Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Start with the statute. New Jersey's Criminal Code (Title 2C) supplies the elements of each offense and the mental states in 2C:2-2: purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently. A charge fails if you cannot articulate each element plus the required mental state; strict-liability offenses are the exception. Also know attempt, conspiracy, accomplice liability, and the defenses most often tested (self-defense and use of force, entrapment, insanity).
Search and seizure questions should be worked in a fixed order. (1) Was there state action and a reasonable expectation of privacy? (2) Was a warrant obtained? (3) If not, which exception applies - consent, search incident to arrest, exigency, plain view, automobile, inventory, Terry stop and frisk, or special needs? Then check whether the officer stayed within the scope of that exception. New Jersey's Constitution (Art. I, ¶7) sometimes reaches further than the Fourth Amendment; New Jersey does not recognize a broad good-faith exception to cure a defective warrant (Novembrino).
Custody plus interrogation triggers Miranda; custody alone does not. New Jersey court rules require electronic recording of custodial interrogations in specified circumstances - an unrecorded stationhouse confession is a red flag in any scenario. Eyewitness identification procedures should be documented and conducted with safeguards (blind or blinded administration, careful instructions) consistent with the Henderson line of cases. Pretrial release under the Criminal Justice Reform Act means risk-based release decisions and prosecutor-driven detention motions, not a traditional bail schedule.
Traps: confusing reasonable suspicion with probable cause; assuming a frisk is automatic whenever a stop occurs (a frisk requires reasonable suspicion the person is armed); assuming consent cannot be limited or withdrawn.
Rule of thumb: state action, privacy, warrant, exception, scope - in that sequence, every time.