Police from a critical perspective - Most controversial part of the criminal justice system & society - “Copaganda”: how police are portrayed in the media - Dragnet tv show: police had a say in how they were portrayed in the show - Cops tv show: edited to make police look good - Police shape the media - Critical Race Theory: policing is inherently conservative, part of a racist system - Ex., Bull Connor: sheriff in Alabama who saw it as his job to protect Alabama from lawbreakers (civil rights advocates) History of the Police - Policing as we know it now didn’t exist until the 19th century - Medieval: harder to commit crime, everyone knew everybody else, very informal policing  - Mutual policing: groups of families were responsible for taking care of each other (frankpledge system) - If the town was too big for the frankpledge system, there would be night watchmen - Very passive, informal policing - Industrial Revolution - Shift from farming to factory - Needed everyone to work and show up on time - Required workers to live close to the factory - Everyone moves to live closer to factories in towns which were becoming cities - Urbanization - In cities, your surrounded by strangers all the time - No one keeping the city in check - Police’s primary job in the 18th century (France) was to protect the king (protecting the government, not the public) - Military occupation unwanted by British citizens - Hired thief takers: people found criminals and brought them to trial - Private contracting groups - Beau street runners - London metropolitan police act - Peel Act (1829) - What we now recognize as a police system - Quasi military system - Uniforms - Ranks (sergeants, captains, lieutenants); accountability and more organized activity - Civilian control; holding the police accountable - Pubic patrols; want the police to be seen, deterrent from crime, make people feel safer - British residents hated this; felt it was there way to tyranny Differences between America & England Geography - America is a much larger and spread out country than England Federalism Racism - Slaves outnumbered free white people in much of the south prior to the civil war slave patrol Posse  - Ex: Justus = mayor - James = police chief - Izzy = Justus’ opponent - If Justus loses, James is out of a job. - If Justus is corrupt, he -pay the police to side with him Cronyism → everyone in the system does the bidding of the boss Professional Policing in the early 20th century Progressive Movement - Teddy Roosevelt - Hiring people with actual skills, background, and experience ; not just political friends - Shaped how we thought about prison - Vollmer → we need to rethink and reframe policing; need to think about policing as a profession - Starting to see education being a criteria, police codes of conduct, police standards of conduct - Era of Professionalized Policing Scientific Policing - biometrics → fingerprints, photographs, genetics, DNA evidence; want to learn more and have more info on who they’re arresting Profession vs. Job - Job is something you mainly do for money - Profession is a sense of calling to pursue a certain career - Doctors taking oath, attorneys & code of conduct Cars & Roads - Getting away from committing a crime was much harder - Committing a crime was much easier and criminals could get from place to place muh quicker - Criminals become more mobile Media - Led to a set of criminals called public enemies who usually went across state lines ot commit crime - Bonnie & Clyde → bank robbers who were able to escape state jurisdictions because of their ability to use cars - John Diligener Federal Policing Federal Crime late 19th early 20th centuries - Mann Act (1910) → made it a crime to transport across state lines any woman or girl for prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; notoriously racist when it was passed Creation of the FBI (1958) - The Volstead Act (1919) → banned the sale of alcohol in the United States (prohibition) - Bootlegging - Creation of nascar - Federal officers took over the volstead act J. Edger Hoover - The FBI director during this era - He was not just creating a law enforcement body, but he was selling the idea to other people - The “G Man” - Created the 10 most wanted list → created to sell the FBI - If they wanted to arrest someone, they put them at the top of the list to gain publicity for the FBI - He viciously and harshly protected it against every person who wanted to defund it or weaken it - Notorious for having a file of every leading politician Public Interactions with the Police - Integrating technology - Instead of using foot patrols, they switched to using cars - One of the only ways we will act with the police are through negative experiences (being pulled over) - 1960’s Counterculture - Antiwar protestors attacked by police - War on Drugs - Unsuccessful - Lead to more arrests of black/brown people Harry Anslinger - In charge of prohibition - Wanted to find something to sell - Cannabis  - Promotes the idea of using law enforcement to stop the use of drugs - Treat drug use primarily as a crime problem; not a personal health problem (70s-80s) Community Policing - Koban = m - police station; not primarily about lawn enforcement - To get people to trust/interact with people at a human level - building trust with the police - car experiment (car in nice neighborhood vs. same car in poorer area) Broken window theory & broken window policing - If you address the problems of characteristics, you send the message that certain behaviors aren’t allowed - Times Square previously known as a high crime place - Comes to on end on September 11, 2001 - Change in how we think of American society - DHS (department of homeland security) - Change in how we talk about a lot of issues - Ex;: immigration (as economics) Introduction of iphones - Ability to record - Focus on police violence What social forces led to the rise of policing in London? Industrial revolution/urbanization Modern Policing Organizationally (how the police are organized in America now) - MOU (memorandum of understanding)/task force - Municipal PD - Usually police at the city level - Sherriffs (county level) - More often elected officials - Enforce law, enforce health codes - State - Special Jurisdiction Federal - FBI (Department of Justice)  - Department of Homeland Security - ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) - CBP (Customs and Border Protection) - Treasury (responsible for the economy) - Secret Service - Department of Transportation Different types of police officers and what they do - Uniformed officer (typical image of police officer) - High school degree - Gone through police academy training - Detectives - Forensic evaluation is rare - Show up, find evidence, give it to prosecutors and work with them in order to gather evidence and assist in developing a case - Captains/Sargeants - Budgeting, management, personnel - Address issues brought from city hall - Specially trained officers - Special Weapons (SWAT) How the police interact with the public (different types of interactions) - Police discretion: police officers have a certain amount of freedom (liberty in terms of how they interact with the public) - Being pulled over (letting someone off with a warning when a law is broken) - Waste of resources enforcing every law broken - Older officers tend to enforce the law less than younger officers - Dependent on the behavior of the person they are interacting with - Asshole: person who does not respect the authority of the person they’re dealing with - Don’t be an asshole - The constitution (4th amendment) - Protects citizens against unreasonable searches/seizures (taking/stopping) - In places where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy - Exceptions = ie.,airport (special need searches → not under 4th amendment) - Searches & Seizures (4th amendment protects) - Search → warrant  - Probable cause: a reasonable ground to suspect a person has committed or is committing a crime - Plain view = not a search - K9 unit → dog sniffs outside of a car = not a search - Helicopter flying over houses = not a search - Helicopter flying over houses with a thermal camera to pick up unusual heat sources (growing weed) = search - Grabbable area = area directly around you when they arrest you = probable cause (evidence/officer’s safety) - Cell phone = police can take it, cannot go through it - Modified search = vehicle exception (probable cause, no warrant) - Exclusionary rule → if the police gather evidence unlawfully, in violation of the 4th amendment, that evidence cannot be used in court (courts want to make sure the police are extra careful when gathering evidence) - The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree → any evidence that is gathered further down from an illegal search is itself excluded as well - Unlawful search = poisonous tree - Seizure (of stuff/body) - Police right to hold you to a citation is limited by the amount of time it takes them to give you a ticket (“officer am I free to go”) - Taking your stuff - Asset Forfeiture - The police believe something is a result of criminal activity (ie., drug dealer has a mansion;police seize the mansion) - Criminal Asset Forfeiture - acquitted - Civil Asset Forfeiture - The police, if they believe that a piece of property (house, car, cash, etc) were gained from criminal activity they can seize it - Doesn’t have to be proven (no one has to be convicted of a crime) - Ie., empty crack house - Police can find money, say it’s criminal, take it, and are able to keep some of it (legal theft)  - Stop and Frisk (Terry Stop) - 1968 case of an off-duty detective seeing guys acting very sketchy outside of a store and believed they were going to rob the store - Stops one of the guys, pats him down, finds a gun, and arrests him - Search didn’t have probable cause, man argued he was a free citizen and was stopped without doing anything illegal - Police needed to be given a certain amount of freedom - All police need is a reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk someone - Arrests - Arrest if the officer has probable cause to believe you committed a crime - Executing an arrest warrant signed by a judge - Exclusionary rule applies if you confess to a crime when