Transcript Crime and Court

Crime and Court
American Government
Adversary System
 Adversary System
 An adversary system is a judicial system in which opposing lawyers present their strongest cases
 Presumption of Innocence
 In the United States our legal system is based on the presumption that you are innocent until
proven guilty
 The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The prosecution must prove your guilt, you do not have to prove
your innocence
Types of Law
 In the United States we deal with two basic types of law
 Criminal law deals with individuals who have violated specific laws
 Civil law deals with multiple parties over a wide range of matters
 This matters include property ownership
 Divorce
 Child custody
 Mergers,
 Personal property damage
Statutes
 A statute is a law that is written down so that everyone might know and understand it.
 Statutes are sometimes referred to as “roman laws” because they are based on an
approach to making laws derived from the ancient Romans
 A statute is a law written by a legislative branch of government
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Statutes:
Limit citizens behavior
Specify rules for inspecting food
Set minimum ages for work permits
Set rules for social security
Establish and manage veteran’s hospitals
Set rules for drivers licenses,
Set rules for check credit
Set rules for returning merchandise
Etc.
Common Law
 Common law is the single most important basis of the American legal system
 Common law is created by judges in the process of resolving individual cases.
 Common law is based upon precedents.
 A precedent is a decision made in previous cases that can be applied to future cases regarding the same types of
content
 The origin of precedents stems from the term stare decisis, or “let the decision stand”.
 Generally precedents are used to determine the action that will be taken by a court when they hear a case
Cogs and Gears
 Equal Justice:
 Equal justice under the 14th amendment forbids any state to “deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the law”
 This means that state and local governments cannot draw unreasonable distinctions among different
groups of people
 Due Process:
 This is the principle in the 5th amendment stating that the government must follow proper
Constitutional procedures in trials and in other actions it takes against individuals.
Constitutional Liberties
 Bills of Attainder:
 A Bill of Attainder is a legislative act pronouncing a person guilty of a crime, usually
treason, without trial and subjecting that person to capital punishment and attainder.
Such acts are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
 Ex-Post Facto:
 Ex-Post Facto is when a legislative body tries to retroactively punish you for an act that was
recently made a crime
 This is illegal