Police misconduct
Case study - 4 pages - Criminal law
Police misconduct can be described as a violation, by a police officer, of a legal, ethical, or moral code while on duty. Police misconduct can still occur while off-duty so long as the officer uses, in some way, their status as a police officer to break these legal, ethical, or moral codes....
Racial disparities in policing
Case study - 3 pages - Criminal law
Both institutional and cultural characteristics combine to contribute to racial disparities in policing, but it is my opinion that the institution is the stronger of the two influences. The structure of the institution promotes certain tactics, philosophies, and standard operating procedures that...
The Patriot Act: Why it's Constitutional as well as vital to American Freedom
Essay - 13 pages - Criminal law
The Patriot Act is often thought to be a breach of civil liberties but in reality it is just an extension of laws that already exist. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that are already available in the investigations of counter terrorism within the world of organized crime and...
Criminal Law
Thesis - 22 pages - Criminal law
What is an actus reus? An actus reus is more than just an act. It includes whatever circumstances and consequences that are required for liability for the offense in question which means that an actus reus is composed by all the elements of an offense other than the mental element. Some crimes,...
Split Brain: 'Puccetti Defense'
Case study - 4 pages - Criminal law
Sitting uncomfortably in the court room next to your public defender, you look around the audience to see who has come to support you in this unique case. Seth Shabo is quietly sitting in the second row, staring straight into the center of the courtroom, and Tyler Doggett can be seen in the...
Is the adversarial system of criminal procedure more or less effective than an inquisitorial system in finding out the truth about an alleged offence? Advantages and disadvantages of adversarial and inquisitorial criminal procedure - published: 29/09/2010
Essay - 7 pages - Criminal law
As early as 1866, Faustin Helie, a French judge and legal author, underlined the idea of a necessary equilibrium between the interests of the society (which needs to be protected from infringements) and the interests of the accused persons (whose rights must be totally guaranteed) in the criminal...
Criminal law: recklessness and negligence
Essay - 4 pages - Criminal law
Subject: “Risk takers” present problems for the courts. Critically discuss this statement with reference to the courts' management of defendants who claim “I did not think”, “I did foresee a risk and took it but I intended no harm”, “Awareness of a risk of harm...
Commonwealth v. Berkowitz 641 A.2d 1161 (1994)
Thesis - 3 pages - Criminal law
In the afternoon of April 19th, 1988, Robert Berkowitz was relaxing in his dorm room at East Stroudsburg State University in Pennsylvania. The victim, who will remain nameless, had been preparing for a day with her boyfriend. She drank a martini to pass the time, and walked to him dorm room in...
Current criminal justice
Thesis - 4 pages - Criminal law
The United States has been plagued with the issue of marijuana use for quite some time. The current policy set in place requires the use of many resources to deal with such a minor defiance. As of now, courts are backlogged because of the high number of arrests for minor offenses. Many are...
People v. Kimball 311 N.W. 2d 343 (1981)
Thesis - 2 pages - Criminal law
This trial is about defendant James Kimball, a Sutton Bay, Michigan resident. He was charged with attempted unarmed robbery and sentenced to a 3 to 5 year term he appealed by leave, which was awarded. The case relates to an argument held at a local party store on May 21st, 1979. Kimball met up...
State v. Ulvinen 313 N.W.2d 425 (Minn. 1981)
Thesis - 2 pages - Criminal law
Helen Ulvinen is the defendant in this case. She is the mother of David Hoffman, who killed his wife Carol. On the night of August 10th, to the morning of August 11th, David Hoffman choked his wife to death. There had been issues with Carol and Helen, and David had made references to his mother...
The problem of modern piracy in international relations
Thesis - 2 pages - Criminal law
According to me, another major issue is that the UNCLOS treats only the cases of violence, detention or depredation committed on the high seas (e.g. outside the jurisdiction of any country). However, if people commit the same acts in the waters under the jurisdiction of a country, these actions...
Consent to bodily harm and criminal law
Thesis - 5 pages - Criminal law
In R v Barnes [2005] 1 WLR Lord Woolf CJ considered the decision of the House of Lords in R v Brown [1994] AC 212 and the Court of Appeal in R v Dica [2004] QB 1257 and decided that it is clear that the rule and the exceptions to the rule that a person cannot consent to his being caused actual...
Juvenile justice
Thesis - 3 pages - Criminal law
The juvenile justice system is different from the criminal justice system. Talking to a parent with a child who has broken the law means addressing the parent's concerns, discussing options specific to the case, and giving appropriate legal advice. The juvenile justice system, while bearing...
Plessy v. Ferguson: Utilizing the technique of shepardizing to see relationships among cases
Case study - 6 pages - Criminal law
In 1890, the Louisiana State legislature passed Act 111, also known as the Separate Car Act. This required white and African American people to be given “separate but equal” accommodations on railway trains. It required that: “All railway companies carrying passengers in their...
