Chapter 1
Law, Crime, Courts, and Controversy
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Describe how the courts are related to the other components of the criminal
justice system.
2. Discuss the major types of courts found in the United States.
4. List the steps in a typical felony prosecution.
6. Identify the three key characteristics of common law.
8. Name the four amendments of the Bill of Rights that deal specifically with
criminal procedure.
10. Identify some of the most important legal defenses in American law.
12. Distinguish between the crime control model of criminal justice and the due
process model of criminal justice.
LESSON PLAN
Correlated to PowerPoints
I. COURTS AND CRIME
A. Murder and nonnegligent homicide cases account for less than 1/10 of
1 percent of all criminal arrests (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2015).
B. Jurors expect sophisticated forensic evidence in all cases, which some call
the CSI effect.
II. COURTS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Learning Objective 1: Describe how the courts are related to the other
2015).
C. These tax dollars support an enormous assortment of criminal justice
agencies with a large number of employees. These government officials are
quite busy.
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D. A substantial number of people are also employed in the private sector in
E. The public agencies involved in implementing crime policy, i.e., police,
courts, and corrections, are referred to as the criminal justice system.
H. An Interdependent Criminal Justice System
i. Viewing the various components of criminal justice as a total system
highlights the fact that these different agencies are interdependent and
interrelated.
ii. The courts play a pivotal role within the criminal justice system. Many
formal actions pertaining to suspects, defendants, and convicts involve
iii. The operations of law enforcement and corrections also have a major
impact on the judiciary.
iv. The system approach dominates most contemporary thinking about
criminal justice.
I. A Fragmented Criminal Justice Nonsystem
i. Not everyone is convinced of the utility of this approach. Some people
point to a non-system of criminal justice.
ii. What is most salient in the non-system is that each component of the
J. Tensions and Conflicts
i. Criminal justice is best viewed as both a system and a non-system.
ii. Both interdependence and fragmentation characterize the relationships
iii. These structural arrangements produce tension and conflict within each
component.
iv. Tension and conflict also occur due to the sometimes conflicting goals of
the various components of the criminal justice system.
Class Discussion/Activity 1
Which term “interdependent” or “fragmented nonsystem” better describes the
criminal justice system?
Class Discussion/Activity 2
Place students in three groups and assign each group a part of the justice system: the
What If Scenario
What if the U.S. Supreme Court held that plea bargaining was unconstitutional?
How would this affect criminal law? Courts?
See Assignments 2 and 6
III. AN OVERVIEW OF U.S. COURTS
Learning Objective 2: Discuss the major types of courts found in the United
States.
A. By rough count there are approximately 17,000 courts operating in the
United States.
B. Courts are governmental organizations created to hear specific types of cases.
C. Courts in the United States function in a separate or dual court system
meaning that there are federal and state courts.
D. There are many different types of courts on both the state and federal level,
each serving a different function.
i. Most courts are trial courts, which can be divided into major and lower.
ii. There are also appeals courts, which review decisions made by trial
courts.
1. Appellate courts are places where lawyers argue whether the previous
decision correctly or incorrectly followed the law.
2. Given the growing volume of cases, the federal government and most
iii. Although the U.S. Supreme Court stands atop the organizational ladder, it
measured not in terms of the number of cases decided, but in the wide-
ranging impact these few decisions have on all stages of the process.
What If Scenario
What if you were given total authority to reform the American court systems; what
would you reform, and why?
See Assignments 9 and 10
IV. IDENTIFYING THE ACTORS IN THE COURTHOUSE
Learning Objective 3: Identify the most important actors in the courthouse.
A. Prosecutors
i. The most influential person in the courtroom. They decide which cases to
try, can offer plea-bargains, and carry some influence over bail and
sentencing.
B. Defense Attorneys
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i. They can be private attorneys or publicly appointed (if the defendant
cannot afford an attorney).
C. Judges
i. They are elected at the local and state level; the President chooses Federal
D. Defendants and Victims
i. The defendant is is the person accused of the crime. The majority of
defendants are poor, young, uneducated males. Victims testify, increase
demands for bail, influence guilty pleas and sentencing, and can argue for
prison/jail release.
Class Discussion/Activity 3
Describe the roles of each of the main actors in the courthouse. Which do you
believe play the most significant role? In what ways did these actors play a part in
the George Zimmerman and Dylann Roof cases?
their decision to convict someone whom you believed to be a totally innocent man?
What If Scenario
What if you were a jury member in a rape case in which a poor, young, black man
had been accused of raping the daughter of one of the wealthiest and most-
See Assignments 1 and 11
V. AN OVERVIEW OF CRIMINAL JUDICIAL PROCESSES
Learning Objective 4: List the steps in a typical felony prosecution.
