Lecture Questions 1
"The Courts and Crime"

1. Explain what the terms "interdependent" and "fragmented" mean in their application to criminal justice.

2. What key public attitudes does he identify in regard to the courts and crime?

3. What key actors does he introduce at this point?

4. Briefly review the steps in the criminal process.

5. Contrast the crime control and due process models.
 

Lecture Questions 2
"Criminal Law"

1. What is Neubauer's definition of law?

2. How did common law develop? What were the key characteristics of its development?

3. Explain the concept of the adversary system.

4. What does "due process" mean?

5. Explain the legal doctrine of "incorporation."

6. How does civil law differ from criminal law?

7. Review the box on the French legal system. What strikes you as being most different?

8. What does "asset forfeiture" mean? How is it most often used?

9. Define "corpus delicti," "actus reus," and "mens rea."

10. How could the criminal and civil verdicts in the O.J. Simpson trials be different?
 

Lecture Questions 3
"Federal Courts"

1. Define the different types of jurisdiction.

2. What do we mean by a "dual court system?"

3. What are the important historical landmarks in the development of the federal courts?

4. What does the workload of the federal district courts consist of? Who are the specialized judicial officers in these courts whose work complements the work of federal judges?

5. What are some types of civil lawsuits that are important to the workload of the federal courts?

6. What are the specialized federal courts?

7. How is the business of federal court administration carried out?

8. Why is the caseload of the federal courts increasing so rapidly? What alternatives have been suggested to deal with the increasing volume of work?
 
 

Lecture Questions 4
"State Courts"

1. What do the states call their trial courts of general jurisdiction?

2. What are the main types of civil cases heard in these courts?

3. Describe the organization of intermediate courts of appeal and supreme courts in the states.

4. What advantages are associated with court unification?

5. Give an example of "therapeutic jurisprudence."

6. What consequences of our system of court organization does Neubauer discuss?

7. Why have drug courts become so popular recently?
 

Lecture Questions 5
"Lower Courts"

1. What does the work of the lower courts consist of?

2. What are the commonly-cited problems of the lower courts?

3. What are the most common names of the lower courts?

4. Why is the role of nonlawyer judges in the lower courts an important issue?

5. What does the term "assembly line" mean in relation to the lower courts?

6. Explain the concept of the lower courts as sentencing institutions.

7. Explain the concepts of alternative dispute resolution and community dispute settlement centers.
 

Lecture Questions 6
"Juvenile Courts"

1. Why were the juvenile courts established?

2. Explain the concept of parens patriae.

3. How do juvenile court procedures differ from those of the adult criminal court?

4. What are the different types of cases by subject matter heard in the juvenile courts?

5. When are juveniles transferred to the adult courts for trial? Is this a good idea?

6. What is the importance of In re Gault? What are the other important cases relating to the legal rights of juveniles in court?

7. Who are the important figures in the courtroom work group of the juvenile court?

8. Briefly outline the steps in processing a juvenile case to court.

9. How do teen courts typically operate?
 

1. What is going on "behind the scenes," in Neubauer's analysis?

2. What does Neubauer think of the argument that excessive caseloads make it difficult to achieve justice?

3. What are some of the factors affecting the exercise of discretion?

4. Who are the key members of the courtroom work group? How do these groups form? Why are they important?

5. Look at Exhibit 5-3 on felony case disposition time. Why does the timetable for case disposition vary so much?

6. What major consequences of delay does Neubauer identify?

7. What are speedy trial laws intended to do? How well do they work?
 

Lecture Questions 8
"Prosecutors"

1. What is the role of the prosecutor? What does the Berger case say?

2. What are the important divisions of the U.S. Justice Department?

3. By what names are the state court prosecutors known? 

4. Describe the operation of a typical prosecutor's office.

5. What are the normal activities of the prosecutor at work?

6. Why do lawyers want to become assistant prosecutors? How do they learn the work?

7. Neubauer discusses Flemming's analysis of the political styles of the prosecutor's office; which of these do you think apply locally?

