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*

U .S . D is tric t C ou rtsTria l C ou rt

(C a lif. h as 4 d is tric ts )

S p ec ia l Tria l C ou rtsC la im s C ou rts

Tax C ou rt

U .S . C ou rts o f A p p ea l1 2 g eog rap h ica l c ircu its

1 g en era l cou rtcou rts o f ap p e lla te ju risd ic t ion

U .S . S u p rem e C ou rt9 Ju s tices

P rim arily C ou rt o f A p p e lla te Ju risd ic t ion

CALIFORNIA COURT SYSTEM

(www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/California Supreme Court

7 JusticesPrimarily Court of Appellate Jurisdiction

California Court of Appeals Six Districts

Primarily Court of Appellate Jurisdiction(appeals and writs of mandate)

Trial CourtsSuperior Courts—General Jurisdiction

(One for each county)

Trial CourtsSuperior 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 Reports Cal. Or C.– Calif. Appellate Rep. Cal.App.– California Reporter Cal. 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