Criminal Law
RESOLUTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND
SOCIETY.
Criminal Justice System

Who is involved in
the criminal justice
system?
 Police
 Lawyers
 Judges
 State
Courts
 Federal
Courts
 Prison systems
Types of Crimes

Petty Offenses

Crimes – speeding,
littering, or disturbing the
peace.

Punishment – Citation, but
could lead to a greater
charge if the fine is not
paid.
Types of Crimes

Misdemeanors

Crimes – vandalism, simple
assault, petty theft, or
writing bad checks.

Punishment – heavier fine
or little jail time (usually for
one year or less).

Felonies

Crimes – burglary, rape,
kidnapping, arson, forgery,
manslaughter, or murder.

Punishment – jail time, loss
of some civil rights, possible
loss of employment, and in
some cases, death.
Criminal Trial Procedure
Police investigation
 Police arrest
 Prosecution charges
the defendant (bail
may be granted).
 A preliminary
hearing or grand
jury will be held to
determine if there is
enough evidence
to make a case.






A plea bargain may
be reached at this
point.
An arraignment is
when a judge reads
the defendant the
formal charges
against them. The
defendant will state
guilty, not guilty,
insanity, or no
contest.
The trial.
The decision.
The sentence.
BAIL : usually 10% of the
bail amount set unless:

The judge thinks he's a danger to the community

There's a chance he might flee to avoid trial

He's charged with a serious or violent crime

He's charged with a crime punishable by life in
prison or death

He's charged with certain drug related crimes
and faces more than 10 years in prison if found
guilty

There's reason to believe the accused might
attempt to obstruct justice (hide or destroy
evidence, for instance), or tamper with witnesses

He's a repeat felony offender
Criminal Punishments

Fines

Fines are often assessed in
addition to other types of
sentencing or for petty
offenses.

Individual states determine
what fines are consistent
with what crimes.
Criminal Punishment

Community Service

The defendant is required to
perform a specified amount of
public works.

This could include collecting
trash in the park, working with
kid groups, or something that is
related to the crime that was
committed.

Often, community service is a
condition of probation.
Criminal Punishment

Restitution and
Victim
Compensation

In these cases,
the defendant is
required to pay
the victim in the
crime for their
monetary losses.
Criminal Punishment




Split Sentences or Shock
Probation
The defendant serves a
brief period of time in jail to
“shock” them to the
realities of criminal
behavior.
This is often followed by
probation or weekend
confinements.
This is often done with
younger people convicted
of less violent offenses.
Criminal Punishment

Probation

The defendant is sentenced to
community supervision by a
court appointed agency.

The punishment requires the
defendant to follow strict rules of
conduct in society.

If the rules are broken, the
defendant may be
incarcerated.

This is the most widely used form
of correction today.
Criminal Punishment

Incarceration

In the case of felony
crimes, confinement is
almost a certainty.

Confinement can be in
a prison cell or the
ankle monitor.

There are 4,200 federal,
state, and local prisons
in the U.S. today.
Criminal Punishment

Death Penalty
The most controversial form of
criminal punishment, this sentence
is only given to the most heinous of
criminals.
 Opponents of the death penalty
state that taking a life for a life is
not humane and is outlawed in
the 8th amendment as cruel and
unusual.
 Supporters of the death penalty
state that the crimes that the
defendant committed were
beyond human behavior and that
there is no point of keeping a
person in prison for the remainder
of their lives.

Deaths by States from 19762005
Types of Executions

Four states still allow hanging,
but it has to be requested by
the condemned.

Three states allow for death
by execution, but it also has to
be requested.

Four states have the gas
chamber in which the
accused is enclosed in a
room and cyanide gas is
released.

Since 1976, the vast majority of death-penalty
executions in the United States have been by
lethal injections. But four states still use, or could
use, gas chambers as a method of capital
punishment: Arizona, California, Missouri, and
Wyoming

As of 2014, the only places in the world which still
reserve the electric chair as an option for
execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida,
South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. (Arkansas
and Oklahoma laws provide for its use should
lethal injection ever be held to be
unconstitutional
Other Types of Executions

Five states still institute the
electric chair as a means of
execution.

The most popular form of
execution is lethal injection, in
which the accused has
several drugs injected into
them forcing the heart to
stop beating.
Last Execution in PA

Pennsylvania uses lethal injection to
kill prisoners convicted of a capital
crime.

Three people have been executed
in PA since 1976.

The last person to be executed was
in 1999.

Gary Heidnik
Death penalty around the world
Country
Total executed, 2007-12
Total sentenced to death, 2007-12
CHINA
THOUSANDS
THOUSANDS
IRAN
1,663
156
SAUDI ARABIA
423
54
IRAQ
256
1,420
UNITED STATES
220
504
PAKISTAN
171
1,497
YEMEN
152
109
KOREA (NORTH)
105
0
VIETNAM
58
258
LIBYA
39