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Instructor’s Manual
to accompany
Courts and Criminal Justice
in America
Fourth Edition
Larry J. Siegel
Frank Schmalleger
John L. Worrall
Prepared By
Elvira M. White-Lewis
Bridgette Aicher
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Chapter 1
Legal Foundations
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the court system and its importance to our system of governance and the
reasons that we have government courts. The legal basis for the American court system results
from early legal codes, common law, modern criminal codes, administrative regulations, and
constitutions (federal and local). Protecting individuals who come before the courts is essential to
our system of justice. Defining and distinguishing criminal and civil law are concepts discussed
in depth in this chapter.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain the purpose and functions of courts and the dual court system.
Outline the history and development of law and the courts.
Summarize the guiding legal principles underlying the U.S. court system.
Explain the nature of disputes.
LECTURE OUTLINE
COURTS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE
Teaching Note: Begin your class with a discussion regarding how much background information
that the students have about the courts. This can be an ice-breaker in a new course and thus put
students at ease. Give each student an index card and have them write the five most important
functions of the court system. Keep the cards during the semester. Return them to students and
discuss with them at the end of the course. They will be surprised at how much they have learned.
What Is a Court?
•
•
•
Proper legal authority as spelled out in constitutions or statutes.
Generally found in the judicial branch, as opposed to legislative and executive
branches of government.
Empowered to make binding decisions-adjudications.
Courts in American Government
•
•
Why government courts?
o Growth of larger societies shifted law enforcement from a private affair to a
public or governmental one.
o Conflicts need to be resolved in a formal process.
Dual court systems separate federal and state courts:
o Ours acting as a system of cooperative federalism.
o Can promote complications and confusion.
o At each level there is district court hierarchy.
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•
o States have limited jurisdiction courts.
o Federal and state systems have appellate courts.
Functions of the court system in a hierarchical jurisdictional way.
Functions of the Court System
•
•
•
•
Upholding the law.
Protecting individuals.
Resolving disputes.
Reinforcing social norms.
LEGAL BASIS FOR THE COURTS
•
•
Religious Judeo-Christian values had a key role in the evolution of American
government.
Criminal justice began with the Declaration of Independence.
Early Legal Codes
•
•
•
Code of Hammurabi.
Twelve Tables.
Signaled the emergence of formalized “law.”
Common Law and Precedent
•
•
•
•
•
•
Emphasizes the importance of judicial decisions.
Uniformity of judicial decisions came to be known as common law.
Common law is in contrast of special law enforced in specific villages.
Precedent refers to some prior action that guides current action.
o Judges decisions were “guided” by earlier decisions.
Precedent ensured continuity and predictability. Stare decisis, which is Latin for “to
stand by things decided,” is the formal practice of adhering to precedent.
Precedents change as the times change.
Modern Legal Codes
•
•
•
•
Differ from early legal codes.
Exist at different levels of government.
Several different forms.
Do not exist just to prohibit criminal conduct.
Administrative Regulations
•
•
Rules promulgated by government agencies.
Authority given by executive and legislative branch.
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•
•
•
Eases the burden on executive and legislative branch.
Can be found in specific statutes.
At federal level can be found in Code of Federal Regulations.
Constitutions
•
•
•
Most significant source of law.
o Tend to steer clear of specifics and generally place limits on government
authorities.
Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments.
Each state has its own constitution, which often mirrors the federal constitution and
can be more restrictive, but cannot relax protections spelled out in the U.S.
Constitution.
Teaching Note: Before moving forward, review the sources of law to make certain that students
understand where the laws come from. It is equally important that they are familiar with
regulatory and administrative law as it is with the other sources.
Role of the Courts
Adjudication
•
•
•
•
•
Primary focus of the courts is dispute resolution and the adjudication of complaints.
In the context of criminal justice, this most often means that courts decide who is
going to answer for an alleged criminal act.
Without this adjudication role, courts perform the vital function of determining who
is and is not guilty.
Certain courts (namely, the appellate courts) ensure that lower courts applied the law
correctly.
