Criminal Law and Procedure
Criminal Law and Procedure
This domain tests the elements of offenses, the constitutional rules governing police conduct, and the procedural stages from arrest through appeal and collateral attack.
Elements and mental states
Crimes require actus reus and mens rea. The Model Penal Code levels are purposely, knowingly, recklessly, and negligently; where a statute is silent, the MPC default is recklessness. Specific-intent crimes require intent to achieve the prohibited result; general-intent crimes require only intent to act. Defenses include self-defense, duress, entrapment, insanity (M'Naghten, the MPC/ALI test, and Durham in a few jurisdictions), and infancy.
Constitutional rules
The Fourth Amendment governs searches and seizures. Arrests require probable cause; warrant exceptions include consent, search incident to arrest, the automobile exception, plain view, exigency, and inventory. Terry stops require reasonable suspicion. The exclusionary rule suppresses evidence, subject to good faith, inevitable discovery, and attenuation. Miranda warnings are required for custodial interrogation. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at formal proceedings, and it carries speedy trial, jury, and confrontation rights. The Fifth Amendment bars double jeopardy.
Stages
Arrest, booking, initial appearance, bail (the Eighth Amendment bars excessive bail), preliminary hearing or grand jury, arraignment, discovery, plea (Boykin colloquy), trial, sentencing, appeal, and habeas corpus.
Worked example
Officers receive an anonymous tip that a man matching a description is selling drugs on a corner. They watch him put a small bag in his pocket and walk away when they approach. Briefly detaining him is a Terry stop supported by reasonable suspicion - the tip, the observed hand movement, and the flight together supply it. A full search of his person, however, requires an arrest on probable cause or a recognized exception.
Traps
- Believing Miranda applies to all questioning rather than custodial interrogation.
- Assuming the exclusionary rule applies in grand jury or civil proceedings.
- Confusing arrest with the point at which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches.
- Treating an anonymous tip alone as reasonable suspicion.