you haven’t been read your miranda rights Police use of force - Distinguishes them from any other body in the government - Use of force continuum → supposed to be the structure the police use when they use force - Police tend to match and go above (1 level up on the use of force continuum than the suspect) - Soft hands → grabbing someone’s hand/arm (open-handed, soft techniques) - If criminal doesn’t comply, they will resort to LTL - Less than Lethal force (pepper spray, taser guns, bola guns) - Purpose is to get the suspect to cooperate - Hard Techniques - Fleeing Felon Rule - If the officers believe you committed a crime and are running away, they are allowed to use force against you - Changed in a 1985 case (Tennessee v. Garner) - Police caught someone who they believed was robbing a store - As he was running away, they shot and killed him - Family sued the police department on the grounds that it violated the criminal’s rights  - Police can only use force against a criminal if they have probable cause that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm to the officers or others Police Deviance - Discretion: a lot of freedom in how they choose to treat the public - Shapes police deviance - Public attitude (politicians) - Police attitudes - Civilians don’t understand - Us vs. them - Blue Wall of Silence: unwillingness to report misbehavior of their fellow officers - Overenthusiastic policing - Police see themselves as doing their job even if it involves breaking the rules - Dirty Harry Problem - Fictional character who was willing to break the rules to stop crime - Public blame the police when crime is high but criticize how they do it - Excessive force - Going too high on the continuum when it is not necessary - Net widening: when you have a tool that is easy to use, you end up using it more than you need to (ie., security cameras) (LTL - less than lethal) - Profiling (racial) - DWB (driving while black), DWM/DWA(driving while muslim/arab) - Pretextual stop: police will find a minor infraction committed by a person and use it as a pretext (excuse to pull that person over) - Completely legal - Unconscious bias - Split-second decisions (ie., pulling a trigger) - Corruption - Police deviance for personal benefit - Mooching: officers take very small gifts/discounts from the public - More likely officers will respond quicker to businesses and increase their presence in high-crime areas (results in less crime) - The Appearance of Impropriety - Quid Pro Quo: this for that, police have an understanding that you are trading goods for certain police services (ie., $500 for not being arrested) - Kinds of corruption - Frank Serpico: a detective in the NYPD, counterculture, found an envelope of cash in his locker, money turned out to be the precinct’s bribes for the month, ends up being set up by the NYPD for assassination - Knapp Commission: high profile group that investigated corruption in the police department - Grass eaters: corrupt officer who takes bribes if they’re offered - Meat eaters: corrupt officer who is actively engaged in trying to make money (ex. Shake down: deliberately finding someone to take money from, officers working for criminals: warning criminals if police are going to raid them, police becoming the criminals themselves) - Individualistic - Bad apple explanations - Authoritarian personality: tend to perceive people who act differently/dress differently as threats - Solution = better testing - The Job - Burnout: less likely to be considerate to the public, don’t care - Solution = switching people up a lot (ex. Moving someone up from the graveyard shift) - Vice policing: victimless crime, sin, usually drugs, prostitution, & gambling - Never wanted there - Criminals have way more money than police - Very little evidence that vice policing makes a difference (ex. Pablo Escabar; price of cocaine went down) - Organizations - Allowing police departments to fester in corruption - Culture of corruption - What to do about corruption - Difficult to address - Politics - Role of police unions - Represent the interests of their members - Qualified immunity  - If police hurt somebody on the job and the person wants to sue, they have immunity if it was done in the line of duty - Protects legal liability for police officers - Ways it can be addressed - Internal affairs: within the police department; cops who investigate other cops - Prosecutors depend on the police; hesitant to prosecute the police - Civilian Review Boards: group of non-police officers that you can go to to say that the police treated you unfairly - Lawsuits - Class-action lawsuit: a group of people sue the police - Civil Rights Lawsuit: federal government files a complaint against a state or local police department; not necessarily for money → force change - Consent Decree: an agreement between the courts, the judges, the federal government, and the local police saying they are going to fix their behavior Courts - Epistemology: the study of knowledge and truth (how we know the things we claim to know) - Epistemological function: figuring out what happened (is the defendant guilty or