Providing a complete view of U.S. legal principles, this book addresses distinct issues as well as the overlays and connections between them. It presents as a cohesive whole the interrelationships between constitutional principles, statutory criminal laws, procedural law, and common-law evidentiary doctrines. This fully revised and updated new edition also includes discussion questions and hypothetical scenarios to check learning.
Constitutional principles are the foundation upon which substantive criminal law, criminal procedure law, and evidence laws rely. The concepts of due process, legality, specificity, notice, equality, and fairness are intrinsic to these three disciplines, and a firm understanding of their implications is necessary for a thorough comprehension of the topic. This book examines the tensions produced by balancing the ideals of individual liberty embodied in the Constitution against society’s need to enforce criminal laws as a means of achieving social control, order, and safety. Relying on his first-hand experience as a law enforcement official and criminal defense attorney, the author presents issues that highlight the difficulties in applying constitutional principles to specific criminal justice situations. Each chapter of the text contains a realistic problem in the form of a fact pattern that focuses on one or more classic criminal justice issues to which readers can relate. These problems are presented from the points of view of citizens caught up in a police investigation and of police officers attempting to enforce the law within the framework of constitutional protections.
This book is ideal for courses in criminal law and procedure that seek to focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the system.
Section I: Overview
1. Balancing Law Enforcement and Individual Rights
Problem
Questions
Discussion
References
2. Social Control in a Free Society
Constitutional Requirements
Problem
Questions
Applications to White-collar Crime
References
3. A Bill of Rights Summary
First Amendment
Second Amendment
Third Amendment
Fourth Amendment
Fifth Amendment
Sixth Amendment
Seventh Amendment
Eighth Amendment
Ninth Amendment
Tenth Amendment
Rejected Amendment
Problem
Questions
References
Section II: Crime and Due Process Protections
4. Development of Due Process Protections
Fourteenth Amendment
Federalism and the Dual Court System
Applying Due Process to the States
Brown v. Mississippi
Rochin v. California
Selective Incorporation of Federal Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment
Trial by Jury
Unanimous Verdicts
Self-incrimination
Right to Remain Silent and Presumption of Innocence
Problem
Questions
Warren Court Criminal Procedure Decisions
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
References
5. Principles of Criminal Law
Actus Reus
Mens Rea
Causation
Felony Murder
Accomplice Liability
Death of Accomplice
Strict Liability Crimes
Problem
Questions
References
6. Crimes and Punishments
Assault and Self-defense
Self-defense
Homicide
Manslaughter
Justification
Citizen's Arrest
Negative and Affirmative Defenses
Mistake of Fact and Factual Impossibility
Problem
Questions
Death Penalty
Rape
Larceny
Three Strikes
Federal Crimes
Double Jeopardy
Felon in Possession of Firearm Act
Patterson v. New York
Reference
7. The Exclusionary Rule and the Fourth Amendment
Wolf v. Colorado
Mapp v. Ohio
Payton v. New York
How Far Does the Exclusionary Rule Go?
