Criminal LawRESOLUTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND SOCIETY.

Criminal Justice System

Who is involved in the criminal justice system?

Police Lawyers Judges State Courts Federal Courts Prison systems

Types of Crimes

Petty Offenses

Crimes – speeding, littering, or disturbing the peace.

Punishment – Citation, but could lead to a greater charge if the fine is not paid.

Types of Crimes

Misdemeanors

Crimes – vandalism, simple assault, petty theft, or writing bad checks.

Punishment – heavier fine or little jail time (usually for one year or less).

Felonies

Crimes – burglary, rape, kidnapping, arson, forgery, manslaughter, or murder.

Punishment – jail time, loss of some civil rights, possible loss of employment, and in some cases, death.

Criminal Trial Procedure

Police investigation Police arrest Prosecution

charges the defendant (bail may be granted).

A preliminary hearing or grand jury will be held to determine if there is enough evidence to make a case.

A plea bargain may be reached at this point.

An arraignment is when a judge reads the defendant the formal charges against them. The defendant will state guilty, not guilty, insanity, or no contest.

The trial. The decision. The sentence.

BAIL : usually 10% of the bail amount set unless:

The judge thinks he's a danger to the community

There's a chance he might flee to avoid trial

He's charged with a serious or violent crime

He's charged with a crime punishable by life in prison or death

He's charged with certain drug related crimes and faces more than 10 years in prison if found guilty

There's reason to believe the accused might attempt to obstruct justice (hide or destroy evidence, for instance), or tamper with witnesses

He's a repeat felony offender

Criminal Punishments

Fines Fines are often assessed in

addition to other types of sentencing or for petty offenses.

Individual states determine what fines are consistent with what crimes.

Criminal Punishment

Community Service The defendant is required to

perform a specified amount of public works.

This could include collecting trash in the park, working with kid groups, or something that is related to the crime that was committed.

Often, community service is a condition of probation.

Criminal Punishment

Restitution and Victim Compensation

In these cases, the defendant is required to pay the victim in the crime for their monetary losses.

Criminal Punishment

Split Sentences or Shock Probation

The defendant serves a brief period of time in jail to “shock” them to the realities of criminal behavior.

This is often followed by probation or weekend confinements.

This is often done with younger people convicted of less violent offenses.

Criminal Punishment

Probation The defendant is sentenced to

community supervision by a court appointed agency.

The punishment requires the defendant to follow strict rules of conduct in society.

If the rules are broken, the defendant may be incarcerated.

This is the most widely used form of correction today.

Criminal Punishment

Incarceration In the case of felony

crimes, confinement is almost a certainty.

Confinement can be in a prison cell or the ankle monitor.

There are 4,200 federal, state, and local prisons in the U.S. today.

Criminal Punishment

Death Penalty The most controversial form of

criminal punishment, this sentence is only given to the most heinous of criminals.

Opponents of the death penalty state that taking a life for a life is not humane and is outlawed in the 8th amendment as cruel and unusual.

Supporters of the death penalty state that the crimes that the defendant committed were beyond human behavior and that there is no point of keeping a person in prison for the remainder of their lives.

Deaths by States from 1976-2005

Types of Executions

Four states still allow hanging, but it has to be requested by the condemned.

Three states allow for death by execution, but it also has to be requested.

Four states have the gas chamber in which the accused is enclosed in a room and cyanide gas is released.

Since 1976, the vast majority of death-penalty executions in the United States have been by lethal injections. But four states still use, or could use, gas chambers as a method of capital punishment: Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming

As of 2014, the only places in the world which still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. (Arkansas and Oklahoma laws provide for its use should lethal injection ever be held to be unconstitutional

Other Types of Executions

Five states still institute the electric chair as a means of execution.

The most popular form of execution is lethal injection, in which the accused has several drugs injected into them forcing the heart to stop beating.

Last Execution in PA Pennsylvania uses lethal injection

to kill prisoners convicted of a capital crime.

Three people have been executed in PA since 1976.

The last person to be executed was in 1999.

Gary Heidnik

Death penalty around the world

Country Total executed, 2007-12 Total sentenced to death, 2007-12

CHINA THOUSANDS THOUSANDS

IRAN 1,663 156

SAUDI ARABIA 423 54

IRAQ 256 1,420

UNITED STATES 220 504

PAKISTAN 171 1,497

YEMEN 152 109

KOREA (NORTH) 105 0

VIETNAM 58 258

LIBYA 39