A. The amount of crime in the United States is difficult to quantify precisely.
We know that it is high in comparison to other industrialized nations. Many
B. Legally, crimes fall into three categories: felonies (in most states punishable
by one year or more in prison); misdemeanors (typically punishable by up to
C. There are a number of steps that occur in the criminal justice as seen below.
D. Arrest
i. Every year the police make more than 12 million arrests for non-traffic
offenses.
ii. Most are for minor crimes, but nearly 2.17 million involve serious crimes
such as murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, and theft.
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E. Initial Appearance
i. An arrested person must be brought before a judge without unnecessary
delay.
F. Bail
i. The most important event that occurs during the initial appearance is the
setting of bail.
ii. While most defendants have the right to post bail, this legal right is tied
to the defendant’s economic status.
G. Grand Jury
i. The grand jury is designed as a check on unwarranted prosecutions.
ii. In reality, grand juries are dominated by the prosecutor and generally
indict whomever the prosecutor wants indicted.
H. Preliminary Hearing
i. Like grand jury proceedings, preliminary hearings provide a check
I. Arraignment
i. Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, an arraignment
differs from an initial appearance.
J. Discovery
i. The term discovery refers to the exchange of information prior to trial.
K. Pretrial Motions
i. Motions are simply requests for a judge to make a decision.
ii. The most significant pretrial motions are motions to suppress physical
evidence that contend that police conducted an illegal search and seizure.
L. Plea Negotiations
i. Most findings of guilt result not from a verdict at trial but from a
M. Trial
i. Trial by jury is one of the most fundamental rights granted to those
accused of violating the criminal law.
ii. A defendant can be tried either by a judge alone or a jury.
N. Sentencing
i. Most of the steps of the criminal process are concerned with determining
ii. The principal decision the judge must make is whether to impose a prison
sentence or place the defendant on probation.
iii. Prison overcrowding has become a significant consideration in
contemporary sentencing.
O. Appeal
i. Virtually all defendants found guilty during trial file an appeal with a
higher court in the hope that they will receive a new trial.
ii. Contrary to public perception defendants are rarely successful on appeal.
Class Discussion/Activity 4
What are the steps in a typical felony prosecution? How does discretion play a part
in each of these steps?
See Assignment 3
VI. THE BASIS OF LAW
Learning Objective 5: List the four key elements defining law.
A. The basis of law can be summarized in two words: human conflict. Business
and everyday activities depend on mechanisms for mediating inevitable
human conflicts.
B. suggests, “It is a word of many meanings, as slippery as glass, as elusive as a
soap bubble.”
C. Most scholars define law as a body of rules enacted by public officials in a
legitimate manner and backed by the force of the state (Neubauer &
Meinhold, 2017).
i. The first element is self-evident.
ii. The second element is of critical importance. All organizations of any
size or complexity have rules and regulations that govern their members.
iii. The third element means that it must be agreed upon ahead of time how
the rules will be changed.
iv. The final element says that these rules and regulations would be largely
meaningless without sanctions.
What If Scenario
What if you were a jury member in a case in which a 25-year-old professional
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wrestler is charged with second–degree murder for shooting and killing a 15-year-
old boy who walked in to his home through the open front door at 2:00 p.m. The
VII. THE COMMON LAW HERITAGE
Learning Objective 6: Identify the three key characteristics of common law.
A. The legal system of the United States, and other English-speaking nations
B. The common law first appeared in medieval England after the Norman A
C. Common law is used in many English-speaking nations, including England,
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.
D. During the development of the common law legal system, a distinctive way
of interpreting the law gradually emerged. Three key characteristics of this
E. Multiple Sources of Law
i. Constitutions
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2. A constitution is the first document that establishes the underlying
principles and general laws of a nation or state.
4. Similarly, each state has a constitution that is the “supreme law of the
state.”
6. Constitutions also specify how government officials will be selected.
ii. Statutes
1. The second rung of law consists of statutes. Laws enacted by federal
and state legislatures are usually referred to as “statutory law.”
iii. Administrative Regulations
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1. The third rung of American law consists of administrative law.
iv. Judge-Made Law
1. Courts decisions, or “judge–made law,” are still an important source
Class Discussion/Activity 5
What are the three key characteristics of common law? What is the importance of
each of these characteristics?
See Assignments 9, 10, and 13
VIII. THE ADVERSARY SYSTEM
Learning Objective 7: Explain the importance of the adversary system.
