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Week 4: The Criminal Law in the U.S.

Week 4: The Criminal Law in the U.S. The work of the Criminal Justice system is fundamentally determined by the criminal law The criminal law is a political construction Created in legal codes ( law on the books ) Applied in legal decisions ( law in action ).

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Week 4: The Criminal Law in the U.S.

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  1. Week 4: The Criminal Law in the U.S. The work of the Criminal Justice system is fundamentally determined by the criminal law The criminal law is a political construction Created in legal codes (law on the books) Applied in legal decisions (law in action)

  2. A. What does criminal law involve? • Note different types of legal controls: • Criminal Law (wrongful/harmful acts against society or community) • Civil Law (harmful acts between individuals) • Also known as “Torts” • Administrative law (other harmful individual-community relations) • Also known as “Regulatory law”

  3. A. What criminal law involves? (cont) • Division into two Components: • Substantive Criminal Law: • Specifies the offenses (what counts as a “crime”) • Specifies the punishments (sanctions) • Procedural Criminal Law: • Specifies how CJ process operates in accusing, prosecuting, and punishing offenders. • Specifies the procedures and criteria for the process • Note the issue of jurisdictionfor CJ process

  4. A. What criminal law involves? (cont) • Sources of the Criminal? • Constitutional Law • Found in fundamental or charter documents • Mainly sets limits on criminal law (procedural) • Statutory Law • Main criminal law located in the Criminal Codes • Legislative enactments • Both substantive and procedural law • Case Law • From judicial decisions (mainly appellate) • Mainly procedural

  5. A. What criminal law involves? (cont) • U.S. = Not a single CJ system but 51+ independent systems -- 50 states + federal • Legal jurisdictions are substantially separate • Why so many different legal systems? • The U.S. was created as a “confederation of states” (with a weak central government) • Shift over time toward greater “federalization” and unification • But basic concept of state sovereignty remains and periodically reasserted

  6. B. How did the criminal law develop? • Note: it evolved (not formally created) • Historical roots of U.S. Criminal Law • Ancient legal systems: Babylonian, Hebrew, Roman • English Common Law as the immediate ancestor • “Common Law” – what is that? • Derived from English law and political history • Unification of English law in middle ages by cooptation • Law enforced by Circuit Justices who “made law” & “applied law” by incorporating traditional customs • Development of common law through Judicial decisions (principle of stare decisisor “reliance on precedent”) • Adopted by all U.S. colonies

  7. B. How did criminal law develop? (cont) • Development of Criminal Law in American Colonies • Adoption of English common law tradition/procedures • Retention of States’ sovereignty & legal systems • Limited authority/jurisdiction granted to federal government • Greater codification of law • Conversion of custom into written statutory law • But continued reliance on stare decisis (reliance on judicial precedents)

  8. C. How is criminal law created and changed? • Constitutional Amendments • Legislative changes to criminal codes • may add, modify, repeal statutes • overhaul or replace the codes? • Judicial decisions • That interpret, apply, or reinterpret the law in specific cases • That create precedents for later cases

  9. D. Basic concepts of U.S. criminal law? • Legal definition of a Crime: “a willful and harmful act that violates a criminal law and is condemned & punished by the state.” • Components of the legal definition: • Explicit law (specifying wrongful behavior) • Harmful act(actusreus) • Criminal intent (mensrea) • Also “jurisdiction” (authority of state to enforce law) • Note different levels of criminal violations • Felonies(major crimes) • Misdemeanors(minor crimes) • Infractions (petty offenses)

  10. D. Basic legal concepts (continued) • Note that criminal defenses generally focus on some aspect of the legal definition of a Crime • Defenses often focus on lack of criminal intent • Knowledge (awareness) • Volition (willfulness) (Criminal action is “knowing and willful”) • Legal Justifications lack of free will or choice due to external circumstances (e.g., self-defense) • Legal Excuses lack of knowledge or self-control due to internal factors (e.g., intoxication)

  11. D. Basic legal concepts (continued) • Two defenses of special note (they involve special procedures): • Immaturity a special juvenile justice system • Insanity  a special verdict • 20th century evolution in these two defenses: • Invention of Juvenile court in 1899 • Expansion of Insanity defense in 20thcentury • Recent evolution in these two defenses? • Reversals and reductions in both

  12. The Insanity Defense as special defense: • Basic Issue = lack of mens rea due to mental impairment or incapacity to act rationally • Elements of mens rea = cognition and volition • Can lead to Special Verdicts: • Not-Guilty-by-Reason-of-Insanity (NGRI) • Guilty-but-Mentally-Ill(GBMI) • Formal Rules for deciding legal insanity • M’Naghten Rule (cognition) • Irresistible Impulse Rule (volition) • American Law Institute Rule (both/either) • Recent trends?

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