Chapter 4 Flashcards
Know the job of the grand jury
A grand jury is a body of citizens that determines whether the prosecutor possesses sufficient evidence to justify the prosecution of a suspect for a serious crime.
Can an act be deemed criminal if the intent and the act occurred at different times?
no
4th Amendment
protect people against unreasonable search and seizures for people, houses, papers, and effects, and warrants must only be registered upon probable cause only.
5th Amendment
protecting against self incrimination, double jeopardy, the right to a grand jury, the right to due process, and eminent domain
6th Amendment
speedy, public trial, impartial jury, right to know your charges/accusers/evidence against you, the right to an attorney
8th Amendment
protection against excessive bail or fines, no cruel or unusual punishments
14th Amendment
due process and equal protection under the law, citizenship
What is meant by penal code
Penal code also known as substantive law, are law defining acts that the government has deemed harmful and therefore subjected to a punishment. They also specify the punishments for such offenses, such as a fine, incarceration, or probation.
Can the states provide more protection than the US constitution for individual rights
Yes, as a state’s constitution can provide additional protections against actions by state and local government.
What is meant by concurrence
in order for an act to be considered a crime, the intent and the act must be present at the same time
What is meant by procedural due process
The constitution requires that all people be treated fairly and justly by government officials. An accused person can be arrested, prosecuted, tried, and punished only in accordance with procedures prescribed by law. Done to help protect the accused and prevent wrongful convictions, but also to prevent unfair police and prosecution practices
Is it possible for you to be charged with a crime that you committed prior to the law being created?
no
Can an offender be found guilty without mens rea or strict liability
no
Self-defense;
a person has reasonable fear that he or she is in immediate danger of being harms by another person may defend themselves
Necessity;
a person breaks the law in order to save themselves or to prevent some greater harm
Duress;
someone commits a crime because another person coerce him or her
Entrapment;
When police or another government agency induced the individual to commit the criminal act that they would not have otherwise committed on their own
Infancy;
children under the age of 7, are not liable for their crimes as they do not understand the seriousness of their actions and are immature
Mistake of fact;
a person made a reasonable mistake of fact in a crucial way
Intoxication;
some due to drugs of alcohol is not liable for their crime as they were mentally impaired
Insanity;
A person is mentally impaired due to mental illness causing them to not be liable as they did not understand the wrongfulness in their actions
Know what indigent defendants are
People facing prosecution who do not have enough money to pay for their own attorneys and court expenses
Can civil proceedings end in incarceration
No, civil proceedings are the result of a lawsuit that if you lose you may be forced to give up money, property, or some other belonging, but you will not be put into jail
Is the insanity defense used in most cases in the US
The insanity defense is rarely used, and is only really used in serious cases where no other defenses work. In four states defendants are not even allowed to gain an acquittal based on this defense
According to most courts, accidents occur when there is no mens rea, true or false?
True
For much of US history defendants were not guaranteed the right to an attorney in all states
True
What is the US Supreme Court’s position on the death penalty
The death penalty is constitutional expect in some situations, such as with minors, or for those with mental illnesses
Is the Supreme Court liberal, conservative, neither
The court can be liberal or conservative based on what the majority of the court is
Know the difference between criminal and civil law
Civil law; Law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving property, contract, or business disputes. Criminal law; is a system of laws, substantive or procedural, concerned with what legislatures deem criminal and the punishments of the crime. Criminal law also defines the procedures that criminal justice officials must follow.
Know what two things you need for the elements of the crime
The two essential elements of a crime are the act, actus reus, and the state of mind, mens rea, there may also be attendant circumstances
Know statutes
Laws passed by legislatures. Statutory definitions of criminal offense are found in penal codes, substantive rules, and they may also contain a state’s procedural rules.
Know what strict liability is
An obligation or duty that when broken is an offense that can be judged criminal without a showing of mens reas, criminal intent, usually applied to regulatory offenses involving health and safety
M’Naghten rule
The M’Naghten rule, also called the right from wrong test, is a test to determine whether at the time the act was committed if the person didn’t know what he was doing was wrong or didn’t know what he was doing. Focuses on mental illnesses or defects that cause cognitive impairment as the defendant doesn’t know the nature or quality of his act or the difference between right and wrong.
Durham rule
The Durham rule defines insanity more broadly than the M’Naghten Rule by assuming that insanity is caused by many factors, not all of which may be present in every case. Says a criminal act was caused by mental illness, does not focus on right/wrong
Know Gideon v Wainwright case
Outcome; Indigent defendants have a right to counsel when charged with serious crimes for which they could face six months or more incarcerated
Clarence Gideon was charged with breaking and entering and when he went to trial he requested to have an attorney appointed to him, however he was denied. He was found guilty and appealed the case under the premise that his right to counsel was violated.