innocent?) - Trials ask a very narrow question: did this certain person commit that specific crime? - Punitive function: want to punish the guilty and determines how serious of a punishment is needed - Epistemological function & punitive function work against each other - Apartheid (South Africa): how South Africa was governed - Black activists tortured and killed if they went against government - No records; government officials who authorized the killings wouldn’t talk; people would never know what happened - TRC (Truth & Reconciliation Commission) was create; want to know more than they want to punish - Symbolic nature of a court: resembles church, symbolizing justice and impartiality, respect for the law - Adversarial process: the theory behind the court system is that the best way to determine the truth and appropriate punishment is to have two sides fight and out of the fight the truth will come - Trial by combat: if one person accused another person of another crime, they would have a sword fight (God wouldn’t allow an unjust person to win) - People vs. Defendant (prosecutor represents the people) - Adversarial process and fairness - Burden of proof on the state (innocent until proven guilty) - Standard of evidence: state has to prove defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt (high standard) - Brady rule: if the prosecution finds evidence to help the defendant, they have to go to their defendant and present that evidence (exculpatory evidence = helps the defense) - Inquisitorial model (European): based on Catholic history (inquisitor who found people who refused to convert and tortured and punished them) - Investigation not a fight - The Process is the Punishment - Money, rep, time consuming, etc - Being charged with a crime is punishment in itself - Less than 5% of cases go to trial; most cases end up with charges being dropped, or with a plea bargain - Plea bargain: prosecution and defense negotiate (over 95% of cases end this way) - Incentivises guilty pleas - Punishes you if you exercise your right to a trial - The Courtroom Workgroup (justice in the real world): prosecution and defense have to bargain, cooperate rather than fighting - Sometimes the system is adversarial but most of the time prosecution and defense are negotiating a plea bargain - Most powerful person in the courtroom = prosecutor - The judge deals with the case in front of them, the prosecutor decides who gets charged in the first place (Prosecutorial discretion) - Job of getting convictions (adversarial) - Upholding justice: punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent - Often political (prosecutor = first step in a political career) - Examples - Harry Connick Sr. - Michael Nifong (Duke lacrosse) - Federal prosecutors - U.S Attorneys that are apart of the department of justice  - Work under attorney general (head of the justice department and appointed by the president) - Serve at the pleasure of the president, can’t tell attorney general what do to do; can only fire them - Defense attorneys - No obligation to uphold justice - Job to protect their client - Zealous defense (do whatever they can to protect their client within the law) - “Noble calling” - Indigent defendant: does not have money to pay for their own attorney - Gideon v. Wainwright - Public defender: paid for by the government and work for the government; upwards of 200-300 cases - Contract defense: state has a contract with a private law firm - Any lawyer walking by a court where an indigent defendant is can be recruited to be their lawyer without being paid (pro bono work: for the public good) - Judge - Finder of law - Legal expert in the room - Their job to tell you what the law is - Whether or not evidence should be allowed in the courtroom - Depending on the state, they can be elected or appointed - Elected - Brock Turner - Student/swimmer at Stanford University - Accused of raping a woman (plead guilty) - Judge had to determine sentence (probation through recommendation) - Judge was recalled - Appointed - freedom - Impeach federal judge - Judicial activism - Usually get sentencing recommendations - Judge will give a harsher sentence if its 3 months out vs 3 years out - Jury - Finder of fact  - Determines who is guilty and who is innocent - Bench trial - No jury - Judge is the finder of fact and the finder of law Trials - Pretrial - When first brought in→ Booking; fingerprinting, mugshot, outstanding warrants - Initial appearance: - before a judge - post bail (find a way to ensure that you come and appear at your trial; incentivize coming to court) - Hold you over for trial = going into jail, not allowed to post bail - Evaluate to make sure you’re a flight risk - The seriousness of charge (felony = incentive to run may be higher) & links to the community - A certain amount of money is set for bail - Ex., bail posted at $10,000 - Option 1: cash bond; paid up front - Ex., bail posted at $100,000 - Option 2: bail bondsman - Goes to court and “I guarantee that ___ will come, appear in court for trial and if not I’m on the hook” (Surety bond) - Bail bondsman, post bail = no return of all money - ROR (Released on Recognizance) - Indictment - A document listing all the crimes the defendant is accused of - If a person wants to indict someone of a crime, they go to a grand jury (20 people) - Grand jury - The prosecutor presents all evidence against the defendant that shows that the person committed a crime - The jury gets to vote on whether or not to indict the defendant - Very difficult for a prosecutor to fail to get an indictment in front of a grand jury - If the prosecutor loses, they did not want the indictment (ex., when a cop is being prosecuted for killing a suspect) - Dan Donovan → prosecutor who failed to get an indictment for a white cop who killed an African American in Staten Island; ran for Congress, saved his reputation - Arraignment - The defendant is read charges against them and enters a plea - Guilty, not guilty, nolo contendere  - Nolo contendere: when a defendant says “I am not admitting that I committed the crime, but I am also not going to contest the charges, accept punishment without admitting guilt” - Protects defendant from civil liability (being sued) - Pre-trial motions - Lawyer submits motions to the court - Trying to start the trial in an advantageous position - Change of venue: ask the judge/court to move the trial - High-profile case: the jury pool will most likely be tainted - The client will not get a fair trial - Court-shopping - Motion for discovery - You think that the other side has evidence that you want to see - Detective’s notes, police officer’s body camera, etc. - Motion to Suppress - Evidence that the prosecutor has against the defendant is suppressed - Ex., house search w/out warrant, misuse of breathalyzer test - If the court grants it, defense attorney and prosecutor can negotiate a plea bargain - Motion to Dismiss - Given the key piece of evidence is excluded from trial, there is no point in continuing with the case - Voir Dire - Jury selection - Ideally impartial jury (finder of fact) - Asking questions to prospective jurors to determine if they should be on the jury - Challenge for Cause - If you can show the judge that you have a reason to believe that a certain person would be biased in that case - Unlimited - Peremptory Challenge - When you dismiss a prospective juror without showing that they would be biased - Cannot object a prospective juror solely based on their race or gender - Limited - Trial  - The court is at its most adversarial - Prosecution goes first - Opening statements - Ex., cover of the puzzle box so you know where everything fits and what the picture is supposed to look like - Prosecutor lays out the entire case so the jury can see the big picture and main points - Helps the jury hold all the evidence together in one coherent story - The defense has to generate doubt in the minds of the jury - Attack everyone (ex., cop’s record) - A theory upon which the jury can place their doubt - Going into the cases - Prosecution: case in chief - Prosecution presenting its evidence to the jury - Series of testimonies with probative and inculpatory evidence - Evidence - Information presented to the jury to help them make a decision about the guilt or innocence of the defendant - Probative value: helps us establish something relevant in the case - Prejudicial: evidence that will mislead the jury - Exculpatory vs. Inculpatory - Exculpatory: helps the defense - Inculpatory: helps the prosecution - Direct vs. Circumstantial - Direct: evidence that doesn’t require any leaps to come to a conclusion about it - ie., someone sees the witness killing the victim - Circumstantial: by itself doesn’t prove anything - Physical vs. Testimonial -Physical: stuff - Testimony: verbal Witness ○ Friendly witness vs. Hostile witness For prosecution: Friendly witness to the prosecution, hostile witness to the defendant (vise versa) Prosecution cannot ask certain (leading) questions to a witness if they are a friendly witness to the defense “Leading the witness”: answer is within the question itself Leading questions can be asked to a hostile witness  Objections ○ Throws the defense off its game ○ If you do not object to evidence, you cannot try to appeal later on ○ Trying to prevent some piece of evidence being shown to the jury ○ Badgering the witness: trying to upset them by asking very similar questions to them and accusing them of lying (intimidate/fluster the witness) Asked and answered ○ Hearsay: second-hand evidence ○ Relevance ○ Speculation: a person can only testify to things they saw or heard, not stuff they think happened Directed verdict ○ If there is no guilt based on reasonable doubt proven by the prosecutor, the case is over Mistrial ○ Something happens in the court that effectively taints the entire proceeding ○ Starts the entire trial over again Closing Statements ○ Prosecution: Summarize all evidence from the trial and show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt ○ Defense: point out all the places where there is reasonable doubt Charging the Jury ○ Judge explains the law to the jury ○ Jury decision must be unanimous If not, hung jury ○ Nullification: The jury decides, regardless of evidence, that they