Constitutional Rights & Legal Landmarks
This landmark 1963 Supreme Court case established that prosecutors are constitutionally required to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense.
What is Brady v. Maryland?
This legal doctrine grants prosecutors full protection from civil liability and personal lawsuits, even if they knowingly engage in misconduct during judicial proceedings.
What is absolute immunity?
This cognitive phenomenon occurs when investigators focus single-mindedly on one suspect, actively ignoring or suppressing leads that point to other individuals.
What is tunnel vision?
Term for the criminal act of law enforcement officers intentionally altering, planting, or fabricating physical evidence at a crime scene.
What is evidence tampering (or framing)?
Suggestive behavior during an identification procedure, such as an officer asking "Are you sure it isn't number 3?", violates this core lineup standard.
What is double-blind administration?
Established in Giglio v. United States (1972), prosecutors must disclose any information that could impeach a witness's credibility, including these police background records.
What are Giglio files (or police misconduct/disciplinary records)?
Unlike absolute immunity in the courtroom, law enforcement officers carrying out investigative duties receive this conditional protection against civil lawsuits.
What is qualified immunity?
This manipulative interrogation practice, permitted in the U.S. but banned in many other countries, involves officers manufacturing false claims about DNA or non-existent eyewitnesses.
What is police deception (or lying about evidence)?
A Brady violation occurs when prosecutors fail to disclose that a key witness was offered this incentive in exchange for their testimony.
What is a plea deal (or sentence reduction / leniency agreement)?
Relying on unvetted, incentivized individuals held in custody who stand to gain shorter sentences by claiming to have heard a confession is known as using this type of witness.
What is a jailhouse informant (or "snitch")?
This legal rule mandates that any evidence obtained as a direct result of illegal police conduct, unconstitutional searches, or coerced confessions must be excluded from trial.
What is the Exclusionary Rule (or "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" doctrine)?
This psychological mechanism describes how institutional pressure and public scrutiny lead law enforcement personnel to rationalize illegal methods because they believe the outcome is just.
What is noble-cause corruption?
When an officer intentionally makes false statements or omits critical facts in an affidavit to secure an arrest or search warrant, they commit this legal violation.
What is a Franks violation (or perjury in a warrant affidavit)?
The failure of state officials to preserve original notes, physical samples, or digital files that could potentially demonstrate a suspect's innocence is known as bad-faith destruction of this.
What is exculpatory evidence?
This form of misconduct occurs when a prosecutor improperly introduces unadmitted evidence or makes emotional, biased appeals directly to the jury during closing arguments.
What is improper summation (or improper closing argument)?