Government Chapter 4 Vocab
Terms
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- unreasonable search and seizure
- obtaining evidence in a haphazard or random manner. Probable cause and a search warrant required for a legal search and seizure
- probable cause
- when police have reason to believe that a person should be arrested - police are allowed to legally search for and seize incriminating evidence
- Miranda v. Arizona
- 1966 Supreme Court decision that set guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right to counsel
- texas v. Johnson
- 1980 case - Supreme Court struck down a law banning burning American flags because the action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment
- free exercise clause
- the first amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion
- Gideon V. wainwright
- 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he/she may be, has a right to a lawyer
- prior restraint
- a government preventing material from being published - in other words, censorship
- Mapp v. Ohio
- 1961 Supreme Court decision ruling - 4th amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as the federal government
- miller v. california
- 1973 Supreme Court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene - appealing to "prurient interest" etc
- libel
- publication of false or malicious statements that damage a person's reputation
- Roe v. Wade
- 1973 Supreme court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. Forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester.
- Sixth Amendment
- Amendment designed to protect individuals accused of crimes - includes right to counsel, right to confront witnesses, right to a speedy/public trial
- search warrant
- written authorization from a court specifying an area to be searched and what the police are searching for
- Lemon v. Kurtzman
- 1971 Supreme Court decision that established that aid to church related schools must have 1) a secular legislative purpose 2) a primary affect that neither advances or inhibits religion 3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion
- establishment clause
- part of the first amendment stating that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"
- incorporation doctrine
- most of the Bill of Rights' provisions are applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment
- Cruel and Unusual Punishment
- COurt sentences prohibited by the 8th amendment - courts don't consider the death penalty itself as constituting cruel and unusual punishment
- Fifth amendment
- amendment that protects the rights of the persons accused of crimes, including protection against double jeopardy, self incrimination, punishment without due process of law
- eight amendment
- amendment that forbids cruel and unusual punishment
- Symbolic speech
- nonverbal communication such as burning flags or wearing an armband. Protected under the first amendment
- fourteenth amendment
- amendment that says no state can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of Law and Equal protection of the laws to all citizens of the U.S.
- bill of rights
- the first ten amendments to the Constitution - defines the basic liberties as freedom of religion, speech and press and guarantees defendant's rights
- self-incrimination
- when one accused of a crime is compelled to be a witness against himself/herself in court
- first amendment
- the constitutional amendment that established the four great liberties: speech, press, religion, assembly
- right to privacy
- the right to a private personal life free from the intrusion of government
- plea bargaining
- bargain struck between defendant's lawyer and prosecutor so defendant pleads guilty to a lesser crime and state promises not to prosecute the defendant for a more serious crime
- Roth v. United States
- 1957 Supreme Court decision ruling that "obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press"
- civil liberties
- the legal constitutional protections AGAINST government, formally set down in the Bill of Rights
- commercial speech
- communication in the form of advertising
- exclusionary rule
- rule that evidence no matter how incriminating cannot be introduced into a trial if not constitutionally obtained