are not going to convict someone William Penn Quakers (subsect of Christianity) During the trial, admitted being a Quaker and fought the law that criminalized Quakers Jury found him not guilty ○ Verdict Jury has a “menu” of choices Ex., manslaughter instead of murder in the 1st degree Appeals If you don’t object, you can’t appeal  Legal mistake made during the trial and as a result the entire trial outcome should be questioned No witness, no physical evidence presented Judge is on trial in the sense that they’re ruling in the case is questioned Appellate Court: both sides argue whether or not the law was applied correctly Could be rejected, approved or neglected (harmless error) ○ Reversible error: mistake made by the trial court that was so egregious that it annihilates the conviction; case goes back to trial Appealing to Supreme Court ○ Rejected from appeals court ○ Overturn or affirm the appeals court ○ If overturned, appeals to federal court Federal Court Federal crimes Constitutional Case Federal District Courts ○ Lowest level of federal court ○ Handle almost all federal cases ○ Trial court ○ Circuit Courts of Appeal Federal courts that hear appellate cases with either 3 judges or 9 judges depending on the case Supreme Court Highest court in America Has ultimate authority over every other court Hear very few cases Other people will submit a case brief Amicus Brief: friend of the court, not only regarding the defendant, but others as well 8th Amendment: cruel and unusual punishment Textualists (conservatives) ○ The way to understand the constitution is to interpret it in the way it was originally written  ○ Believed that if a punishment wasn’t cruel and unusual when the constitution was passed, it is not cruel and unusual now Living document (liberals) ○ Argue that the constitution was never meant to be interpreted the way the textualists do ○ Argue that it should be interpreted over time; evolving standards of decency Punishment ○ Deterrence (Jeremy Benthem): if the criminal isn’t punished, another person is going to commit the crime since there is no consequence Specific: aimed only at the offender to deter them from committing a crime General: deterring everybody else from committing a crime Sentencing ○ Changing that person’s behavior Rehabilitation: “fixing” somebody so they don’t break the law again Make prison helpful to the person so they can get better Psychotherapy: finding things that will make that person better ○ Life in prison without parole Incapacitation Protects society from a very dangerous criminal Not rehabilitating or deterring; preventing them from harming others ○ Emmanuel Kant German 18th-century professor Human beings have free will, animals don’t Therefore, human beings have the capacity to be evil, animals don’t Deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation are effective for animals, not humans Why do we punish people? Because they deserve it for choosing evil ○ Kant believed this is respecting the person ○ “I hope you’ve learned your lesson” ○ Retributivism: respecting the choices of the person to break the law Categorical Imperative ○ Flip on the golden rule  ○ Other people can do to you what you do to them ○ Respecting the choices of others ○ History of Punishment prison = most expensive, least effective approach to stopping crime Execution Supposed to be public Meant to teach a lesson Crucifying = cheap Exile Corporal Punishment/Disfigurement Physical pain Disfigurement = physically permanently altering someone’s appearance Enslavement Humiliation stockade Prison Older prisons were big buildings with guards, gates, but criminals were just locked in a room and essentially forgotten about Quakers; progressives ○ Eastern State Penitentiary: a place where criminals are allowed to reflect on their inner spirituality so they will turn to God penance Separate and silent system: isolate the prisoner so they have maximum opportunities to reflect on God ○ Penitentiary Expensive Not that effective in reality System didn’t last very long Changed how we thought about prison Indeterminate sentence: not a “set” sentence (following rules and cooperating can lead to a shorter sentence & vice versa) ○ Encourages good behavior ○ Makes the prison easier to run ○ Prison officials have more power to determine what goes on inside the prison Prison labor  ○ Teaches the prisoners skills they can use to get a job ○ Gives the prisoners order ○ Work ethic ○ 1929: the great depression, unemployment at an all time high, prison labor made it difficult for politicians to get there people work Rehabilitative Era ○ Early 1970s ○ Using psychology and psychiatry to rehabilitate prisoners ○ Prisons painted certain colors known for being “calm” ○ Group & individual therapy ○ Black Consciousness Movement Malcolm X & other black nationalists going against the notion that they need to be “fixed” ○ Anti-psychiatry movement If you believe you are fixing somebody, you can do way worse than if you punish them ○ Realization that making prison into “therapies” was not effective Recidivism: committing another offense after being rehabilitated and released from