CHAPTER 3

 Constitutional Law  The law as expressed in the U.S. Constitution and the various state constitutions  The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land  State constitutions are supreme within state borders to the extent that they do not violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law  Statutory Law  Laws or ordinances created by federal, state and local legislatures and governing bodies  None of these laws can violate the U.S. Constitution or the relevant state constitution  Uniform laws, when adopted by a state legislature become statutory law in that state Written Sources of American Criminal Law

 Administrative Law  The rules, orders, and decisions of federal or state government administrative agencies  Federal administrative agencies are created by enabling legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress  Agency functions include rule making, investigation, enforcement, and adjudication  Case Law  Judge-made law including interpretations of the other sources of law  Precedent  Court decision that provides an example of authority for deciding subsequent cases involving similar facts Written Sources of American Criminal Law

 Protect and Punish: The Legal Function of the Law  Maintain social order by protecting citizens from criminal harm  Includes harms to both individuals and society in general  New criminal laws are often passed as a result of a specific act  Maintain and Teach: The Social Function of the Law  Expressing public morality  Teaching social boundaries The Purposes of Criminal Law

 Civil and Criminal Law  Civil law includes all types of law other than criminal law  Concerned with disputes between private individuals and between entities  The government provides a forum for the resolution of torts (private wrongs)  Injured party is the plaintiff  The person being accused is the defendant  Guilt and responsibility  Civil court decides if the defendant is liable  Usual remedy is monetary damages  The burden of proof  Criminal trial – beyond a reasonable doubt  Civil trial – preponderance of the evidence Classification of Crimes

 Felonies and Misdemeanors  Felonies  Crimes punishable by death or imprisonment in a prison for one year or longer  Generally there are four degrees of felonies  Capital offenses  First degree felonies  Second degree felonies  Third degree felonies  Misdemeanors  Any other crime not classified as a felony  Punishable by a fine or confinement in a jail up to one year  Usually classified as a gross or petty misdemeanor  Infractions  Least serious wrong doing usually punishable by a fine Classification of Crimes

 Discuss some of the crimes in your state that are classified as felonies and misdemeanors.  Which felonies are capital, first degree, second degree, and third degree?  Do you agree with the customary punishments for these respective classifications of felonies? 1.Capital offenses, for which the maximum penalty is death. 2.First degree felonies, punishable by a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. 3.Second degree felonies, punishable by a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment. 4.Third degree felonies, punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment. Discussion Question #1

 Mala in se  Acts that are inherently wrong, regardless of whether they are prohibited by law  Examples:  Murder  Sexual Assault  Mala prohibita  Acts that are made illegal by criminal statute and are not necessarily inherently wrong  Examples:  Prostitution  Bigamy Mala In Se and Mala Prohibita

 Actus reus  Criminal Act  Crimes may be acts of commission, or acts of omission, or even attempted acts  Omission qualifies as the failure to act when required to do so  Attempt is the act of taking substantial steps toward committing a crime while having the ability and intent to commit the crime The Elements of a Crime

 Mens Rea  A guilty mental state  A wrongful mental state is as necessary as a wrongful act in establishing guilt  Categories on mens rea  Purposefully, knowingly, negligence, and recklessness  Degrees of crime  Willful murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter  Strict Liability  The defendant is guilty regardless of his/her mental state of mind at the time of the act  Accomplice Liability  Suspects can be charged for crimes they did not actually commit if it can be proven they acted as an accomplice The Elements of a Crime

 Concurrence  There must be concurrence between the guilty act and the guilty intent  Causation  The criminal act must have caused the harm suffered  Attendant Circumstances  Facts surrounding an event that must be proved for the event to be considered a criminal act  Requirements of proof and Intent  Hate Crime Laws  Greater sanctions for those who commit crime motivated by bias  Harm  Damages resultant from the criminal act  Inchoate offenses are conduct deemed criminal without actual harm being done  Conspiracy is a plot by multiple people to commit an illegal act The Elements of a Crime

 Tom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three months to live.  He pleaded with his wife Martha to take his life.  For weeks she was adamant that she would not let Tom take his life. She was hopeful of a miracle. One day Tom convinced Martha to take his life.  Martha put a poison in Tom’s tea one evening. Tom went to sleep and never woke up.  Martha was arrested for 2nd degree murder, but plead guilty to manslaughter.  Should Martha’s actions be considered a crime? If yes, what is an appropriate punishment? If no, what are the implications of legalizing mercy killings?  One of the elements of crime is harm. What is the harm in mercy killing? Discussion Question #2

