Chapter 4- CJ &the Rule Of Law Flashcards
Substantive criminal law is also called what?
Penal code
DEFINE: civil law
Law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving property, contract, or business disputes
DEFINE: substantive criminal law
Law defining acts that are subject to punishment and specifying the punishments for such offenses
DEFINE: procedural criminal law
Law defining the procedure that criminal justice officials must follow in enforcement, adjudication, and corrections
DEFINE: common law
Uncodified law, in which judges follow precedents set by earlier decisions when they decide new but similar cases. It’s based on custom and tradition as interpreted by judges. State legislatures have since taken these and set them into codes
DEFINE: statutes
Laws passed by legislatures. Statutory definitions of criminal offenses are found in penal codes
DEFINE: constitutions
The basic laws of a country or state defining the structure of government and the relationship of citizens to that gov
DEFINE: case law
Court decisions that have the status if law and serve as precedents for later decisions
DEFINE: administrative regulations
Rules made by gov agencies to implement specific public policies in areas such as public health, environmental protection, and workplace safety
DEFINE: civil forfeiture
The confiscation of property by the state because it was used in or acquired through a crime.
DEFINE: 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
DEFINE: mens rea
“Guilty mind” or blameworthy state of mind, NECESSARY for legal responsibility for a criminal offense; criminal intent as opposed to innocent intent
DEFINE: strict liability
An obligation or duty that when broken is an offense that can be judged criminal without a showing of mens rea. Usually applied to regulatory offenses involving health and safety
DEFINE: entrapment
The defense that police induced the individual to commit the criminal act
DEFINE: procedural due process
The constitutional requirement that all people be treated fairly and justly by gov officials.
DEFINE: self incrimination
The act of exposing oneself to prosecution by being forced to respond to questions whose answers may reveal that one has committed a crime. 5TH AMENDMENT protects against this.
DEFINE: double jeopardy
Te subjecting of a person to prosecution more that once in the same jurisdiction for the same offense.
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
The protection of the bill of rights apply only to actions of the federal gov
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
An attorney must be provided to a poor defendant facing the death penalty
DEFINE: fundamental fairness
A legal doctrine supporting the ideas that so long as a states conduct main ting basic standards of fairness, the constitution has not been violated
DEFINE: incorporation
The extension of the due process clause of the 14th Am to make binding on state govs the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights
DEFINE: 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
DEFINE: indigent defendants
People facing prosecution who do not have enough money to pay for their own attorneys and court expenses
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Indigent defendants have a right to counsel when charged with serious crimes for which try could face 6 months or more incarceration