8. Explain what we mean by the new term "community prosecution."
 

Lecture Questions 9
"Defense Attorneys"

1. What did Gideon v. Wainwright do?

2. When does a criminal defendant have a right to counsel today?

3. Can a defendant represent himself?

4. What skills are important to a defense attorney, especially a public defender?

5. What is the status of criminal lawyers in the legal profession? Why does there tend to be a distinct "criminal bar?"

6. What are the different methods uses by local jurisdictions in providing counsel to indigents?

7. What criticisms are often directed at the role of public defenders?

8. How do public defenders and their criminal clients view each other?
 

Lecture Questions 10
"Judges"

1. Why would someone want to become a judge?

2. We think of judges as presiding over trials. But what does their real work consist of? What does "judge shopping" mean?

3. How should judges interact with other members of the courtroom work group? Look at the box on Judge Raymond Bigelow in New Orleans; what problems did he have with the DA's office?

4. How are judges selected?

5. What is the Missouri Bar Plan?

6. What similarities do we see in the background of the people who become judges?

7. How do judges learn to do the work of a judge?

8. How important are gender bias and racial bias in the selection of judges today?

9. What is judicial independence? What's the point about it being undermined?

10. What does a judicial conduct commission do?
 

Lecture Questions 11
"Defendants and Victims"

1. Give a profile of felony criminal defendants. What is their perspective on the criminal process in which they are caught up? 

2. What hardships do victims and witnesses face in going to court?

3. What problems do people working in the system have with victims and witnesses? Why would the perspective of witnesses or victims differ from that of the officials working in the courts?

4. What is victim compensation all about?

5. Read Exhibit 9-4, the Victims' Rights Amendment, and the box on this amendment on the next page. Why should it be adopted? Why should it not be adopted?

6. What did Payne v. Tennessee do for victim impact?

Lecture Questions 12
"Arrest to Arraignment"

1. What is responsible for the "swelling criminal dockets" of the 1980s and 1990s?

2. What happens at the initial appearance?

3. What are the major ways of bring formal charges against a criminal defendant?

4. What is "Hell's Waiting Room?"

5. What is the purpose of the preliminary hearing? How do jurisdictions differ in the use and form of the preliminary hearing?
6. Explain the role of the grand jury. What is meant by the "shield and sword" phrase?

7. How does the grand jury do its work?

8. Explain the concepts of immunity and contempt.

9. What legal documents are associated with the outcome of grand jury proceedings?

10. What criticisms do people direct at the grand jury?

11. What is the arraignment for?

12. Tell me about the concept of "attrition." How is this related to the prosecutor's nol pros or nolle prosequi authority?

13. Explain Samuel Walker's wedding cake model. Which cases are at the top of the cake?
 

Lecture Questions 13
"Bail"

1. How is bail set? What are the common forms of bail available to defendants?

2. What forces does Neubauer identify as shaping bail in any particular court?

3. What factors are most important in setting bail in individual cases?

4. How much influence does the prosecutor have on bail setting?

5. Explain the business of bail bonding.

6. What part do "bounty hunters" play?

7. Does it make a difference to the defendant whether he stays in jail or is released pre-trial? How so?

8. What options are commonly advocated as a part of "bail reform?"

9. Describe the use of preventive detention. What did U.S. v. Salerno rule?

10. What purposes is bail intended to serve?

Lecture Questions 14
"Discovery"

1. Define discovery. Does the defendant have a right to discovery?

2. Why would prosecutors voluntarily disclose evidence to defense counsel?

3. What is the importance of Brady v. Maryland?

4. Explain the exclusionary rule.

5. Describe the impact of Miranda v. Arizona. Look at Figure 12-2, which outlines interrogation law. What are some of the key rulings post-Miranda?

6. When would the police need a search warrant? How would they go about getting one? When can they search without a warrant?

7. How does a motion to suppress work? What does Neubauer mean by "swearing matches?"

8. What was the key evidence in the murder conviction and later reversal of Shareef Cousin?

9. Do the exclusionary rule and the Miranda warnings seriously handicap the police and prosecutors? What does research indicate? What is good about these standards?
 

Lecture Questions 15
"Plea Bargaining"

1. Define plea bargaining. How common and how important is it in our criminal courts?

2. What are the three basic issues the parties have to bargain about?

3. Is bargaining a "necessary evil" or is it a good practice?

4. Discuss the role of each of the major participants in plea bargaining.

5. What factors influence the prosecutor's bargaining position?

6. When do cases go to trial?

7. What does Neubauer mean by the "jury trial penalty?"

8. Tell me what a nolo contendere plea means.

9. In the courts, what is the importance of the Boykin and Alford cases? Can defendants withdraw guilty pleas?

10. Is plea bargaining a rational or an irrational process? What does research suggest about the benefits of bargaining?

11. When jurisdictions attempt to abolish or limit bargaining, what happens?
 

Lecture Questions 16
"Trials and Juries"

1. How did the jury originate?

2. When does a criminal defendant have a right to a jury trial?

3. Does a criminal jury have to have twelve members? Must their verdict be unanimous?

4. Describe the steps used in assembling potential jurors and selecting a jury for trial. Discuss the important ofvoir dire, peremptory challenges, and challenges for cause.

