Agenda

• Today: Crime Policy

    - Criminal Procedure
    - Due Process
    - Punishment and Rehabilitation
    - Criminal Justice Reform

• Remaining classes: topic discussion and short writing

    - Check Canvas for current events news articles
    - Final exam review

Announcemnts

Criminal procedure: types of crime

• Felonies

    - serious crimes
    - punishable by prison time
    - punishable by more than one year of incarceration
    - prison or state jail incarceration
    - violent crimes such as assault, murder, robbery, and sexual assault
    - serious property crimes such as burglary, grand theft

• Misdemeanors

    - minor crimes punishable by less than a year in jail 
    - jail time served in local jails, not prison
    - misdemeanors range from petty theft to minor traffic violations (which are class C misdemeanors in Texas)

Elements of crime

• Set by statute
• Prosecution must allege and prove all elements of the crim
• Many crimes require mens rea, literally “guilty mind” or criminal intent
• Crimes that do not require mens rea are strict liability crimes

Due Process

Due Process

Due Process

It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

    - William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 
    

It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.

    - Benjamin Franklin

Due Process of Law

• Due process is guaranted by the Texas Constitution

• Due process is guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution

• Due process includes reasonable searches

    - evidence from illegal searches must be excluded from evidence

• Due process at arrest:

    - arrest requires a warrant or probable cause to believe the arrestee committed a crime
    - individuals arrested must be informed of certain basic rights

• Due process and confessions

    - confessions can not be coerced
    - a suspect must have been informed of their rights under Mirana v. Arizona

Arraignment

• Arraignment is an initial court appearance
• The defendant is informed of the charges against them
• If the defendant cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed
• Bail, if any, is set at arraignment

Pre-trial

• In felony cases, a grand jury will bring an indictment if there is sufficient evidence
• In other cases, a writ of information will be used
• After indictment, there will be a pre-trial hearing
• Most cases end with a plea bargain

Trial

• Defendants are entitled to trial by jury in felony cases

• Defendants may choose a bench trial

• The prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt

• The defense may present evidence

• The defendant is entitled to subpoena witnesses

• Guilt or innocence

    - If the jury finds the defendant not guilty, this is final
    - If the jury finds the defendant guilty, the judge can set aside the verdict

• Sentence

    - Juries may pass sentence in some crimes
    - Judges may impose a lower sentence than the jury

What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?

• Protecting the people

What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?

• Protecting the people
• Punishment of the guilty as justice and to deter crime

What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?

• Protecting the people
• Punishment of the guilty as justice and to deter crime
• Rehabilitating the convicted to return to society

Criminal justice reform

• focus more on rehabilitation

    - more humane
    - more effective

• reduce or eliminate bail

    - high bail makes poverty a crime
    - innocent people may spend months jailed awaiting trial

• government acts on our behalf, so if government acts unjustly they have done it in our name

Authorship and License

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.