TERMS
The legal term for coercion that forces someone to act against their will.
What is Entrapment?
A group of citizens that hold hearings to determine if enough probable cause exists to bind a person over to trial.
What is the Grand Jury?
When a defendant agrees to a lesser crime or less punishment, insuring a quick result and not clogging up the court system.
What is plea bargaining, and why is it used in the criminal justice system?
When the person testifying has no special training of knowledge over an area but is needed to prove some facts of the case.
What is a lay witness?
Case involving defendant Dollree Mapp and ruled that evidence obtained illegally by state agents cannot be used against the defendant and officially applied the Exclusionary Rule to states.
What was result of Mapp v Ohio?
The first first 10 Amendments of Constitution
What is the Bill of Rights
To examine laws passed by Congress and declare them unconstitutional if they violate the Constitution, effectively nullifying those laws and preventing them from being enforced.
How does judicial review affect laws passed by Congress?
When the defendant hears the formal charges them and is informed of all the rights the courts affords them, and they must enter a plea.
What is the arraignment hearing?
This is generally not admissible in court because it is secondhand evidence that is being used to prove a fact(s) around the case.
What is hearsay?
When Ernesto Miranda was convicted, this case stated that there are certain rights was have as citizens and police need to make suspects aware of these 5th and 6th Amendment rights.
Miranda v Arizona and What are the Miranda Rights?
The Part of Law that defines the crime and specifies punishment.
What is Substantive Law?
Two-sided structure if the American legal system that pits the prosecution against the defense. It resolves disputes by presenting conflicting views of fact and law to an impartial and relatively passive arbiter, who decides which side wins what.
What is the adversarial system used in the U.S. court system?
When the prosecution must turn over all the evidence it has obtained to indict the defense.
What is discovery?
When evidence from the crime is collected and formally recorded for the purpose of containment, handling procedure, and keeping account of who handled the evidence.
What is the significance of the chain of custody?
This case impacted the sentencing of minors in a very profound way and stated juveniles cannot be executed for their crimes.
What is Roper v. Simmons
Part of the Constitution that guarantees all citizens have the right to procedural rights and fairness found in the 5th, and 14th Amendments
What is Due Process?
A proceeding before a judicial officer in which three matters must be decided; if a crime was committed, if it occurred in the courts jurisdiction, if reasonable grounds exist to believe this suspect committed the crime.
What is a preliminary hearing?
Granted by the Grand Jury when they find probable cause does exist, a.k.a as a "true bill"
What is an indictment?
Small but measurable amounts of physical or biological evidence found at a crime scene that is hard to see with naked eye and cane be used to help convict a criminal.
What is trace evidence, and how is it used in criminal investigations?
This case cancelled many executions across the county stating that the death penalty was unconstitutional in how it was delivered.
What was Furman v. Georgia
A plea of no contest, not saying you did the crime, but you will accept the punishment.
What is "nolo contendere"?
When the jury cannot return a verdict at all and defendant goes free or free to be retried by the state.
What is the significance of a Hung Jury.
Legal term used in the criminal justice system to describe when a prosecutor or plaintiff decides to drop a case or lawsuit.
What is nolle prosequi?
Evidence that directly links the suspect to the crime verse evidence that would only "lead" someone to believe is likely that the suspect committed the crime.
What is the difference between direct evidence and circumstantial evidence?
This case established a police procedure that allows police to pat the outer clothing of a suspect for a weapon. "The Terry Stop"
What is Terry v. Ohio?