Criminal Procedure

This lesson introduces the student to the doctrine and processes involved in interpreting state and federal statutes. Statutes are a critical part of every substantive area of the law, so this is important background for every student, legal professional, lawyer and judge.

This lesson is intended to provide students with an introduction to the right to counsel at trial. It covers such issues as the right of indigents to state-provided representation, as well as the rights of non-indigents. Issues such as the right to proceed pro se and the right to the "effective" assistance of counsel will be covered in other lessons.

In this lesson, you will learn about the application of the Double Jeopardy Clause to criminal prosecutions. You will consider such topics as the attachment of jeopardy, the definition of "same offense," and the dual sovereignty doctrine.

This lesson explores the constitutional rules requiring confrontation of hearsay declarants in criminal prosecutions, with special emphasis on Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), and its progeny.

This lesson explores non-capital, criminal sentencing with a particular focus on the constitutional criminal procedural issues.

This lesson explores some of the basic issues surrounding one of our most basic constitutional rights, the right to a trial by jury. The lesson explores the issues of what constitutes a "criminal prosecution" requiring a jury trial, as well as the issues of size and unanimity requirements for a "jury" to pass constitutional muster.

This lesson is the second lesson reviewing Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). This lesson explores issues relating to the assertions by a suspect of the rights provided by Miranda--the right to silence and the right to an attorney prior to questioning; the application of the exclusionary rule to violations of Miranda; and exceptions to and limits on the Miranda rule.

This lesson will cover the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine, its application, and its three exceptions.

This lesson reviews Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), one of the most well known and important cases ever decided by the United States Supreme Court.

This lesson reviews the reasoning and holding of the landmark case of Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) and explores the broader issues relating to investigative detentions and limited searches spawned by the Terry decision.

This lesson explores the circumstances under which and reasons why courts will dispense with the requirement for a search warrant.

This lesson reviews the concept of probable cause as defined and applied by the United States Supreme Court.

In addition to the limitations imposed upon interrogations by Miranda, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel also constrain law enforcement authority in the interrogation context. This lesson will discuss those additional constitutional limitations. Although it isn't necessary to have mastered the Miranda limitations at this point, some familiarity with those standards will be helpful.

This lesson will discuss the Exclusionary Rule, the circumstances under which it may be raised, and two important exceptions to its use -- the Impeachment Exception and the Leon Good Faith Exception.

This third lesson in a three lesson set on warrants addresses execution of warrants. Two separate lessons, "Searches and Seizures with Warrants: Issuance of the Warrant 1" and "Searches and Seizures with Warrants: Issuance of the Warrant 2," cover the rules for issuing warrants and the use of these rules with an application for a search warrant and a search warrant. This third lesson treats what happens when police obtain a warrant. It examines the knock & announce requirement, the proper time and method of entry, and the property subject to search under a search warrant.

This lesson explores some of the rules surrounding police searches based on a citizen's consent. Students will be able to critically examine the law and the policies that permit consent searches under certain circumstances.

The lesson will review the three most significant automobile search standards: the automobile exception, searches of automobiles incident to arrest, and inventory searches of automobiles.

This lesson explores the countless "administrative" searches governed by the Fourth Amendment that occur every day without warrants or probable cause, in public schools, jails and prisons, factories and offices, and at vehicle checkpoints and border crossings.

This lesson examines identification procedures in criminal cases through a short exploration of problems that can arise in making an identification, a primer on basic constitutional rules and the problem of suggestiveness, and a simple criminal case in which you act as an investigator and see the legal consequences of choosing different identification procedures.

This lesson provides the basic framework for the search incident to arrest exception to the warrant and probable cause requirements the U.S. Supreme Court set forth in Chimel v. California in 1969.

This lesson examines the "stop and frisk" exception to the warrant requirement.

This lesson examines the so-called "plain view" exception to the warrant requirement. Even though the Fourth Amendment contains a warrant requirement, the United States Supreme Court has recognized numerous exceptions to that requirement, including the plain view exception. This lesson is intended for students who have studied this issue in class and wish to refine their knowledge.

In this lesson, we examine the "consent" exception to the warrant requirement.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to the Fourth Amendment prohibition against "unreasonable searches and seizures." The goal is to provide students with an overview of the history of the Fourth Amendment, as well as an introduction to the warrant requirement and the concept of warrantless searches. The lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class, and wish to refine their knowledge.