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Inside Criminal Law

Inside Criminal Law. Standard 5: Students can explain the fundamental doctrines that drive the American criminal justice system. Due Process. Origin of Due Process.

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Inside Criminal Law

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  1. Inside Criminal Law Standard 5: Students can explain the fundamental doctrines that drive the American criminal justice system.

  2. Due Process

  3. Origin of Due Process • Magna Carta: "No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.”

  4. What is Due Process? • A right guaranteed by the 5th and 14th Amendments. • Due Process Clause: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

  5. Types of Due Process Procedural Substantive Laws must be fair Ex: Supreme Court ruled 1930 Oklahoma law that sterilized habitual felons unconstitutional • Everyone gets a fair PROCESS • Includes search procedures, arrest, speedy trial, impartial jury, right to attorney

  6. Precedent In your notes: name or describe a famous supreme court case (historical or current)

  7. Precedent • Definition: a court decision that is an example of authority for future similar cases • Example: Plessy v. Ferguson – supreme court set the precedent that separate but equal public facilities is constitutional

  8. Stare Decisis • “to stand on decided cases” • Doctrine that judges are obligated to follow precedents set by the highest court • Example: Brown v Board – all states had to comply with the decision

  9. Four Written Sources of American Criminal Law

  10. 4 Written Sources • Constitutional • Administrative • Statutory • Case Law

  11. Constitutional Law

  12. CRIME Elements of a Crime

  13. Corpus Delicti “the body of the crime” Circumstances that must exist for a criminal act to have occurred

  14. Actus Reus • Guilty Act • Planning the act does not qualify as a guilty act • Attempting the act does qualify • Example: John Smith robbed a bank

  15. Guilty intent • The offender knowingly, intentionally, or willingly committed the crime • Ex: John Smith knew he was robbing a bank and that is bad • Intent determines level of liability which can differentiate between varying degrees of similar acts (ex: murder) Mens Rea

  16. Concurrence • Guilty Act + Guilty Intent (must occur together) • Example: John Smith planned a robbery (intent) but then someone else robbed the same bank. John could not be charged (he did not commit the act)

  17. Causation The criminal act caused the harm suffered Example: a person who put graffiti a building could not be charged with arson if the building burned down

  18. Attendant Circumstances • Additional facts that may increase the penalty • Must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt • Ex: use of a weapon, amount stolen, hate crimes, etc

  19. Harm • The damage done can determine what type of crime was committed • Ex: victim is hit with a tire iron. • If he dies = murder • If he is unconscious = battery

  20. Defenses Criminal Defenses

  21. Excuse Defenses • Infancy: Young children do not understand the consequences • Juvenile justice system handles cases • Insanity: The person’s mind is such that at the time of the act, he/she did not know it was wrong or did not know the nature of the act • Difficult to prove

  22. Excuse Defenses - Intoxication • Involuntary intoxication: person did not know they were under the influence of substances and were not able to have guilty intent in their action • Voluntary intoxication: typically not a valid defense. May lead to lighter sentence

  23. Excuse Defenses - Mistake Mistake of Law Mistake of Fact John took Julie’s backpack because he though it was his (that is not theft) He would have to prove that a reasonable person could make the mistake (the backpacks look similar) • Ignorance of the law is not excuse but… • If a law changes or is falsely reported, it COULD be a defense

  24. Justification Defenses - Duress • Wrongful threat of one person induces another to perform an act he/she would not otherwise perform • Threat must be of serious harm or death • Threat must be greater than the harm caused by the crime • Threat must be inescapable • Threat must be of no fault of his/her own

  25. Justification Defenses • Self Defense: Deadly force can be used if there is a reasonable belief that death or harm will result from attack • Necessity: circumstances require a person to commit a crime. “the lesser of two evils”

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