 Defenses usually rely on two arguments:  The defendant is not responsible for the crime (Excuse)  The defendant was justified in committing the crime (Justification)  Criminal Responsibility and the Law  Excuse Defenses - these defenses apply when the actor lacks the requisite mental condition to form intent  Infancy  Insanity  Intoxication Defenses Under Criminal Law

 Infancy  Youthful offenders cannot understand the consequences of their actions  Insanity  A person cannot have a guilty state of mind if s/he  Does not know his/her conduct was wrong or criminal  Does not perceive the consequences of his/her conduct  Can’t sufficiently control his/her conduct Defenses Under Criminal Law

 Measuring Sanity  Debate over which standards should be used in determining insanity  M’Naughten Rule  A person is insane if they can’t, at the time of the crime, distinguish right from wrong  ALI/MPC Test  The defendant must lack the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his/her conduct  Irresistible Impulse Test  A person is insane if some “irresistible impulse” resulting from a mental deficiency drove him or her to commit the crime  Insanity is different than determining competency  Is the defendant mentally well enough to understand the charges filed against him or her to cooperate with a lawyer in presenting a defense Defenses Under Criminal Law

 Intoxication  When the defendant claims that the taking of intoxicants rendered him/her unable to form the requisite intent to commit a criminal act  Voluntary – only a defense to show the mens rea was negated  Involuntary – someone is forced to ingest/injected with an intoxicating substance  Mistake  Mistake of fact  Belief in a rape case that the sex was consensual  Mistake of Law  Rarely allowed as a defense strategy  Valid if the defendant can prove  The law was not published or reasonably known to public  The person relied on an official statement of the law that was erroneous Defenses Under Criminal Law

Insanity Defenses

 Justification Criminal Defenses and the Law  These defenses apply when the defendant admits to the criminal act, but argues that the act was justified  Duress  The defendant is threatened with seriously bodily harm, which induces him/her to commit the crime  The defendant would otherwise perform this act  Self-Defense  The legally recognized privilege to protect one’s self or property  Amount of force  Duty to retreat  George Zimmerman case Defenses Under Criminal Law

 Justification Criminal Defenses and the Law  Necessity  Court weighs the harm caused by the crime against the harm that would have been caused if the act was not committed  Circumstances required the defendant to commit the act  Exception: Murder  Entrapment  The defendant claims (s)he was induced by police to commit the act Defenses Under Criminal Law

 In July 2014 a father in Daytona Beach, Florida walked in on a male babysitter abusing his 11-year-old son.  The father brutally beat up his son’s attacker  The police refused to arrest the father and charge him with a crime.  The abuser admitted to abusing the 11-year-old for the past three years.  Did the police do the right thing in not arresting the father?  If the police were to have arrested the father and you were his defense attorney, what defense would you use to help exonerate your client? Discussion Question #3

 Substantive Criminal Law:  Law that defines the rights and duties of individuals with respect to one another  Defines the acts that the government will punish  Procedural Criminal Law:  Law that defines the manner in which the rights and duties of individuals will be enforced  Procedures, drawn from the Bill of Rights  Designed to protect the constitutional rights of individuals Procedural Safeguards

 Important Amendments for criminal proceedings:  4th Amendment  Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures  5th Amendment  Can’t be deprived of life, liberty or property without “due process”  6th Amendment  Guarantees a speedy and public trial by a jury, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to counsel  8th Amendment  Prohibits excessive bails, fines, and cruel/unusual punishments  14th Amendment  Provides due process and equal protection of the laws The Bill of Rights

 Both the 5th and 14th Amendments provide a due process clause  The due process clauses requires that the government not act unfairly or arbitrarily  The judicial system plays the role in determining when due process has been violated  Two types of due process:  Procedural Due Process  The constitutional requirement that the law must be carried out in a fair and orderly manner  Substantive Due Process  The constitutional requirement that laws used in accusing and convicting persons of crimes must be fair Due Process

Important Due Process Decisions

 Victim’s Rights in the Criminal Justice System  People have been trying to amend the Constitution in favor of victims  Legally the victim has no say in the criminal case  Some states have passed legislative action  The federal government passed the Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004  The Enforceability of the legislative action is problematic Due Process

 Imagine in one particular case you are the prosecutor who has been assigned a case to prosecute a grandmother who accidentally left a toddler in the vehicle when she went to a doctor’s appointment.  The grandmother was in the doctor’s office for three hours. When she came out she realized she made the terrible mistake of leaving her 9 month old grandson in the car. She saw his lifeless body in his rear-facing car seat. She screamed and passed out in the parking lot of the doctor’s office.  The parents of the deceased 9 month old are begging you as the prosecutor not to prosecute the grandmother.  In this case should the victims have a say in how this case is processed through the criminal justice system?  Are there any specific cases where you think the victim should be able to make the decision about how the case is handled? Discussion Question #4