1. What are the specific aims and purposes of the criminal law? To what extent does the criminal law control behaviour?<\/p>\n
2. What kinds of activities should be labelled criminal in contemporary society? Why?<\/p>\n
3. What is a criminal act? What is a criminal state of mind? When are individuals liable for their actions?<\/p>\n
4. Discuss the various kinds of crime classifications. To what extent or degree are they distinguishable?<\/p>\n
5. Numerous states are revising their penal codes. Which major categories of substantive crime do you think should be revised?<\/p>\n
6. Entrapment is a defence when the defendant was entrapped into committing the crime. To what extent should law enforcement personnel induce the commission of an offence?<\/p>\n
7. What legal principles can be used to justify self-defence? Given that the law seeks to prevent crime, not promote it, are such principles sound?<\/p>\n
8. What are the minimum standards of criminal procedure required in the criminal justice system?<\/p>\n
Ex post facto laws are forbidden by the United States Constitution, and this protection prohibits the government from charging you with a crime using a law that was created after the crime was committed. If it was not a crime at the time an actor committed an act, then the actor may not be charged when the act becomes a crime. But protection against ex post facto laws affect more than just the elements of a crime, it also affects sentencing and punishment. The links below describe an unusual situation involving a cold case murder. Read the articles and discuss the questions below.<\/p>\n
Man, 52, Is Convicted as a Juvenile in a 1976 Murder, Creating a Legal Tangle<\/p>\n
A 10-year prison term imposed in cold case murder of Westfield woman<\/p>\n
1. Should a 52-year-old man who has eluded justice for so many years enjoy protections normally afforded juvenile defendants simply because he was 15 when he committed the crime?<\/p>\n
2. Why do ex post facto protections always work to the benefit of the accused regarding sentencing even when there was a more severe sentence available at the time the crime was committed?<\/p>\n