Criminal Procedures

1. Identify several sources of rights.

Several sources of right are court decisions, statues, and state constitutions.

2. What is the incorporation controversy? What are the leading perspectives describing it?

The Fourteenth Amendment stating “nor shall any state deprive an person of life, liberty

or property, without due process of law,” has made certain protections specified in the

Bill of Rights applicable to the states. This is known as incorporation.

3. What rights have been incorporated? What rights have not?

There are four leading views on the incorporation debate. The total incorporation

perspective holds that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause incorporates the

entire Bill or Rights that all protections specified should be binding on the states. The

selective incorporation favors incorporation of certain protections, not all of them. The

third, total incorporation plus, holds the view that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due

process clause incorporates the whole Bill of Rights as well as additional rights not

specified in the Constitution. Finally the case-by-case incorporation deserves

consideration, that is, no rights should be incorporated across the board.

4. In what ways can theory differ from reality?

We are taught that the courts and the Supreme Courts, in particular, are charged with interpreting the Constitution and the laws of the Unites States. We are further taught that the law enforcement should accept such interpertations uncritically and without hesitation. Theory and reality differ for at least four reasons, the Supreme Court sometimes makes decisions on excruciantingly detailed matters that have almost no appliciablility to most law enforcement officers most of the time. The 5. Compare and contrast the due process and from control perspectives. 6. Explain the federal court structure. 7. How does a case arrive at the U.S. Supreme Court? 8. Distinguish between a bright-line decision and case-by-case adjudication. 9. How are the terms subjective and objective used in criminal procedure? 10. In what ways have recent Supreme Court decisions shown increased faith in the police? 11. What is judicial restraint? How does it compare to judicial activism?
Judicial restraint is a theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. 12. Is privacy a right? If not, why is it so important in many Supreme Court opinions? 13. What happens, briefly, during the pretrial phase? 14. What happens, briefly, during the adjudication phase? 15. What happens, briefly, beyond conviction?