3. Criminal Law
Learning Objectives
This section examines the fundamental principles of criminal law. It describes the functions of formal criminal law (what criminal law does and what it cannot do), how crimes differ from civil and moral wrongs, and various classification schemes used in discussing criminal law. This section also examines the sources of substantive and procedural criminal law (where we look to find our criminal law), the limitations that the constitution places on both substantive criminal law and procedural criminal law, and the important concept of the rule of law in American jurisprudence (legal theory). After reading this section, students will be able to:
- Identify the differences between a criminal wrong, a civil wrong, and a moral wrong
- Identify the many ways in which criminal law is classified
- Explain the many sources of substantive and procedural criminal law
- Explain the limits the US Constitution and Bill of Rights place on the ability to criminalize conduct
Critical Thinking Questions
- What makes a crime a crime, and how is it different from acts of deviance?
- How do different levels of government (federal, state, and local) respond to criminal acts?
- Who makes criminal laws in the United States?
- What type of defenses might an accused person present in court to mitigate their culpability?
- What are the phases of the criminal justice process, and what happens at each phase?
- What protections are granted to us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
Background Knowledge Probe:
Each chapter will begin by assessing your current knowledge about different criminal justice topics. Each of these topics will be covered by the chapter – meaning that you should be able to answer them correctly after you have completed the reading. All definitions can be seen by clicking on the bolded vocabulary terms in each chapter.
Please drag and drop the correct answer in the blank space provided. This is an ungraded exercise, but you may want to record which questions you answer incorrectly, so that you can verify that your knowledge has improved by the end of the chapter.
