Police, Prosecutor, and Jury Discretion

Question 1

What are some of the reasons to have police discretion?

Answer 1

• Could be a pocket of mercy that smooths relations with the community (Facilitate a peacekeeping function)
• Police have limited resources and should be able to decide how to allocate

Question 2

What are some reasons to reduce police discretion?

Answer 2

• Could be pretext for discrimination
• Could be used to justify laziness
• Parties reporting the crime could be in the best position to gauge the danger

Question 3

What expands police discretion?

Answer 3

Overcriminalization (could be one vague statute or a ton of narrow statutes that criminalize normal behavior)

Question 4

Is there a substantive due process limit on what can be criminalized?

Answer 4

Papachristou seemed to indicate yes (was deemed unamerican) but this eroded by the time we get to Morales

Question 5

What are the 2 ways a statute can be voided for vagueness? What doctrine voids them?

Answer 5

Voided by due process.

1) Fails to provide an ordinary person with fair notice of what conduct is forbidden
2) Encourages arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement

Question 6

What are the 2 ways to challenge the vagueness of a statute and what are the results if successful?

Answer 6

1) As Applied - Statute does not have a clear meaning in the context of a particular case, so it will not apply to that case
2) Facial - No matter the conduct, it is never clear if the statute applies, so it will be totally invalidated

Question 7

What is the standard for reasonable mistakes of fact and law?

Answer 7

4th amd is followed as long as the mistake of fact or law is reasonable

Question 8

Is a prosecutor’s decision not to bring a charge reviewable? Why not?

Answer 8

No (per Attica) because of the “manifold imponderables” that go into the decision are not well suited for judicial review; its better to concentrate the power in the hands of a democratically accountable party

Question 9

Is a prosecutor’s decision to bring a charge subject to judicial review?

Answer 9

Yes, if there is an impermissible reason like:

1) Vindictive/malicious prosecution
2) Discriminatory Prosection (Equal Protection violation) which must prove discriminatory effect and discriminatory purpose and its very difficult to get access to discovery

Question 10

What is the standard for a valid guilty plea?

Answer 10

Must be voluntary and intelligent with sufficient awareness of circumstances and likely consequences
Voluntary-cannot be induced by threats/lies/improper promises
Intelligent-advised by competent counsel

Question 11

What are the relevant amendments that guarantee the right to trial by jury?

Answer 11

The 6th amd (for fed system) the 14th amd (for the state systems because its part of fundamental fairness)

Question 12

What is the threshold for getting a jury trial?

Answer 12

Must be more than a petty crime (ie must have a max sentence of >6mo in jail)

Question 13

What is jury nullification?

Answer 13

when a jury chooses to acquit the defendant despite evidence establishing guilt
(a false conviction is not considered nullification because it can be appealed and reviewed for sufficiency)