Independent Source Exception
Problem
Questions
References
Section III: Search and Seizure
8. Search Warrants
Oath or Affirmation
Probable Cause and Particularity
Confidential Informants
Challenging the Truthfulness of a Warrant Application
Problem
Questions
Anticipatory Warrants and Controlled Deliveries
Procedures and Statutory Rules
Knock-and-Announce Rules
Administrative Warrants
Special Needs Searches
Border and Airport Searches
Prison, Parole, and Probation Supervision
Schools and Students
References
9. The Law of Arrest
Probable Cause
Arrest Warrants
Elements of an Arrest
Florida v. Royer
Questions Raised by Florida v. Royer
Good Judgment and Discretion
Hearsay
Confidential Informants
Use of Force to Arrest
Problem
Questions
Prosecution
References
10. Searches without Warrants
Plain View
Searches Incidental to a Lawful Arrest: Chimel v. California
Telephone and Computer Files
The Emergency Exception
Hot Pursuits
Exigent Circumstances
Brigham City, Utah v. Stuart
Questions Raised by Brigham City, Utah v. Stuart
Protective Sweeps
Problem
Questions
Open Fields
References
11. A Not So Uncommon Police/Citizen Encounter
Problem
Questions
Discussion
References
12. Stop, Question, and Frisk
Reasonable Suspicion
Time and Place
The Frisk
Use of Force
Problem
Questions
Anonymous Tips
Inquiries on Less than Reasonable Suspicion
Summary
References
13. Consent Searches
Voluntary Consent
Problem
Questions
Third-party Consent
Georgia v. Randolph
Questions raised by Georgia v. Randolph
Good-faith Mistakes
Abandoned Property
California v. Greenwood
Questions Raised by California v. Greenwood
Induced Abandonment
References
14. Search and Seizure of Vehicles and Occupants
Mobility and the Automobile Exception
Lesser Expectation of Privacy
Closed Containers
Occupants
Searches Incidental to Arrest
Stop and Frisk In and Around Automobiles
Traffic Stops
Problem
Questions
Detention of Drivers and Passengers
Traffic Violations as a Pretext to Stop, Frisk, or Search
Roadblocks and Safety Checks
Inventory Searches
Standing to Challenge Searches
Summary
References
Section IV: The Individual as the Subject of Government Investigation
15. The Privilege against Compelled Self-incrimination and Miranda v. Arizona
Confessions
False Confessions
Supervision of Police Interrogation Practices
Problem
Questions
Miranda v. Arizona
16. Refining Miranda
Questions Raised by Miranda
Problem
Questions
Suppressing Confessions to Enforce the Fourth Amendment
Exceptions to Miranda
Public Safety
Traffic Enforcement
Attenuation
Waiver
Diluting the Poisonous-Tree Doctrine
Congressional Attempt to Overrule Miranda
The Court’s Response
Severing a Branch of the Poisonous Tree
References
17. The Right to Counsel
Indirect Questioning
Inevitable Discovery Exception
Problem
Questions
Jailhouse Informants
Offense-specific Variations
Right to Counsel for Factually-related Cases
Interminable Right to Counsel
Exceptions to Miranda, the Right to Counsel, and the Fruits-of-the-Poisonous-Tree Doctrine
Interconnectivity of Rights
Problem
Questions
References
18. Evidence and Due Process
Relevant, Material, and Competent
Too Prejudicial
Circumstantial Evidence
Character Evidence
Credibility
The MIMIC Rule
Presumptions
Problem
Questions
References
19. Identifications and Due Process
Lineups
Show-ups
Point-outs During a Canvas
Photographs
In-court Identifications
Bolstering In-court Testimony with Prior Identifications
Right to Counsel at Lineups
Confirmatory Identifications by Police Officers
Corroboration
Identifications without Eyewitnesses
Self-incrimination by Physical Evidence
Problem
Questions
References
20. The Right of Confrontation
Hearsay
Non-hearsay
Hearsay Exceptions
Dying Declarations
Confessions
Admissions
Excited Utterances and Spontaneous Statements
Prior Inconsistent Statements
Defendant’s Prior Inconsistent Statements
Prior Testimony
Declarations against Interest
Problem
Questions
21. Government Surveillance
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
Strict Requirements
E-mail and Text Messages
Pen Registers and Trap-and-Trace Devices
Tracking a Person’s Movements
X-rays, Metal Detectors, Thermal Imaging, and Video
Dogs
Problem
Questions
References
22. Terrorism and the Patriot Act
Problem
Questions
References
Biography
Walter P. Signorelli is Lecturer and Adjunct Professor of Law and Police Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York (CUNY), USA, and a practicing criminal defense attorney. Signorelli was a member of the New York City Police Department for more than thirty years. He retired as an Inspector in the Detective Division having been the commanding officer of precincts in Brooklyn and Manhattan, in the Organized Crime Control Bureau, and in the Narcotics Division. He is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, cum laude, and the Columbia University Police Management Institute. He is the author of The Crisis of Police Liability Lawsuits: Prevention and Management (2006), The Constable Has Blundered: The Exclusionary Rule, Crime, and Corruption (2010), Rome and America: The Great Republics: What the Fall of the Roman Republic Portends for the United States (2018), and Tiberius Bound (2022).