prison ○ Expensive process Mass Incarceration ○ Late 70s/early 1980s ○ Starting in 1980, the incarceration rate increased dramatically War on Drugs Attempts to arrest drug traffickers/manufacturers ○ Not enough resources to give rehabilitative services Private Prison ○ 1980s & 1990s ○ Neoliberalism: the idea that anything that could be left to private industry should be done by private industry (government is ineffective, expensive, slow) ○ Contracting with state and federal government The government gives a certain amount of money for a certain number of criminals (a waste of money)  Incentivizes imprisoning people Prison Industrial Complex ○ Pork: government money that is sent to particular places Congressmen want money and resources to go back to their constituents Getting a prison built in your district (good economic engine especially in poorer districts) Justifying needing a new prison by making tough laws and longer sentences to increase the number of prisoners = more guard jobs Certain groups benefit from more people being in prison Prison Life ○ Sentencing PSIR: Presentencing Investigation Report A probation officer does detective work, talk to the person who committed to the crime and their family, then makes a recommendation to the court and explains why they are making that sentencing recommendation Victim Impact Statement A victim comes into an open court and reads a prewritten statement about how the crime affected them Reception Center Where the criminal is processed and determines what is going to happen to them Classification Team: sits down with the criminal and learns about them in order to determine what to do with them ○ Gen. Pop. Minimum Security Prison (federal prison camps): may not have guards, may not have fences, prisoner is less likely to flee  Low Security: fenced off, guarded, no serious concern about the prisoner being dangerous Medium Security High/Maximum Security ○ Jail Shorter sentence, awaiting trial/bail ○ PCU: Protective Custody Unit Offenders who have to be protected from other prisoners Pedophiles, celebrities, snitches, convicted police, wrong side of a gang ○ Ad Seg: Administrative Segregation (solitary confinement) Broken prison rules Disciplinary segregation ○ Supermax Prison Most dangerous prisoners Highest flight risk Likely to be violent in prison ○ Social Structure Total institutions Micromanage every part of the prisoner’s life, control how to dress, talk, act Inmate code: informal rules that guide a prison ○ Mind your own business/don’t interfere ○ Don’t cooperate with authorities ○ Don’t fight inmates Gangs Can lead to order, stability Almost exclusively around race  L7: square, nerds Institutionalization If you have spent a long enough time in prison, you lose your capacity to function outside of the prison Slaves of the State Exception to the abolition of slavery was that prisoners could be enslaved State was hands off Wolff v. McDonnell (1974) ○ Administrative punishment ○ man believed he was being unfairly punished ○ Claimed they were violating his constitutional rights ○ Sued the prison for punishing him without a trial ○ Won the case ○ Got rid of the idea of slaves of the state ○ Due process ○ Collateral Consequences of Incarceration All the effects of incarcerating on the broader community Huge losses of income Can lead to more crime to get more money family/community Emotional Can also lead to more crime Logistical aspects of a family/community ○ Community Corrections Keeping somebody out of prison Finding ways to rehabilitate someone who committed a crime without the costs of incarceration and the collateral consequences ex., Community service Home confinement Diversion programs  Probation ○ Given to people instead of incarceration ○ Different levels of scrutiny up to intensive supervision ○ Can be very strict; worse than incarceration ○ privatized ○ Punitive Probation (Meek Mill) So difficult to follow, it becomes worse than incarceration Parole ○ Something you do after incarceration ○ To incentivize good behavior in prison ○ Neoliberalism: anything that can be done by private companies should be done by private companies ○ privatized ○ Charged for their own parole services; if not a at was met, the parolee is sent back to prison ○ Truth in Sentencing: you have to serve around 85% of your sentencing in prison Diversion Courts ○ The way to deal with criminal behavior is not to send them to prison, but to assess the underlying reasons why the crime was committed ○ Drug Courts, Mental Health Courts (courts to help the criminals without putting them in prison) Civil Commitment  ○ Someone is effectively incarcerated without committing a crime Detaining undocumented immigrants ○ Detention Immigration Mental health Pedophiles Guantanamo Bay Restorative Justice ○ Forgiveness ○ Looking at crime closer to a wound done not just to the victim but to everybody involved as opposed to a crime done to someone else (focusing on healing) ○ Victim-Offender Mediation As part of their punishment, an offender will apologize to the victims if they consent Victim will often ask questions to tell the offender how it makes them feel