A. Law is both substantive and procedural.
i. Substantive law creates legal obligations.
ii. Procedural law establishes the methods of enforcing these legal
obligations.
B. The guiding assumption of the adversary system is that two parties,
C. Safeguards
i. The U.S. Constitution provides numerous safeguards such as protection
from unlawful search and seizure.
ii. By putting power in the hands of several different parties, the adversary
system creates another type of safeguard. Each actor has limited powers.
iii. In diffusing power, the adversary system provides a third safeguard: the
Class Discussion/Activity 6
Does the presumption of innocence have any real effect in criminal cases? If not, is
it still important?
What If Scenario
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What if you were the governor of your state; would you allocate more funds to the
state court system so that more defendants would be subject to jury trials instead of
plea bargains? Why or why not?
See Assignment 8
IX. THE RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED
Learning Objective 8: Name the four amendments of the Bill of Rights that deal
specifically with criminal procedure.
A. Procedural law in the United States places a heavy emphasis on protecting
the individual rights of each citizen.
B. A key feature of a democracy is the insistence that the prevention and control
C. Restrictions on the use and application of government power take the form of
rights granted to the accused.
D. The primary justification for providing constitutional safeguards for those
E. Another reason that democracies respect the rights of those accused or
suspected of violating the criminal law is the need to maintain the respect and
support of the community.
F. Due Process
i. The principal legal doctrine for limiting the arbitrariness of officials is
due process.
ii. The core of the idea of due process is fundamental fairness insofar as a
G. Bill of Rights
i. The major obstacle to the ratification of the Constitution was the absence
of specific protections for individual rights.
ii. Shortly after adoption of the Constitution, ten amendments, collectively
known as the Bill of Rights, were adopted.
iii. Many of these protections deal specifically with criminal procedure.
iv. Originally only applicable to the national government, the Supreme Court
Class Discussion/Activity 7
What four amendments to the Constitution are specifically related to criminal
procedure? In what ways do these amendments impact the courts?
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What If Scenario
What if you were asked a question by a delegation of visiting judges from the
People’s Republic of China as to why the American judicial system accords more
rights and protections, as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution,
to crime suspects than crime victims? What would you say?
See Assignments 7 and 12
X. INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW
Learning Objective 9: Identify the major elements of a crime.
Learning Objective 10: Identify some of the most important legal defenses in
American law.
A. brought because the courts possess powers that private parties do not.
B. Civil disputes include torts, contracts property, domestic relations, and
inheritance.
C. Some disputes require special treatment because civil law remedies are not
D. In civil law, the injured party receives compensation. Violators of the
criminal law, however, are punished.
E. The stress on punishment derives from the goal of criminal law to prevent
and control crime.
F. It is important to recognize that the criminal law is intended to supplement,
G. Elements of a Crime
i. In every criminal case, the prosecution must prove the corpus delicti
beyond a reasonable doubt.
ii. In defining the elements of a particular offense, criminal laws are based
on five general principles. Most behavior cannot be considered criminal
unless:
1. a guilty act (actus reus) is committed, with
2. a particular level of criminal intent, called mens rea, and the guilty act
Class Discussion/Activity 8
Describe the elements of crime. Why is it important to have the union of actus reus
and mens rea?
H. Defining Crimes
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i. Using the principles of actus reus, mens rea, attendant circumstances,
I. Criminal Defenses
i. Individuals may have performed illegal acts, but may nonetheless be not
guilty of a crime due to the applicability of legally recognized defenses.
ii. Legal defenses derive from the way crime is defined.
iii. In most criminal cases the defense attempts to cast doubt on the
defendant’s guilt.
iv. In other cases, however, the defense may assert specific legal doctrines in
an attempt to secure an acquittal.
v. An alibi defense permits defendants to argue that they were somewhere
else at the time the crime was committed.
vi. Defenses that Negate Mens Rea
1. Sometimes people engage in an act that, at first blush might appear to
2. The two most common of these defenses include the mistake of fact
defense and the defense of necessity.
vii. Defenses of Justification
1. Defenses of justification are based on the commission of an act under
viii. Procedural Defenses
2. These defenses are generally unconcerned with factual guilt. Rather,
ix. Defenses of Excuse
1. Defenses of excuse seek to excuse acts committed by defendants who
2. In most states children under the age of 7 are considered legally
3. The premise of juvenile delinquency is that people under a certain age
are less responsible for their actions than adults.
Class Discussion/Activity 9
The law recognizes certain defenses to crime. In those cases, even when an
individual has committed the guilty act (actus reus) of an offense, they are not
guilty of the crime charged. Why shouldn’t those who commit the guilty act always
be held accountable for their actions?
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