1. Chapter 3: Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law

2. Learning Objectives
Recognize the basis and foundations of American criminal law
Understand how substantive criminal law defines a crime and legal responsibility of the accused
Understand how procedural criminal law defines the rights of the accused and the processes of dealing with a case
Recognize the United State Supreme Court’s role in interpreting the criminal justice amendments to the Constitution

3. Head Trauma and Homicide
In 2005 Chad Gurney was injured in an automobile accident. He underwent 20 surgeries and suffered significant head injuries. In 2009 he killed his girlfriend. He tried to claim insanity and but the judge refused and sentenced him to 50 years.
Do you think his condition warranted an insanity plea?

4. Foundations of Criminal Law
Civil Law
Law regulating the relationships between or among individuals, usually involving property, contracts, or business disputes
Substantive Criminal Law
Law that defines acts that are subject to punishment and specifies the punishments for such offenses
Procedural Criminal Law
Law defining the procedures that criminal justice officials must follow in enforcement, adjudication, and corrections

5. Substantive Criminal Law
Typically offenses are broken into one of three classes:
Felonies
Most serious
Misdemeanor
Least serious
Infractions
Often civil calling usually for just fines
Each state and the federal government define crimes differently
Each crime is composed of separate elements or parts
If a crime is attempted but one element is lacking is called an inchoate offense

6. Seven Principles of Criminal Law
Legality
Actus reus
Causation
Harm
Concurrence
Mens rea
Punishment

7. FIGURE 3.1

8. Principles of Criminal Law
Legality
There must be a law that defines the specific action as a crime
Offensive and harmful behavior is not illegal unless it has been prohibited by law before it was committed
The U.S. Constitution forbids ex post facto laws

9. Principles of Criminal Law
Actus Reus
For a crime to occur there must be an act of either commission or omission by the accused
Robinson v. California, 1962
People can be prosecuted for use, sale, or possession of drugs but not for the status of being addicted to drugs

10. Principles of Criminal Law
Causation
For a crime to have been committed there must be a causal relationship between an act and the harm suffered
Harm
To be a crime, an act must cause harm to some legally protected value
This harm can occur to a victim, society or even to the person who commits the offense
Concurrence
For an act to be considered a crime, the intent and the act must be present at the same time

11. Principles of Criminal Law
Mens rea
Latin for the “guilty mind”
The commission of an act is not a crime unless it is accompanied by a guilty state of mind
Criminal intent, as distinguished from innocent intent
Some crimes lack the guilty mind elements, they are called strict liability offenses

12. Principles of Criminal Law
Punishment
There must be a provision in the law calling for punishment of those found guilty of violating the law
The punishment is enforced by the government and may carry with it:
Social stigma
Criminal record
Loss of freedom
Loss of rights

13. Video – Discussion Questions
Do you think it is easy to establish Mens Rea?
How can mental intent be proved?

14. Video – Is Mental Intent Always Clear?

15. Penn State and Sanctions
In July of 2012 the University of Pennsylvania State was sanctioned $60 million dollars, forfeited a 112 games and lost 20 scholarships. This was punishment for the University’s complicity in the Jerry Sandusky’s child molestation convictions.
What were the purposes of such sanctions?
Who was punished?
Were the punishments just?

16. Elements of a Crime
In order for an act to be considered a crime the following elements must be present:
Actus Reus
The “guilty act”
Mens Rea
The “guilty mind”

17. Defenses Used to Challenge Criminal Intent
Entrapment
Self defense
Necessity
Duress
Immaturity
Mistake of fact
Intoxication
Insanity

18. Justification Defenses
Self Defense
A person who feels he or she is in immediate danger may use force ward off an attack.
In most states a person also has a right to defend other people from attack, to protect property, and to prevent a crime.
Necessity
The defendant breaks a law in order to save themselves or prevent a greater harm.

19. Excuse Defenses Duress Entrapment Immaturity
The defendant is physically coerced by another to commit a crime.
Entrapment
The police induced the individual to commit a crime when he ordinarily would not have.
Immaturity
The defendant was an ‘infant’ under 7 years of age
State vary on penalties between 7 and 18

20. Excuse Defenses Mistake of Fact Intoxication
Ignorance that a act was illegal is not a defense
However, if you didn’t know what type of act you committed it can be a defense
Intoxication
Voluntary intoxication is not a defense
Typically, it can sometimes be used as a mitigating factor in sentencing

21. Excuse Defenses Insanity
Used very rarely, and very rarely successfully
Less than 1% of those in mental institutions are there because of plea of not guilty by reason of Insanity
Generally states use on of 5 tests:
M’Naghten Rule
Irresistible Impulse Test
Durham Rule
Model Penal Code’s Substantial Capacity Test
Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1994 Test

22. M’Naghten Rule
Developed in England in 1843 and used by more than a dozen states
“Right from wrong test”
“At the time of committing the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did know it that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.”

23. Model Penal Code
Over half of the states and the federal government use this test, which was developed in the early 1970s
The test states:
“If at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.”

24. Insanity and Mental Illness
In July of 2012 James Holmes opened fire in a crowded theater in Aurora, Colorado, kill 12 and injuring Holmes had until recently been a model student, but at some point seemed to suffer from some type of mental breakdown.
What would be sufficient do you think to removed Holmes from the legal to the medical system?

25. Procedural Criminal law
Defines how the state must process a case
Designed to protect individual rights and enforce due process
Whereas substantive criminal law is defined by legislatures, procedural criminal law is defined by courts

26. Bill of Rights
Of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, four are directly relevant to criminal justice:
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Eighth
These amendments protect citizens from such infringements as:
Double jeopardy
Self-incrimination
Unreasonable searches and seizures

27. FIGURE 3.2

28. The Amendments Fourth Amendment Fifth Amendment Sixth Amendment
Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures
Fifth Amendment
Protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy
Sixth Amendment
The right to counsel and a fair trial
Right to a speedy trial and an impartial jury
Eighth Amendment
Protection against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment

29. The 14th Amendment
For over 100 years the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government
Between the 1930s and 1960s it was gradually applied to the states as well
States were required to meet a standard of ‘fundamental fairness’