Set of checks ensures that judges who make a serious legal error and mistakes in
applying the law incorrectly are held accountable for their mistakes.
Oversight
•
•
Nation’s appellate courts decide matters of law. Oversight is not direct like it is in a
supervisor–subordinate relationship. Courts only get involved once a particular
matter comes to the attention of an appellate court.
Not all decisions are published, particularly in the lower courts, which limits the
oversight function.
Guiding Legal Principles
Presumptions
•
•
•
A presumption is a fact assumed to be true under the law.
Protects the accused, as does the adversarial system.
Presumption of innocence is both presumption of law and a rebuttable presumption.
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•
•
Examples of presumption include: sanity, death, against suicide, guilty mind
following possession of the fruits of a crime, knowledge of law, regularity of official
acts, that young children cannot commit crimes, and that people intend the results of
their voluntary actions.
Presumptions serve basically as substitutes for evidence.
Constitutional Rights
•
•
•
•
•
•
Help ensure that people accused of criminal activity are not rushed to judgment and
treated unfairly.
Exist at state and federal level.
Protect everyone in this country, not just suspected and accused criminals.
Even noncitizens (except perhaps terror suspects, which is an area of ongoing
dispute) enjoy the same protections as U.S. citizens.
A close examination of the Constitution confirms that there is no mention of
criminals versus law-abiding persons or citizens versus noncitizens.
Fourteenth Amendment and incorporation.
Bill of Rights
•
•
•
Contains a total of ten constitutional amendments.
Only four of the amendments are most relevant in the criminal justice context—
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments.
An exception is the Second Amendment, which deals with the right to keep and bear
arms, but it has little in the way of implications for court and criminal justice
procedures.
Due Process
•
•
•
For criminal justice purposes, and particularly for a study of courts, the constitutional
rights of interest are those that can be found in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights
and in the Fourteenth Amendment.
Substantive due process is concerned with protecting people’s life, liberty, and
property.
o No constitutional right to privacy.
Procedural due process is concerned with ensuring fairness.
Teaching Note: Prior to a discussion of content for the next section, have students discuss their
perception of the word adversary. Make should that you emphasize that in the legal system this
does not mean enemy and give examples.
Adversarial System
•
•
Pits two parties against each other in pursuit of the truth.
An element incorporated into the American judicial system to promote argument,
debate, and openness as a defense against oppressive government.
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Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys: Mortal Enemies?
•
Most work in collaboration with a hard-line approach not beneficial for accused.
Opposite of Adversarialism: Inquisitorial Justice
•
•
•
•
When thinking about the courts, ours is an adversarial justice system.
It is adversarial because it pits two parties against each other in pursuit of the truth.
Adversarialism owes to the many protections afforded to people by our Constitution
and laws.
Inquisitorial systems do not provide the same protections to the accused, decisions
are in the hands of a few individuals, and are more passive.
TYPES OF DISPUTES
Civil Law and Procedure
•
•
•
Civil law is concerned mainly with disputes between private parties and to the duties
private parties owe one another.
Private parties can include individual people as well as organizations.
The government occasionally gets involved as a party to a civil case as well, often in
actions related to administrative law.
Nature and Substance of Civil Law
•
•
Civil cases far outnumber criminal cases.
Remedies include monetary damages and injunctive relief.
Categories of Civil Law
•
•
•
•
•
•
Torts are civil wrongs recognized by law to be grounds for a lawsuit.
o Popular due to large jury awards and the shifting standards of proof.
Strict liability means that a party will be held liable regardless of culpability.
Contract law is when people enter into voluntary agreements by signing contracts,
such as to purchase a home; this creates important legal obligations between both
parties.
Property law is significantly concerned with the acceptable uses of property, such as
those uses spelled out in zoning laws. Some property is zoned commercial. Some is
zoned industrial. Some is zoned residential.
Property law also governs property ownership, not just ownership of real property.
Law of succession is concerned with how property is passed from one generation to
the next.
o The law of succession can thus be understood as the law of wills. A will is a legal
document wherein a person spells out the rights of others over his or her property
following the person’s death.
o If a person leaves behind no will (and dies intestate), the state will dispose of that
person’s property pursuant to applicable statutes.
