Ch 3 Flashcards
Code of Hammurabi
The oldest known legal code, it established approximately 300 provisions for family, trade, real property, personal property, and labor.
Trial by ordeal
Primitive form of trial in which the outcome rested in the hands of God to determine guilt or innocence by protecting those who were innocent.
Age of enlightenment
Brought about new ways of thinking, including reforms arising from outrage against the barbaric system of law and punishment just before the French Revolution in the late 18th century.
Specific deterrance
The notion that punishment serves to deter the individual being punished from committing crime in the future.
General detterance
The notion that the general populace will be deterred from committing crimes based on the perceived negative consequences of being caught.
Felicitous or hedonistic calculus
A measure indicating how much pleasure a individual gains from a specific act.
Utilitarianism
A doctrine stating that an action is normally right as long as the behavior is a benefit for the majority of society. This is the concept of “greatest good for the greatest number”.
Panopticon
An architectural developed by Jeremy Bentham that allows a single person to watch others in prison setting without those incarcerated knowing they are being watched.
Rule of law
A fundamental principle of the U.S. criminal justice system that all government officers-including those in law enforcement, corrections, and the courts- pledge to uphold the Constitution, not any particular human leader.
Common law
A type of legal system originally developed in England, whereby the courts define the law and and determine how to apply the law. This is the body of law derived from judicial opinions.
Retribution
A goal of law that states that punishment is deserved or morally right. In addition, it is a goal of sentencing that seeks to punish the offender for criminal behavior.
Lex talionis
Latin for “ the law of retribution” an commonly referred to as ‘an eye for an eye” This philosophy calls for retaliation in which the punishment received should fit the crime committed.
Restitution
Repayment as part of a punishment for injury or loss.
Rehabilitation
Sentencing goal that seeks to reduce the chances of future offenders through education, drug and alcohol programs, psychological programs, and other treatments.
Incapacitation
Sentencing goal that isolates the offender from the public and takes away one’s ability to commit a crime against those in public.
Constitutional Law
A major source of law that establishes the fundamental rules and relationships among the judiciary, legislative, and executive branches at the state and federal levels.
Procedural law
Rules governing court proceedings.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guide procedural law pertaining to arrests, warrants, search and seizures, and trials.
Substantive law
Rules that are used to determine the rights of individuals and collective bodies.
Preemption doctribe
The idea put forth in the Constitution that federal law is the “supreme law of the land,” In other words, usually federal law overrides conflicting state laws.
Gateway drug
A drug (e.g. marijuana) believed to lead to the use of heavier drugs (e.g. heroin).
Cole nemo
Named after former deputy attorney general James Cole, it outlined guidelines for states related to marijuana, including use by minors, driving under the influence, and out-of-state trafficking.
Statutes
Formal rules, or law, adopted by a governing body such as a state legislature.
Ordinances
Munciple or city rules.
Case law
Law that is based on previous court decisions or precedents.
Precedent
The legal principle of stare decisis, Latin for “let the decision stand”, it establishes prior case decisions as bindind precedent.
Stare decisis
Latin for “ let the decision stand”, meaning the judge must respect precedent set in previous court cases.
Landmark cases
Cases that establish precedent that markedly changes the interpretation of a prior law or establishes new case law.
Civil Law
Law that deals with disputes between individuals or organizations and typically seeks some type of compensation for the harmed party.
Compensatory damages
Money awarded in a civil lawsuit for loss or injury suffered as a result of unlawful conduct.
Punitive damage
Money awarded in addition to compensatory damages to punish the defendant for recklessness malice, or deceit.
Class action lawsuits
Civil cases involving large numbers of victims in which courts authorize a single individual or small faction to represent the interest of the larger group.
Administrative law
Derives from a legislative body’s delegation of authority over commissions or boards to regulate activities controlled by written statutes.
Actus reus
Latin term meaning “guilty act” used to indicate the physical act of the crime. Usually paired with mens rea to show criminal liability.
Mens rea
Latin for “guilty mind”, used in courts to prove criminal intent.
Misdeameanor
A less serious crime punishable by fine, forfeiture, or short-term confinement, though in some jurisdictions gross, aggravated, or serious misdeameanors may be charged.
Wobblers
Crimes that can be charged as either felony or misdeameanor.
Felony
A criminal offense (murder, robbery, rape) that is more serious and generally results in more severe punishment than a misdeameanor.
Insanity defense
A defense based on the belief that a select group of people who suffer from mental illness are unable to control their actions to such an extent that they cannot be held accountable for their crimes.
M’Naghten standard
Also called the “right-wrong” test, requires a jury yo consider two questions. Did the defendant understand what he/she was doing at the time of the crime, and did the defendant know what they were doing was wrong.
Durham test
Determines if a criminal act was a product of mental disease or defect. This requires that jurors determine if a defendant had a mental disease or defect and if the condition was the reason for the criminal behavior.
Brawner rule
Also called the ALI rule, it reduced “knowing right from wrong” to the capacity to appreciate the difference between the two. In other words, a defendant must possess an “understanding of his conduct” and be ale to “control his actions”.
Irresistible impulse test
A defense that fails to find a person criminally responsible if mental disease prevents the person from controlling his or her behavior.
Battered woman syndrome
A criminal defense developed to excuse or mitigate the actions of women who kill their abusers in cases of domestic violence despite a lack of imminent danger.
Ex post facto law
A law that a legislature passed after a crime was committed. At the time the person committed the action, it was legal, and only later was the act deemed criminal.
