Principles and Procedures of the Justice System Spring 2009 Week 1

American Criminal Justice System Operated by and through government –police –courts –corrections –all government agencies

Criminal Justice System Substantive Criminal Law Criminal Procedure

Criminal Law v. Criminal Procedure* Criminal Law: –Murder –Burglary –Arson –Drug Offenses –Etc. Criminal Procedure –Investigative rules, I.e search and seizure –Questioning –Court Process

Introduction—Basic Concepts Court System and Judicial Branch Case Law Federalism Separation of Powers Civil Law vs. Criminal Law

U.S. Courts*

CALIFORNIA COURT SYSTEM ( California Supreme Court 7 Justices Primarily Court of Appellate Jurisdiction California Court of Appeals Six Districts Primarily Court of Appellate Jurisdiction (appeals and writs of mandate) Trial Courts Superior Courts—General Jurisdiction (One for each county) Trial Courts Superior Court—Limited Jurisdiction

Sources of Criminal Laws* FEDERAL –U.S. Constitution –Federal Cases –United States Codes –Administrative Regs STATE –State Constitution –State Case Law –State Codes –U.S. Constitution and cases interpreting it –Administrative Regs –Ordinances –Initiative

Common Law/Case Law* Common Law--Originally old English court decisisions Precedent--Stare Decisis “No common law crimes” today

Case Law--Today* Published decisions from appellate courts related to actual cases that have been tried and have been appealed Stare Decicis (Precedent)--Once a factual dispute and legal question have been decided, similar cases must be decided in the same way

Statutory Law (Codes) U.S. Codes: Laws enacted by U.S. Congress and signed by President California Codes: Laws enacted by state legislature or by voter initiative

Case Law CALIFORNIA CASE LAW –California ReportsCal. Or C. –Calif. Appellate Rep.Cal.App. –California ReporterCal. Rptr CITATION –People v. House (1970) 12 Cal.App.3d 756

WRITE THE CITATION TO AN OPINION OF THE CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT ISSUED IN 1969, IN A PROSECUTION AGAINST A DEFENDANT NAMED “BRADLEY, BEGINNING ON PAGE 80 OF VOLUME 1 OF THE THIRD SERIES OF CALIFORNIA REPORTS

People v. Bradley (1969) 1 Cal.3d 80

United States Supreme Court Case Law U.S. United States Reports S.Ct.Supreme Court Reporter L.Ed.Lawyers Edition Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799 (1963)

Reading Cases Note the deciding court Note the year Pay attention to subject headings What was the nature of the dispute? (the “facts”) How did the court resolve the dispute? (the holding) Why did the court resolve the dispute the way it did? (the rationale)

Federalism As Americans we are subject to rule of two separate governments: –State and –Federal Each government operates a criminal justice system

Federal Criminal Justice System Federal Crimes examples Federal police Federal Courts Federal prisons

State Criminal Justice system Unity of State and Local Governments –I.e. Drunk driving case Police: city, county, state Courts: state and county Corrections: County and state