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Most often, state laws require that intestate property go to the deceased person’s
heirs or closest relatives.
Family law is concerned with matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, and
children’s rights.
Spells out requirements as far as who can enter into marriage, what sort of testing
(e.g., blood testing) is necessary, what license and fee requirements exist, what
waiting periods are necessary, and so on.
o
•
•
Criminal Law
What Is a Crime?
•
•
•
Any action that violates a statute duly enacted by the proper public authority.
An offense against society, as opposed to against an individual.
Development of criminal law often lags behind societies changes.
o Example: terrorism and computer technology
What Are the Categories of Crime?
•
Crimes can be placed in at least three categories based on the punishments that can
(but may not, if courts decide otherwise, as they often do) accompany them.
o Felonies are serious offenses generally punishable by more than one year of
incarceration. These are the most serious offenses, and examples include murder,
forcible rape, and armed robbery.
o Misdemeanors are less serious and are generally punished with less than a year of
incarceration. In fact, the vast majority of convicted misdemeanants never spend
time incarcerated. Public drunkenness, social gambling (in states where it is not
legally permissible), and vagrancy are common examples.
o Infractions are less serious than misdemeanors and usually consist of violations
of state statutes or local ordinances punishable by a fine or other penalty, but not
by incarceration.
What Are the Elements of a Crime?
•
•
•
Corpus delicti is Latin for “the body of crime,” and refers to the objective proof (i.e.,
the reality) of a crime. A crime must be committed in order to hold someone liable
for it.
Actus Reus is Latin for “the criminal act.” The prosecution must show first and
foremost that the person (either as a principal offender, an accessory to the crime, or
an accomplice) committed a criminal act.
The prosecutor must also show a degree of intent on the offender’s part. This is
known as mens rea. There are various types of intent, including general intent,
specific intent, and negligence.
o General intent refers to a conscious decision on the offender’s part to commit a
crime. General intent statutes do not specify what intent is necessary.
o Specific intent offenses, by contrast, specify the type of intent necessary for a
prosecutor to secure a guilty verdict.
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The doctrine of strict liability means that there are certain criminal offenses for which
people can be found guilty regardless of their intent. Examples include drunk driving,
statutory rape, most traffic violations, illegal dumping, most code violations, failing
to pay child support, and selling alcohol to minors.
What Defenses Are Available to the Accused?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alibi defenses are available when the defendant (i.e., the person charged with the
crime) argues that he or she was somewhere else at the time of the crime, making it
impossible for him or her to have committed it.
In justification defenses, defendants accept responsibility for the act they are charged
with, but they argue that the act was right under the circumstances.
o Self-defense is an example of a justification defense. There are two broad
categories of justification defenses—those justified by necessity and those
justified by consent. An example of justification by necessity is self-defense.
Consent is a common defense in rape cases. The defendant argues the victim
consented.
With excuse defenses, defendants admit what they did was wrong, but they claim
they were not responsible for the crime. Examples of excuse defenses include
insanity, diminished capacity, age, duress, intoxication, and entrapment. The
common thread running throughout excuse defenses is an argument on the
defendant’s part that he or she was not “normal” at the time of the crime.
Most criminal defenses are considered “affirmative.”
o Affirmative defenses are those formally raised by the defendant at trial. That is,
he or she presents evidence to support an alibi, justification, or excuse.
o This means the burden of proof falls on the defendant instead of the government
to “prove” the defense is legitimate.
Perfect defenses result in acquittal, that is, the defendant going free. But not all
defenses, even if they are successful, result in the defendant going free.
Some defenses are “imperfect,” which means that if the defense is successful the
defendant will be confined to some sort of facility (e.g., a mental institution) or that
the defendant’s conviction will be for a less serious crime (e.g., negligent
manslaughter instead of murder).
How Does the Criminal Law Affect the Courts?
•
•
•
•
•
Criminal law makes work for the courts due to a need to sort through the
complexities and contradictions in statutes.