Drug related offenses - publié le 08/05/2009
Thesis - 14 pages - Criminal law
In modern societies it is easy to recognize that consuming drugs is an every day reality. It is not only taking heroin or marijuana, but also smoking, taking painkillers, having a coffee, a tea or excessive intake of alcohol on Saturday as a required “Saturday night” obligation. The...
Hair and fiber evidence
Thesis - 4 pages - Criminal law
Most trace evidence found at a crime undergoes forensic analysis for two main purposes: identification and comparison. Often tiny strange particles are found, and testing for identification purposes establishes exactly what the material is. Obviously, this is a vital step in determining if...
Brown v Mississippi
Case study - 8 pages - Criminal law
Friday March 30th, 1934. A sixty-year old White planter from the Giles community in Mississippi, Raymond Stewart, was found mutilated at approximately 1 o'clock that day, in his house. The police had discovered his body, and requested a physician come. The wounds, large gashes that looked...
Violence against women
Thesis - 5 pages - Criminal law
Despite the fact that women are much more likely to be killed then to kill, women charged with the murder of their violent male partners are further victimized by a legal system that has been constructed, interpreted and implemented to fit men's experience and homicidal responses. Current...
The defense of provocation: The implications of the House of Lords' decision in Morgan Smith [2000] 3 WLR 654
Case study - 5 pages - Criminal law
The defense of provocation is a partial defense, pertinent only to murder. If successfully pleaded, liability is reduced to manslaughter. For the defense to succeed there are three requirements: (i) There must have been some act(s) or word(s) of provocation (ii) The defendant must have lost his...
Justice depends on the identification of the individuals with their community - publié le 13/01/2009
Thesis - 5 pages - Criminal law
Seyla Benhabib in The Claims of Culture reported the case of a young Laotian American woman abducted from her work at Fresno State University and then raped. Her assailant, a Hmong/Laotian immigrant, argued that among his tribe this behaviour is the customary way to choose a bride. He uses...
Law of war crimes: command responsibility and the Yamashita precedent - publié le 12/01/2009
Essay - 5 pages - Criminal law
In an interesting article from the Legal Times untitled ‘From the top on down'1, two American military judges, namely J.D. Hutson and J. Cullen, lay emphasis on the need to hold Secretary of Defence D. Rumsfeld accountable for abuses on his watch mostly directed at Afghans and Iraqis....
Are sex offenders rehabilitative and should the government impose the death penalty on them?
Essay - 7 pages - Criminal law
Recent, emerging academic debate has polarised opinion as to whether rehabilitation programs geared towards the treatment of sex offenders are in fact successful in reducing “sexual recidivism” (Marques 1999). Resolving this debate is a difficult task due to the inherent limitations of...
Criminal Law problem question
Essay - 9 pages - Criminal law
This document provides an analysis in answer to a criminal law problem question relating to the law of murder and manslaughter. The problem is set out as follows: Alan and Betty are contestants in the Big Sister game show. They do not get on and Alan feels that Betty is two faced. Betty has put...
Tearing the tag off the mattress :Why over-criminalization is an escalating epidemic
Essay - 6 pages - Criminal law
Many law scholars and experts in the area of law and society can argue and disagree on many different issues. However, many can also agree on one thing and that is that the justice system suffers because of over criminalization. With outdated offenses, too many laws, and new crimes appearing,...
How should we punish offenders?
Essay - 9 pages - Criminal law
Criminological debate has propounded polarised theorem as to the most efficacious method to punish offenders within the criminal justice system. Whilst academics agree on the concept of “punishment” as a necessary means they “disagree on the underlying reason that makes punishment...
Nature of aggression and the law
Essay - 6 pages - Criminal law
The nature of aggression has always been troublesome to settle as a legal concept, especially as it is “intertwined with political elements” . The concept of aggression as a criminal offence was fuelled by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in the wake of the Second World...
Applied criminology - How are we best to describe the actions of a serial killer?
Essay - 4 pages - Criminal law
The definition of “serial killing” has proved problematic within the confines of narrow legal definitions of murder. Moreover, serial killing adopts multifarious forms brought on by many different states of mind (D, Wilson. 2001). Holmes attempted to define serial murder as consisting...
Criminal law - prison industrial complex - too complex? Criminal law - prison industrial complex - too complex? Criminal law - prison industrial complex - too complex?
Essay - 8 pages - Criminal law
A third party has entered the scene of the U.S. prison system: the private sector. A handful of for-profit Wall Street corporations are currently making millions of dollars from what some critics call “dungeons for dollars.” Such corporations claim they can build and run prisons more...
A descriptive study on the people's opinions towards the legalization of death penalty
Essay - 4 pages - Criminal law
The study explores the opinions of people residing in a particular community towards death penalty. The information will be gathered through self-administered test questionnaires and focus group discussions. Moreover, the test will also take into account the factors that affect the perceptions of...