5. How has jury duty been made more convenient in recent years?

6. What do the attorneys do with their opening statements?

7. What is the prosecution's burden of proof?

8. Define these evidentiary terms:

a. direct evidence

b. circumstantial evidence

c. hearsay

d. best evidence rule

e. immaterial

f. irrelevant

g. impeach

9. What is a bench trial?

10. What are the pros and cons of having the defendant testify?

11. What are some types of affirmative defenses?

12. What are the different standards used in the states for proving insanity?

13. Explain what happens in the closing arguments and jury instructions.

14. What goes on in jury deliberations? Is this a complicated process, or is it mostly cut-and-dried?

15. What does "jury nullification" mean?

16. In our legal system, what are the common methods of dealing with prejudicial pre-trial publicity?

17. Does the law allow television cameras in the courtroom? What are the pros and cons of televising trials?

1. What does each of these mean, as a justification for punishing offenders?

a. retribution

b. incapacitation

c. selective incapacitation

d. deterrence

e. rehabilitation

2. Explain the recent concept of restorative justice.

3. What part do officials in each branch of government--legislative, executive, and judicial--play in criminal sentencing?

4. Discuss when each of the following sentencing options is likely to be used:

a. imprisonment

b. probation

c. intermediate sanctions

d. fines

e. restitution

f. the death penalty

5. What problems are associated with the extensive use of imprisonment in America?

6. Explain the legal history of capital punishment in America over the past 30 years. 

7. Why is there talk of a moratorium on the death penalty today?
 

Lecture Questions 18
"Sentencing"

1. What is the role of the probation officer in criminal sentencing? What is the importance of the pre-sentenced investigation report?

2. How do prosecutors and defense attorneys influence the sentence?

3. Do judges have as much control over sentencing as the public thinks? Explain.

4. Explain the concept of "normal penalties." What factors are important to the court in determining these penalties?

5. Define discrimination as it applies to sentencing. What different forms is discrimination said to take?

6. Contrast disparity with discrimination. What are the sources of disparity in sentencing? 

7. What changes have taken place in recent years to reduce the use of discretion that might lead to discrimination and disparity?

8. In the Shareef Cousin box, why did the jury give him a death sentence instead of life imprisonment?

9. Explain how sentencing guidelines work. What do judges think of these guidelines?

10. Look at Exhibit 16-5, the Minnesota Sentencing Grid. What factors are important in setting the sentencing range?

11. What do mandatory minimum sentencing laws do? Who are they most often applied to?

12. What was the rationale behind the passage of "three strikes and you're out" laws?

13. What does Neubauer mean by "nullification by discretion?"

14. What negative side effects of more punitive sentencing does the author discuss?
 

Lecture Questions 19
"Appeals"

1. In general, what purpose is the appeal intended to serve? How does what you read in the text, in the introductory pages on appellate review, differ from what you might have thought earlier?

2. Briefly outline the steps in the appeal.

3. What is the importance of the briefs?

4. What happens in the oral argument phase?

5. What options are open to the appellate court in disposing of the appeal?

6. Distinguish between reversible error and harmless error.

7. What cases are more likely to be appealed? How often do defendants win on appeal?

8. How is post-conviction review different from appeal?

9. Describe the role that habeas corpus plays in post-conviction review.

10. How has the use of habeas corpus expanded and contracted over the past 30 years? What did the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (1996) do?

11. What does the concept of "new judicial federalism" mean?

12. Discuss the differing perspectives of the Warren Court, the Burger Court, and the Rehnquist Court in regard to the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in shaping criminal justice policy.

13. What finally happened to Shareef Cousin's death sentence on appeal? On what grounds?
 

Lecture Questions 20
"The Future"

1. What does Neubauer mean by "crime as an empty vessel?"

2. What issues does the author suggest as underlying crime as a political issue?

3. Are the courts today really so bad? How does political rhetoric complicate the task of court reform?