Due to the fact that most criminal codes contain gradations of offenses, this affords
opportunities for prosecutors to charge defendants with the top offense, which
frequently leads to negotiations between the prosecutor and defense attorney to
reduce the charges.
On the one hand, this “plea bargaining” activity saves courts time because it is a
means of avoiding trial.
Judges must “sign off” on plea agreements, so plea agreements make work for them,
too.
The typical criminal court not only adjudicates the offense, but also settles on a
proper sentence.
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•
Judges have been put in a difficult position due to legislative changes. Efforts to
curtail their discretion to hand down sentences have complicated matters.
Teaching Note: Prior to completing this chapter, make certain that your students can compare
and contrast civil and criminal law including the elements of proof for each. They should also be
able to articulate the different types of defenses for criminal cases.
LIST OF CHANGES/TRANSITION GUIDE
•
•
•
A new chapter-opening story features Harvey Weinstein, the film producer who was
accused by over 80 women of rape and related sex crimes.
A new Courts in the News box features the many lawsuits against large
pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis.
The chapter wraps up with another new Courts in the New Feature, which is about a
convicted poacher who was ordered by a judge to watch the Disney movie “Bambi”
while he was in jail.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS ACTIVITIES
Mock Trial
A mock trial is a valuable learning experience in many ways. It may be used to help students
learn about:
• Specific areas of law
• Courtroom procedures
• Roles of courtroom personnel
• How courts in the United States resolve conflicts peacefully
Through participation in mock trials and analysis of the activity, students gain an insider’s
perspective on courtroom procedures.
Purpose
While learning the details of trial process and procedures, students also develop a number of
critical skills that are universally necessary:
• Critical analysis of problems
• Strategic thinking
• Questioning skills
• Listening skills
• Skills in oral presentation and extemporaneous argument
• Skills in preparing and organizing material
• Public speaking skills
• Knowledge of the rules of evidence
Of particular interest is the usefulness of this mock trial exercise in teaching the elements of
courts. It provides a high level of cooperation among students and encourages them to remain
engaged in learning the course material. This cooperative learning activity encourages significant
cognitive achievement among students from a variety of backgrounds, and also improves student
attitudes toward the course and each other.
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Participation in mock trials helps students to understand better the roles the various actors play in
the justice system, as well as the difficult conflicts those persons must resolve daily in performing
their jobs. On a more complex level, mock trials also provide students with an excellent vehicle
for the study of such fundamental law-related concepts as authority and fairness. Mock trials help
students gain a basic understanding of the legal mechanism through which society chooses to
resolve many of its disputes.
Resources and Materials
If you have access to an attorney who is willing to be a guest during your mock trial exercise, he
or she would be able to get the various forms that you can then reproduce. If you do not have
access to an attorney throughout the course, sample forms may be located online with little
difficulty.
Activities and Procedures
The mock trial project should involve every student in the class. Students not assigned a specific
active role will quickly lose interest.
In addition to attorneys and witnesses the mock trial will require the following roles:
• Judges or juries
• Clerk or bailiff
• Members of the jury
• Medical experts
• Law enforcement personnel
• Court artist
• Camera operator to film the entire case for constructive review
1. Randomly assign students into groups. Each group should consist of no more than 10
students for group dynamics and the possibilities of student attribution.
2. Devote a class period to introduce the concept of mock trials to the class. Inform
students that they will be expected to work on this project outside of class. The
importance of students using their own time for a majority of the project gives them
more ownership for their work.
3. Encourage students to go into their community to locate an attorney who will serve as
the trial judge during the presentation. Attorneys frequently volunteer to assist
students, and if you are in a military community, the Judge Advocate Corps can serve
in this capacity. Prosecutors, private attorneys, public defenders, and appointed
counsel are excellent resources.
4. Inform students that the actual mock trial (crime) will be introduced to them in a
subsequent chapter because it is important to first understand the foundations of the
legal process.
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SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS
Review Questions
Objective 1: Explain the purpose and functions of courts and the dual court system.
1. What is the function of courts in American society?
The functions of the court are to uphold the laws as created and defined by legislature, protect
individuals, resolve disputes, and reinforce social norms. Courts have legal authority to make
binding decisions.
