cj exam 3
Terms
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administrative context of sentencing
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- organizational constraint
- community values
- Appellate Court of Last Resort (supreme court, supreme court of appeals, court of appeals)
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can choose which cases will be heard
- BOND
- same as bail, except money is being put up by a licensed agency (like a loan) for a collateral and a promise to return to court
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charging (prosecutors)
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- asses arrests
- determine if the state would persue the case or not
- wide discretion= single/multiple charges ect.
- Courts of General Jurisdiction
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=try and decide on all cases, civil and criminal
• mostly serious offenses (felonies)
• appeals from lower courts
• judges and lawyers
- Courts of Limited Jurisdiction
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• =inferior or lower courts
• =conduct summary trials (without a jury) on minor offenses; misdemeanors (e.g. traffic violations,   - determinate sentencing
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- time to serve is fixed
- after specified time, has to be released even without review by parole board
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Deterrence (utilitarianism)
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- forward looking (jeremy bentham
- all suffering is evil
- punishment is suffering and evil
- modify behavior of criminal
- Disposition
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a) Plea Bargaining
* practiced in 80-90% of cases not rejected by prosecutorsb) dismissal  
- District Courts
- comparable to the general trial courts *violations of regulatory codes (made by
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enforcing law (prosecutors)
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- vigorously bring the states case against the accused
- obligated to sort out evidence of guilt
- justice to be done- not who would win case
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evidential considerations
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- does it warrant court time
- will case hold up with judge
- finding elements of the crime
- Federal courts
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-violate laws of the national government.
• violation of U.S. criminal code
- federal judges- selection
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- appointed by the president of teh US and confirmed by the senate
- was originally for supreme court justices
- applied to the rest of federal judges in judiciary act of 1789
- positions for life
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good time
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time taken off of sentence for good behavior
- IMPT
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sufficiency of evidence or admissability of evidence
can reverse jury decisions
- incapacitation
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- holding a person in jai/prison to prevent him or her from commiting other crimes
- ultimate incapaciation: death penalty
- problems: can only have so many people in jail, and can only hold people for so long
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indeterminate sentencing
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- min/max set
- discreion by correction officials to release between these time periods
- parole board hearing every 1-3 years after min is set
- common until the 1980s
- inprisonment/incaceration
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- used in approx 30% of convictions
- the only punishment we use for severe offenses
- Intermediate Appellate Courts (appellate court; superior courts)
- helps alleviate the burden of cases for the court of last resort
- judges
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- important actors in court
- decides on evidentary matters
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judges- at trial
- neutral- neither for or against a particular position or issue
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judges- other duties
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- negotiations (procedings/guilty pleas)
- administrators: especially in rural areas
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judges-before trial
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- issue warrant
- release decisions
- final decision makers in plea bargaining
- Jurisdiction of courts
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*depends on the geography, subject matter, hierarchy
*geography: by geographic boundary (countries, boroughs, city); can decide cases that cross boundries
*subject matter: pertain to specific cases:
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just desserts (retribution)
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- blameworthiness of conduct: deservedness of punishment
- blameworthiness of conduct: deservedness of punishment
- mandatory minimum sentencing
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- raises min sentence to be served
- usually harsher for drug related, or weapon related crimes
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merit selection (missouri plan)
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- adresses criticism of elected ane appointed procedures
- combination of elected and appointed procedure
- gubernatorial appointment from list
- serve one or more years until the next election where apointee must be confirmed by t
- Motions (application to the court to bring about an order for a specific action)
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*motion to suppress evidence
*motion to dismiss*motion for pretrial discovery
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Nolle Prosequi
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- "refusing to prosecute"
- not to press a charge as a whole, or as to one or more counts, or as to one or more defendants.
- tremendous discretion
- powers can leade to abuse
- powers challenged but UPHELD i
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organizational considerations
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- regulate caseloads based on capacity of the courts
- provide checks and balances to police power
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plea bargaining
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- pleading guilty in exchange for some type of concession (usually lesser penalty)
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positive school
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- individuals are not free: products of society, biology, and economic conditions
- conditions have to be adressed to reform individuals
- use of indeterminate sentenceing
- pragmatic considerations
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- what is political environment
- enough resources to prosecute?
- use of diversion program
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presentence report
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- done by probation
- background of defendants
- give judges better sense of what ehy defendant may need
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presumpitve sentencing
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- range defined by sentencing guidelines for each crime
- often by a sentencing commission
- judges can override
- can be adjusted by legislature to even out disparities
- range defined by sentencing guidelines for each crime
- Pretrial Detention (Remand)
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*does not violate due process and excessive bail : protects the community from danger
*issues: -not allow free time to prepare for case
- Pretrial Process
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before trial, start after charging, at the initial appearance
=happens in the lower courts (courts of limited jurisdiction)
=Pressure to move cases as quickly as possible - probation
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- estimated 65% of adults in correctional institutions are on some type of probation
- part of the rehabilitative ideal
- tied to incarceration
- profile of judges
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- overwhelminly white and male
- avg 53 yrs old
- half of them had own legal practices (often prosecuting attorneys)
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proportionality (retribution)
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- punish only so long as the punishment is proportional to the harm inflicted by offender
- no more, no less than deserved
- prosecutors
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- more real power/discretion than judges
- interact with most of the other actors in thecj process
- rehabilitation
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- criminals considered "sick"
- need social intervention
- conviction allows opportunity for community to get involved
- represent gov in matters of law (prosecutors)
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- enforcement of state penal codes
- assesses law breaking evidence
- careful examination of the presence of the elements of a crime
- retribution
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- punish offender for harm done
- eye for an eye...
- backward looking- look at crime and have person pay for it
- ROR (Release on Recognizance)
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started with: Manhattan Bail Project in New York (Vera Institute of Justice)
*no money involved
- sentencing
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- judges responsibilty
- many influences
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sentencing guidelines
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- ofent based on criminal history and severity of offense
- developed due to disparities in sentenceing
- makes senencing more uniform (sex, race, ect)
- State courts
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-criminal/civil matters pertaining to the state
• violations of the state penal codes
- state judges-selection
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- reside in state they work in
- typically age 25-70
- gubernatorial appointment
- merit selection (missouri plan)
- reside in state they work in
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structure: state and county
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- attorney general (prosecutor for state)
- district attorney (for each county)--more specialized in urban areas
- The COURTS
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• adversarial system in the United State
• as opposed to inquisitorial system – not necessarily an assumption of innocence
- truth-in sentencing
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- laws that require offenders to serve as substantial proportion of their prison senence before being released on parole
- many states requre 85% of sentencing to be served or 2/3 of max
- some limite or eliminate good time
- U.S. Court of Appeals (Circuit courts)
- don’t retry cases but look at interpretations of the law and procedural issues
- U.S. Magistrates
- lesser misdemeanors; review civil rights and habeas corpus petitions
- U.S. Supreme Court
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1. general powers (original trial
2. appellate powers * typically questions on the “constitutionality” of lower court decisions, procedures
3. can choose their own cases
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writ of certiorari
- order lower courts to forward up the records so the Supreme Court can review it