Criminal Law 101
This term refers to a minor crime that is typically punishable by less than 12 months in jail.
What is a misdemeanor?
This level of government hears over 90% of all criminal cases in the U.S. (including most felonies).
What are the state governments/state court systems?
What is the exclusionary rule?
The vast majority (>95%) of criminal cases in the U.S. do not go to trial, but are instead resolved through one of these.
What is a plea deal/plea bargain?
Incorporation refers to the Supreme Court's practice of applying protections found in the [?] to state and local governments.
What is the Bill of Rights?
This term refers to a crime of "high seriousness." Examples include murder, arson, kidnapping, and treason.
What is a felony?
A suspect accused of an arson in downtown Frederick would have their case heard in this court.
What is the Maryland Circuit Court?
What is due process (of law)?
Name the constitutional amendment AND the constitutional clause in that amendment that have been used to apply protections in the Bill of Rights to state and local governments.
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
This term refers to the attorneys representing the government (or "the people") in a criminal case.
What is the prosecution? (Individual person = prosecutor/prosecuting attorney)
Courts that have the power to hear a case for the first time are said to have this type of jurisdiction.
What is original jurisdiction?
Before a suspect can be formally interrogated by law enforcement, they must be informed of their "Miranda rights." What are these two rights?
1.) The right to remain silent; 2.) The right to an attorney
Name three rights found in the Sixth Amendment OTHER than the right to an attorney.
Speedy trial, public trial, impartial jury, right to be informed of charges, right to face/question government's witnesses, right to call one's one witnesses (and the right to an attorney).
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) applied this Fourth Amendment protection to state and local governments.
What is the exclusionary rule?
This is the burden of proof the prosecution must demonstrate to obtain an indictment from a grand jury.
What is probable cause?
A person convicted of counterfeiting U.S. currency would first appeal their conviction to one of these appellate courts.
What are the U.S. Courts of Appeal? (a.k.a. U.S. Circuit Courts)
The Fifth Amendment states that "no person shall be held to answer for a[n]... infamous crime" unless one of these bodies has issued a formal charge after reviewing the government's evidence against the suspect.
What is a grand jury?
The Eighth Amendment is often brought up in debates over the constitutionality of this controversial practice of isolating prisoners for extended periods of time.
What is solitary confinement?
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) applied this Sixth Amendment protection to state and local governments.
What is the right to an attorney?
Because the Fifth Amendment's Grand Jury Clause has not been incorporated against the states, many states use this process, where a judge - rather than a grand jury - reviews the evidence and decides whether to charge a suspect with a serious crime.
What is a preliminary hearing?
A suspect accused of several interstate bank robberies would be tried in this court.
What is a U.S. District Court?
What are the four rights in the Fifth Amendment we've studied so far? (We have not yet discussed the Takings Clause/eminent domain)
1.) Right to a grand jury, 2.) protection against self-incrimination ("right to remain silent"). 3.) protection against double jeopardy, 4.) guarantee of due process
This is the number of U.S. states in which capital punishment is a legal penalty (including those states that have a moratorium, or hold, on executions).
(Answer can be +/- 2)
What is 27?
Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) applied this Sixth Amendment protection to state and local governments.
What is the right to a jury trial (in serious cases)?