2. Why does the United States maintain a dual court system?
A dual court system allows for separate courts for the federal government and federal issues
from a state court system that addresses state legal issues. A dual court system is desirable
because it parallels federalism, wherein the only powers of the federal government are those
explicitly listed and the rest of the binding legal powers are left to the individual states.
Objective 2: Outline the history and development of law and the courts.
1. What is the legal basis for today’s courts?
The modern legal courts developed from English common law and precedents. These led to
the development of early legal codes, administrative regulations, and constitutions.
Modern legal codes exist at different levels of government and come in several different
forms. These legal codes prohibit conduct that is considered criminal and provide important
rights.
Administrative regulations are rules promulgated by government agencies that have been
given authority by the executive or legislative branch of government.
Constitutions are the most significant sources of law. The Bill of Rights consists of the first
ten amendments, which place important limitations on government authority with respect to
the investigation of crime.
2. How did courts develop in Western societies?
The Code of Hammurabi and the Twelve Tables were some of the earliest known written
legal codes. As societies began to grow, judges issued decisions and began to write them
down so that other judges could use the decisions. This aided in uniformity. These decisions
became known as common law. English common laws were brought over with the early
colonists.
These common laws were eventually written into our modern legal code through our
legislative branch of government and regulated by the limits placed on the government
through constitutions.
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Objective 3: Summarize the guiding legal principles underlying the U.S. court system.
1. What purposes do presumptions serve?
Presumptions are substitutes for evidence. Presumption of evidence is the most common, but
not the only presumption. People are protected by presumptions.
2. What is the difference between our adversarial system of justice and the inquisitorial
systems of justice that have sometimes been used in the past?
The adversarial system of justice features two competing sets of interests (the defendant’s and
the government’s through the prosecutor) working against each other in pursuit of the truth,
from which stems the many protections our Constitution and laws afford people.
Adversarialism promotes argument, debate, openness, and a winner/loser.
The inquisitorial system is opposite of the adversarial system. The inquisitorial system does
not provide the same protections to the accused, the decision-making is in the hands of one or
very few individuals, juries are often the exception, and the attorneys are more passive while
the judge takes a more prominent role.
Objective 4: Explain the nature of disputes.
1. How does civil law differ from criminal law?
Criminal cases involve charges against an individual brought by a government official
because a violation of a criminal law has occurred and the victim is the public at large. Civil
cases involve disputes between private parties, shifts the burden of proof from the prosecutor
to the claimant, and remedies often include monetary settlements. While criminal requires
proof beyond reasonable doubt secured by the prosecutor and the remedies may include
incarceration.
2. What are the main categories of civil law?
Torts are civil wrongs recognized by law to be grounds for a lawsuit and are popular due to
large jury awards and the shifting standards of proof. Contract law is when people enter into
voluntary agreements by signing contracts, such as to purchase a home; this creates important
legal obligations between both parties. Property law is significantly concerned with the
acceptable uses of property, such as those uses spelled out in zoning laws. Some property is
zoned commercial. Some is zoned industrial. Some is zoned residential. Property law also
governs property ownership, not just ownership of real property. Law of succession is
concerned with how property is passed from one generation to the next. Family law is
concerned with matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, and children’s rights.
3. Explain the defenses to criminal liability.
There are several types of defenses to a criminal charge.
An alibi is when the defendant argues that he or she was somewhere else at the time of the
crime, thus making it impossible for him or her to commit the crime.
The justification defense is when the defendant accepts responsibility for the act they are
charged with, but argues that the act was right under the circumstances (self-defense).
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The excuse defense is when the defendant admits that what they did was wrong but claims
that they were not responsible for the crime because of some condition that precluded them
from forming criminal intent (insanity, diminished capacity, age, duress, intoxication, and
entrapment).
What Will You Do?
Dealing with Asylum Seekers
Answer: Answers will vary, but should address whether or not they agree with the Supreme
Court’s decision and why they are taking that stand. The answers should also address any changes
to this ruling since the publication of this book.
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