What is the phrase that distinguishes murder from nonnegligent manslaughter
Malice Aforethought that says that muder is a deliberate, premeditated, and willful killing of another human being and nonnegligent manslaughter is the result of unpremeditated angry actions, or negligence
Powell v Alabama case
Nine African American boys in Alabama were convicted and sentenced to death for allegedly raping two white women, even though one of the victims admitted later that she had lied. Following this the men appealed and the court ruled
An attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty
Know the definition of actus reus
“Guilty act” Occurs when a person performs an act of commission or omission, failure to act, causing some kind of societal harm as a crime is committed.
Legal Responsibility-
The accountability of an individual for a crime because of the perpetrator’s characteristics and the circumstances of the illegal act.
Civil law-
law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving property, contract, or business disputes.
Indigent defendants-
People facing prosecution who do not have enough money to pay for their own attorneys and court expenses
Substantive criminal law-
Law defining acts that are subject to punishment and specifying the punishments for such offenses
Procedural criminal law-
Law defining the procedures that criminal justice officials must follow in enforcement, adjudication, and corrections
Common law-
the Anglo-American system of codified law, in which judges follow precedents set by earlier decisions when they decide new but similar cases. The substantive and procedural criminal law was originally developed in this manner but was later codified- set down in codes- by state legislatures
Precedents-
Rulings by judges on specific cases, establishing legal principles to be used in making decisions on similar cases
Constitution-
The basic law of a country or state defining the structure of government and the relationship of citizens to that government
Statutes-
Laws passed by legislatures. Statutory definitions of criminal offenses are found in penal codes
Case law-
Court decisions that have the status of law and serve as precedents for later decisions
Civil forfeiture-
Confiscation by the state of property used in or acquired through a crime. In recent years the police have used civil forfeiture to seize property that they believe was purchased with drug profits
Administrative regulations-
Rules made by government agencies to implement specific public policies in areas such as public health. Environmental protection, and workplace safety
Inchoate offense-
Conduct that is criminal even though the harm that the law seeks to prevent has been merely planned or attempted but not done
Mens rea-
“Guilty mind” or blameworthy state of mind, necessary for legal responsibility for a criminal offense; criminal intent, as distinguished from innocent intent
Strict liability-
An obligation or duty that when broken is an offense that can be judged criminal without a showing of mens rea, or criminal intent; usually applied to regulatory offenses involving health and safety
Entrapment-
The defense that the police induced the individual to commit the criminal act
Procedural due process-
The constitutional requirement that all people be treated fairly and justly by government officials. An accused person can be arrested, prosecuted, tried, and punished only in accordance with procedures prescribed by law
Self-incrimination-
The act of exposing oneself to prosecution by being forced to respond to questions whose answers may reveal that one had committed a crime. The Fifth Amendment protects defendants against compelled self-incrimination. In any criminal proceeding, the prosecution must prove the charges by means of evidence other than the involuntary testimony of the accused.
Double jeopardy-
The subjecting of a person to prosecution more than once in the same jurisdiction for the same offense; prohibited by the Fifth Amendment
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)-
The protections of the Bill of Rights apply only to actions of the federal government
Powell v. Alabama (1932)-
An attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty
Fundamental fairness-
A legal doctrine supporting the idea that so long as a state’s conduct maintains basic standards of fairness, the Constitution has not been violated
Incorporation-
The extensions of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to make binding on state governments that rights guaranteed in the first ten amendments to the US Constitution (the Bill of Rights)
Grand jury-
A body of citizens that determines whether the prosecutor possesses sufficient evidence to justify the prosecution of a suspect for a serious crime
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)-
Indigent defendants have a right to counsel when charged with serious crimes for which they could face six months or more incarceration
Two functions of law
to tell people what they can and cannot do
Source of criminal law and where they are found
common law that can be found in the precedents that other judges have made previously on other similar cases, and written law that can be found in the constitution for the country or state, the statutes passed by legislatures, case law, or administrative regulations.
Seven principles of criminal law
legality, legally proscribes, actus reus, their human conduct of commission or omission, causation, there was some causative, connective relationship between the act and the victim, harm, physically, to property, or some other valuable object, concurrence, the act and intent must both be present, mens rea, a blameworthy frame of mind, and punishment, the person is punished for their actions in accordance with the law
Trial by jury
6th Amendment
The right to a fair trial
6th Amendment
Guy breaks into house armed with guns and mike grabs his gun and shoots them. He is not guilty by
Self defense
