Counseling Chapter 3 Homework Media Tool The Sixth Amendment And Your

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CHAPTER 3

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW

Learning Objectives

2. Discuss how substantive criminal law defines a crime and the legal responsibility of the

accused.

4. amendments to

the Constitution.

Lesson Plan

Correlated to PowerPoints

I. Foundations of criminal law

Learning Objective 1: Identify the bases and sources of American criminal law.

Laws tell citizens what they can and cannot do

Legal responsibility means the accountability of an individual for a crime because of

the perpetrat

What If Scenario

What if you had to explain the basis of U.S. criminal law to a visiting Spanish

foreign-exchange student curious about the matter? How would you describe

the bases and sources of U.S

. criminal law to her?

II. Substantive criminal law

Learning Objective 2: Discuss how substantive criminal law defines a crime and the legal

responsibility of the accused.

A. Statutory definitions of crimes

See Assignment 5

PPT 4

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Penal codes between the states and the federal government often have differing

definitions of criminal acts

Example: Taking a human life is defined in different ways depending on slight

B. Elements of a crime

Certain acts are crimes when they fulfill the seven principles

C. All three of these factors: the act itself, the attendant circumstances, and the state of mind

of the offender are together called the elements of a crime

Seven principles of criminal law

1. Legality

2. Actus reus

Class Discussion/Activity

Break the class into groups of 2-4 students. Each group will search a

newspaper of their choice for stories of criminal activity. The groups

informally or informally to the rest of the class.

D. Defenses against criminal charges

See Assignment 1

PPT 6

PPT 7-8

PPT 9

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Defendan

for which defendants actually committed the acts proscribed by criminal law.

Justifications -focus on the act and whether the act was socially acceptable under the

circumstances.

Excuses – focus on the actor and whether the actor fulfilled the elements required for being

held responsible under a criminal statute.

What If Scenario

What if a friend you were visiting told you that the money lying on a dresser

belonged to him? And what if your friend owed you the exact amount of money

that was on the dresser? And what if you took the money when after your friend

had left for class? Later the police show up at your apartment with an arrest

warrant for theft, since in fact the money belonged not to your friend, but to the

roommate. What legal defenses would be available to you?

1. Justification defenses

a. Self-defense

b. Necessity

Differs from self-defense in that the person breaks the law to save themselves or

2. Excuse defenses

a. Duress or Coercion

When someone commits a crime because he/she is coerced by another

person

Example: A customer is forced to drive a getaway car during a bank

robbery

b. Entrapment

o Used to show a lack of intent

The defendant is excused is he shows that government induced the crime.

Media Tool

Report from NBC Dateline

See Assignment 1

PPT 10

PPT 11

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o Assignment: After reading the above mentioned article, would the

courts likely side with this argument or would they view this as a

c. Immaturity or Infancy

American law excuses criminal acts for children under seven years old as the

child is considered incapable of forming mens rea

Children older than seven but younger than fourteen are considered for mens rea

f. Insanity

Four states do not allow insanity defense

involving insanity:

did the accused know what he was doing was wrong

h. Irresistible Impulse Rule was a mental disea

actions?

i. The Durham Rule not responsible if an unlawful act is the product of mental

j

k. Comprehensive Crime Control Act

Media Tool

See Assignment 1

PPT 12-

13

PPT 15

PPT 16

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not?

III. Procedural criminal law

Learning Objective 3: Describe how procedural criminal law defines the rights of the accused

and the processes for dealing with a case.

Learning Objective 4

amendments to the Constitution.

Defines how the state must process cases

The Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment

A. Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution

Four of the amendments involve procedural criminal law

Protect from such violations of personal liberty such as:

B. Fourteenth Amendment and due process

Enacted in 1868

Ensured equal protection under the law for all citizens

What If Scenario

deleted from the Bill of Rights? Which one would you choose? Explain.

C. The due process revolution

Incorporation

See Assignment 1

See Assignments 2

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6

PPT 18

PPT 19

PPT 20

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Limits ability of law enforcement search a person or property

Class Discussion/Activity

Have the class discuss police searches. What limitations do the current

laws and court rulings place on police? Do students think that these

limitations are too restrictive, or about right?

