Criminal Justice

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

Syllabus for

Criminal Justice

Prof. Dan Williams (d.williams@neu.edu)

Winter-Spring 2005

Class at 105 Shillman on Mon, Wed, and Thurs, 10:45-12:05

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course has two components, criminal law and criminal procedure. We will begin with criminal law, the study of condemning and punishing. How do we decide who to condemn? Why punish? What are we trying to accomplish in punishing? Can and should society=s failings affect when and how much punishment to inflict? How about individual failings that are not, strictly speaking, solely or predominantly the Acriminal=s@ fault? These and other questions will arise as we study criminal-law doctrine.

Our study of criminal procedure will focus on certain constitutional limits to evidence collection, limits that are rooted in the right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the right to counsel and the right to silence under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.

A note about the Model Penal Code: The MPC can be found at the back of the Dressler casebook and the Robinson book (see below for assigned texts). You must study the MPC provisions carefully as we proceed through this course. The applicable provisions will be apparent as you read the assigned materials. This is, in part, a course to train you in the important skill of statutory interpretation.

A note about class participation: We will work through this difficult, fascinating, and emotionally-charged subject together, as a group. That means collective problem-solving, sharing views and ideas, taking risks with our thinking, listening to others. You should let me know if you are unable to participate on a particular day. Classroom participation will be factored into the final evaluation.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

$ Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal Law (3d ed. 2003 )

$ Israel, Kamisar & LaFave, Criminal Procedure and the Constitution (2004 ed.)

$ Robinson, Criminal Law Case Studies (2d ed. 2002)

Call the bookstore (617/373-2286) or Gnomon Copy (617/536-4600) to determine if the course materials are available in advance.

Assignments to the Robinson book will be explicitly so identified. All other page references during the Criminal Law component of the course are to the Dressler casebook. Page references during the Criminal Procedure component of the course are to the Israel, Kamisar & LaFave casebook. Reading assignments for the Criminal Procedure component will be distributed later in the course. The reading assignments below generally reflect my estimate of how much material we will cover in a particular class session. But you should know that sometimes we=ll cover more than one reading assignment, and sometimes a reading assignment will take more than a single class session.

SO, please register on TWEN (the WESTLAW EDUCATION NETWORK) for class-related postings and for clarification of what material will be covered in class.

PLEASE READ ASSIGNMENT 1 FOR THE FIRST CLASS

CRIMINAL LAW

4. Being and Doing

a. Pages 1-6; 700-4

5. Why Punish?

a. Pages 30-33; 43-44; 46-47; Notes 5 and 6 on pages 716-17; 718-21

b. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Thomas Dudley (p. 14)

c. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Robert AYummie@ Sandifer (p. 134)

6. Actus Reas and Mens ReaCBody and Mind

a. Pages 121-28; 140-41

b. Pages 142-46

4. Mens ReaCthe Culpable State of Mind

a. Pages 146-63

5. Causation:

a. Pages 209-25

b. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Joseph Wood (p. 64)

6. CausationCCulpability for Omissions;

a. Pages 129-40

b. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Ray Edwin Billingslea (p. 54)

7. The Principle of Legality and the Bookends of Life:

a. Pages 88-98; 239-45

8. Murder:

a. Background: pages 228-30

b. Pages 245-56

9. Manslaughter under the common law

a. Pages 256-64 Note 3 on page 273

b. Background: pages 264-67

10. Manslaughter under the Model Penal Code

a. Pages 276-83

b. Supp. Material Retrieved from TWEN: People v. Moye

c. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Bernice & Walter Williams (p. 8)

11. Felony-murder:

a. Pages 304-07; Note 2 on page 315

b. Background: pages 307-14

c. Pages 315-27

12. Felony-murder and Causation:

a. Pages 327-32

b. Robinson Case Studies: The case of DeSean Mcarty (p. 1)

13. RapeCforce, resistance, and nonconsent:

a. Suggested and interesting, but optional, background reading: Pages 374-84

b. Pages 392-405; Notes 2, 3, 5, and 6 on pages 405-08

c. Optional: Notes 7 and 8 on pages 408-12; pages 412-15

14. RapeCmoving towards Ano means no@:

a. Pages 416-34; Notes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 on pages 434-35

b. Optional: Notes 2, 7, and 8 on pages 434-37.

15. Self-defenseCrepelling Aimminent@ threats

a. Background: Pages 465-68, 482-83

b. Pages 485-95

16. Self-defenseCreasonable belief or racism, the Goetz case:

a. Pages 495-500; Notes 4, 7, 8, and 9 on pages 501-09

b. Optional: Notes 1-3 on pages 500-01, and Notes 5 and 6 on page 508

17. Battered-woman SyndromeCrepelling an Aimminent@ threat or self-help justice?

a. Pages 510-25; Notes 4, 5, & 6 at pages 525-28

b. Background and optional: Notes 1-3 on page 525

c. The other Notes on pages 525-32 are background and optional, as is the material on pages 532-36, though I recommend highly the Morse excerpt on pages 532-34.

d. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Janice Leidholm (p. 110)

18. Duress & Necessity

a. Background: Pages 574-78

b. Pages 578-81, Notes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7-11 (duress)

c. Pages 561-65 (necessity)

d. Robinson Case Studies: The case of John Charles Green (p. 95)

e. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Motti Ashkenazi (p. 106)

19. Insanity and Diminished Capacity

a. Background: Pages 611-19, 652-57

b. Pages 619-24; Notes 2 and 3 at pages 625-26; Note 4 at pages 640-41; Note 2 at page 651 (insanity)

c. Pages 661-63 (diminished capacity)

20. Attempt Crimes:

a. Pages 732-49 (focus of class discussion will be on Note 2 at page 734 and Notes 5 & 6 at page 744, but you should study all of the Notes in this reading assignment)

b. Notes 2 and 3 on pages 774-75

21. Attempt CrimesCdrawing the line between preparation and perpetration:

a. Pages 749-53 (consider carefully the various tests set out in footnote 5 of the Mandujano opinion); 753-59; 762-69

b. Focus on the following Notes: Note 1 on pages 750-51; Note 4 on pages 756-57; Note 2 on page 760-62; all of the Notes on pages 767-69

c. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Larry Eugene Phillips (p. 69)

d. We will focus most of our class discussion on Note 6 at page 769 and the case of Larry Phillips

22. Attempt CrimesCabandonment (or when is it too late to have a change of heart?)

a. Pages 791-94

23. Doctrine of ImpossibilityCcan a Amistake@ or fortuity excuse a culpable state of mind?

a. Pages 776-91

b. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Roger Thomas (p. 77)

24. Mistake of FactCcan a Amistake@ disprove a culpable state of mind?

a. Pages 187-91

b. Pages 443-49

25. Conspiracy:

a. Pages 802-03; Note 1 on page 803-04

b. 806-09; 816-26 (skip Note 3 on page 826); 826-29; Note 1 at pages 837-38

26. Conspiracy versus Accomplice Liability

a. Pages 877-86 (accomplice liabilityCread this first)

b. Pages 829-34 (back to conspiracy)

c. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Keith Mondello (p. 81)

27. Taking Stock of Some Major Themes:

a. Pages 352-58 (the disturbing lessons of McCleskey v. Kemp)

b. Pages 366-73 (visiting upon the sons the sins of the father)

c. Pages 705-17 (reconsidering Robinson and punishing status)

d. Supp. Material Retrieved from TWEN: Lawrence (privacy, status, and the penal sanction)

e. Robinson Case Studies: The case of Alex Cabarga (p. 129)