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Criminal Investigation:
A Method for Reconstructing the Past, 7 th Edition
Chapter 15
CRIME AND
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
The Foundations of Criminal Investigation
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An act committed or omitted in violation of law forbidding or commanding it, and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction.
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• The legislature defines crime by enacting penal statutes that govern behavior for which punishment can be meted out
– Behavior can be viewed as:
• Inherently bad
• Against public policy
– Public perception of crime varies over time and across cultures. (i.e. Gambling, Prostitution, Abortion)
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• Criminal Law
– Substantive Criminal Law
• The Elements of a Crime - Specific Behavior(s)
• Corpus Delicti (Body of the Crime)
– Procedural Criminal Law (To obtain a conviction.)
• Case Law (Court Decisions)
• The “Model” Penal Code
• Sources of State Law: Statutes, Case Law.
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• Describes the forbidden acts and the punishment to be inflicted when the law is broken
• Felonies
– Crimes of more serious nature
– Punishable by death or imprisonment for more than one year.
– Convicted felon is prohibited from holding public office or engaging in a licensed occupations, possessing guns.
• Misdemeanors
– Less serious
– Imprisonment for less than a year or by a fine, or both
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• “Elements of the crime” describes the specific acts that, taken together, compose the crime
• If each and every element of a crime is not proved, a defendant cannot be convicted for that crime
• Corpus Delicti
– Each element of the crime is satisfied
– Someone is responsible for inflicting the injury or loss that was sustained
• When the state has proved the corpus delicti beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecutor has met the burden of proof required for a jury (or judge) to convict.
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• Flows from the Constitutions of the United
States and the respective states.
• Supreme Court interprets the U.S.
Constitution or exercises its supervisory power over the federal system of criminal justice.
• Bill of Rights:
– Actions permitting or forbidding the government in criminal matters are spelled out in the Fourth to Ninth Amendments.
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• Proposed in 1962 by the American Law Institute (ALI) in an effort to make criminal laws more uniform
– Intended to bring a unified approach to criminal law through an examination of its philosophical foundations, the elements that defined specific crimes, and the provisions for sentencing and correction
• Has not been widely accepted, though some aspects have found their way into the criminal law of some states.
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• Classical School of
Thought
• Psychological
Approaches
• Attachment
• Behavioral
• Social Structure
• Environmental
• Strain/General Strain
• Culture Conflict
• Social Process
• Differential
Reinforcement
• Social Control
• Labeling
• Life-Course
• General Theory of Crime
• Conflict
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• Control Over Investigations (Limitations on
Govt.)
– Criminal Justice in the Articles and Amendments
– The Bill of Rights
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• Congress is given the power to define what the appellate jurisdiction or the court will be.
– The legislative branch may increase or decrease this function of the Court as it sees fit, however, it has been reluctant to do so.
– If the issue is one of interpretation: whether a law or procedure — either state or federal — is in accord with the Constitution, then the power of the Court is beyond the reach of the Congress
• Incorporating the Bill of Rights through the
Fourteenth Amendment. (Applies to state agents.)
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• The first 10 amendments were adopted in
1791. (Promised, in an effort to have the
Constitution ratified.)
• Past Supreme Court decisions having the greatest influence on investigative practice are based on the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and
Eighth Amendments.
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• Criminal law issues are decisions of two kinds:
– Those unwittingly created by police behavior.
– Those involving apparently new interpretations of law or custom as urged by defendants through their attorneys.
• Rochin v. California (1952)
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
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• Statutory authority for police officers to make arrests without a warrant is generally restricted to crimes committed in their presence, or to cases in which they have reasonable grounds for believing a person has committed (or is committing) a felony.
• Probable cause appears in the Fourth Amendment.
• Crucial to law enforcement officers, this constitutional imperative governs arrests or searches with or without warrants.
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• Ker v. California (1963)
• Locke v. United States (1813)
• Stacey v. Emery (1878)
• Carroll v. United States (1925)
• Brinegar v. United States (1948)
• Rios v. United States (1960)
• Johnson v. United States (1948)
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• Control over Investigative Practice
– Significant changes since 9/11
• Rule of Law
– Indisputable aspect of the American Criminal
Justice System.
– Police and public do not always agree on changes.
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