-incrimination and double jeopardy

A person charged with a criminal act may only be subjected to one prosecution or

A. Gideon v. Wainwright (1962)

Applied the right to an attorney for indigent defendants in all state criminal cases

B. Defendants have a right to a speedy trial in state and federal courts

C. Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by an impartial jury

Media Tool

o Assignment: Preview the video on the sixth amendment. Would

you define the sixth amendment as the most important amendment

the Bill of Rights? Would we be functional?

Reasonable bail pending trial

See Assignments 2-6

See Assignments 2

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6

PPT 21

PPT 23

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Class Discussion/Activity

Ask the class to determine how they feel about the rights of the accused.

students to give their opinion and to discuss whether they feel that

defendants have gained too many rights

What If Scenario

What if you were a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and heard the case

involving the use of lethal injections in death penalty cases? What position

IV. Constitutional rights and criminal justice professionals

Learning Objective 4: Explain the U.S. Su

amendments to the Constitution.

Supreme Court decisions have created uniform protections of individual rights

across all states

Some belief that the rights of criminals are too broad and balance is needed

Class Discussion/Activity

Create a moot court where a panel of students acts as justices on an

was adequately upheld.

Lecture Notes

The area of criminal law focuses on the prosecution and punishment of people who violate specific laws

enacted by legislatures, while the area civil law concerns disputes between private citizens or businesses.

Criminal law is divided into two parts: substantive law, which defines offenses and penalties, and

procedural law, which defines the rights of accused individuals and the processes that criminal justice

officials must follow in handling cases. Criminal law is found in written constitutions, statutes, judicial

decisions, and administrative regulations.

See Assignments 2-6

See Assignment 3

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mens rea, and punishment. The mens rea

can vary with different offenses, such as various degrees of murder or sexual assault. It may also be

disregarded for strict liability offenses that punish actions without considering intent. Criminal law

provides the accused opportunities to present several defenses based on lack of criminal intent:

entrapment, self-defense, necessity, duress (coercion), immaturity, mistake, intoxication, and insanity.

Standards for the insanity defense vary by jurisdiction, with various state and federal courts using several

different tests.

The provisions of the Bill of Rights were not applicable to state and local officials until the mid–

twentieth century, when the Court incorporated most of the Bill of Rights’ specific provisions into the due

process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable

Key Terms

Bill of Rights – The first 10 amendments added to the U.S. Constitution to provide specific rights

for individuals, including criminal justice rights concerning searches, trials, and punishments. (p.

94)

civil law – Law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving

property, contracts, or business disputes. (p. 78)

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. (p. 96)

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grand jury – Body of citizens drawn from the community to hear evidence presented by the

prosecutor in order to decide whether enough evidence exists to file charges against a defendant.

(p. 99)

inchoate or incomplete offenses – Conduct that is criminal even though the harm that the law

seeks to prevent has not been done but merely planned or attempted. (p. 83)

incorporation – The extension of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to make

self-incrimination The act of exposing oneself to prosecution by being forced to respond to

questions when the answers may reveal that one has committed a crime. The Fifth Amendment

protects defendants against compelled self-incrimination. (p. 96)

substantive criminal law – Law that defines acts that are subject to punishment and specifies the

punishments for such offenses. (p. 79)

Assignments

1. Using the internet or other appropriate sources, research the substantive criminal law

within your state. How does your state differentiate between and define the degrees of

3. Research the subject of criminal punishment and the Eighth Amendment. How has this

amendment been interpreted and applied by the Supreme Court in the past thirty years?

4. Recent research indicates that the use of lethal injection may cause severe physical pain and

suffering that is not detectable to observers when executioners use combinations of drugs that

paralyze the condemned prisoner instead of rendering the prisoner completely unconscious before

death. If prisoners are conscious, paralyzed, and suffering from severe physical pain in addition to

5. After viewing the Media Tool concerning the Sixth Amendment, research death penalty cases.

There is currently one inmate who has been on death row for two decades. After your research is

6. Explain the concept of double jeopardy. How is double jeopardy not violated when you can be

tried in both a civil and a criminal court? Is there such court case that represents such a situation?

Why would it be dangerous to known that as a defendant, you could be tried after one court found

you guilty? Does double jeopardy occur when an appellate court hears a case after a verdict has