REAL WORLD RESOURCES

for

Neubauer’s

America’s Courts and the Criminal JusticeSystem,

11th Edition

The media resources mentioned in the supplements (Instructor’s Manual and Lesson Plans) have been extracted and compiled here to serves as a reference for students and instructors. They are organized by learning objective within each chapter. Some of the resources apply to multiple LO, so the additional LOs they align with are noted in brackets at the end of the item.

Chapter One

Courts, Crime, and Controversy

1. Describe how the courts are related to the other components of the criminal justice system.

2. Discuss the major types of courts found in the United States.

  • The official website for courts in the United States:
  • The World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems; includes information about courts in many countries.

3. Identify the most important actors in the courthouse.

4. List the steps in a typical felony prosecution.

  • Online description of the steps in a felony prosecution in the State of Alaska.
  • ABC News Clip:Casey Anthony Juror: ‘Sick to Our Stomachs’ Over Not Guilty Verdict. A juror spoke on how she and her fellow jurors felt sick to their stomach after voting to acquit Casey Anthony.

(LO5)

5. Explain how a law in action perspective complements a law on the books approach to studying the criminal courts.

  • PBS video Justice and The Courts(2002): An interview with the Honorable Judith Kaye, Chief Judge of the State Court of New York, on the evolution of the courts in response to societal changes.

6. Distinguish between the crime control model of criminal justice and the due process model of criminal justice.

  • The Color of Crime and the Court: a Content Analysis of Minority Representation on Television by R. Tamborini & D.E. Mastro in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Autumn 2000, Vol 77 Issues 3, p.639-653). This article focuses on how minorities are portrayed mostly as criminals in television news and drama.
  • A video of 9/11:

Chapter Two

Law and Crime

1. List the four key elements defining law.

2. Identify the three key characteristics of common law.

  • Online information regarding U.S. Supreme Court Cases.
  • The official website for courts in the United States:
  • The World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems:

3. Explain the importance of the adversary system.

4. Name the four amendments of the Bill of Rights that deal specifically with criminal procedure.

Online description of the steps in a felony prosecution in the State of Alaska.

5. List the five major areas of civil law.

  • A CNN article: One of the victims molested by Sandusky is suing Penn State because of the abuse.
  • Stella Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc. and McDonald's International, Inc. (1994): A 79 year old sued McDonalds for $3 million after she received a third degree burn to her inner thighs when she spilled a cup of coffee in her lap.

6. Identify the major elements of a crime.

7. Identify some of the most important legal defenses in American law.

8. Discuss the effects of the criminal law on courts.

  • The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class and Criminal Justice (9th ed.) by Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton. The authors explain how the poor are at an extreme disadvantage when they enter the criminal justice system.

This video addresses the excessive use of plea bargaining in criminal cases, and the consequences of this: the constitutional protections of due process and equal protection of the law are rendered meaningless.

Chapter Three

Federal Courts

1. Define the four primary types of jurisdiction: geographical, subject matter, personal, and hierarchical.

2. Compare and contrast the tasks of trial and appellate courts.

3. Explain the historical evolution of the federal courts into their present structure and operations.

  • This article argues that lifetime appointments for U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges is no longer a beneficial practice.

(LO 8)

4. Analyze the different responsibilities and workloads of U.S magistrate judges, district judges, circuit judges, and Supreme Court justices.

  • The official website for the United States Supreme Court
  • The official Website of the United States District Courts.

5. Analyze the impact the federal courts have on the administration of criminal justice at the state and local levels through their federal question jurisdiction.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Arizona v. United States (2012):

6. Differentiate the jurisdiction and functions of Article III courts from Article I courts and other specialized federal courts.

7. Distinguish the various agencies and their hierarchical responsibilities for the administration of the federal court system.

8. Evaluate the major problems facing the federal courts and the strengths and weaknesses of the major solutions that have been proposed to address these problems.

  • The American Judicature Society website, which includes information about the recent dramatic increase in the federal court caseload.
  • PBS video:The First Woman on the Court (/), about the nomination and appointment of Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman to serveon the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chapter Four

State Courts

1. Outline the four layers of a typical state court system.

  • The Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System: a video about how the Pennsylvania court system attempts to promote an equal system of justice for all.

A video about Gideon v. Wainwright and the extension of the right to counsel in all non-capital offenses in state courts, which happened as a result of the ruling.

2. Describe the types of criminal cases handled by the trial courts of limited jurisdiction.

3. Discuss the similarities and differences between justice of the peace courts and municipal courts.

4. List the four primary problems confronting the lower courts in the United States.

Information about alternative dispute resolution, provided by the Global Legal Resources website.

5. Identify the types of civil and criminal cases filed in trial courts of general jurisdiction.

6. Explain briefly the differences between a state supreme court in states with and without intermediate courts of appeals.

7. List the key components of court unification.

  • Information about court unification from the website of the National Center for State Courts.

8. Identify how problem solving courts using therapeutic jurisprudence handle cases.

  • Information about drug courts, provided by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service website.
  • Effectiveness of Drug Treatment Courts: Evidence From a Randomized Trial by Denise C. Gottfredson, Stacy S. Najaka, and Brook Kearley (published in Criminology & Public Policy, Vol 2 (2): 171-196 (2003). This article explains why the drug court approach is far superior to jail or prison incarceration of drug users who are convicted of crimes.

Chapter Five

The Dynamics of Courthouse Justice

1. Have a general sense of who works where in the courthouse.

  • The Law & Order: SVU page on the NBC website.

(LO4)

2. Analyze the importance of assembly-line justice.

This video addresses the use of plea bargaining in criminal cases. (LO3)

3. Describe why discretion is found in the criminal courts.

  • A New York Times article titled The Law; Prosecutorial Discretion: Worthy of defense? published July 22, 1988, which discusses the prosecutor’s wide range of discretionary abilities.

4. Identify the principal actors in the courtroom workgroup.

  • The website for the National Association of Women Judges, which provides the 2012 percentages of women judges in state courts:

5. Indicate why ethics is important to the American legal system.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct from the American Bar Association’s website.

  • An editorial in the New York Times about a particular judicial misconduct charge, and how it was handled.

6. Contrast differing understandings of why delay is a problem in the courts.

  • Information on the United States Courts website about a “judicial emergency” in Arizona, which allowed judges to suspend the right to a speedy trial.

8. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of speedy trial laws.

9. Explain why law in action approaches to court delay are more effective than law on the books approaches.

Chapter Six

Prosecutors

1.Discuss the two major characteristics of prosecutors in the United States.

  • Information about the Casey Anthony trial on the Discovery Channel website:
  • PBS FRONTLINE : The O.J. Verdict – Interview William Hodgman. Mr. Hodgman states that had the O.J. Simpson trial been held in Santa Monica, where the murders occurred, rather than downtown Los Angeles, the verdict would have been guilty.

2. Describe the three most important entities in federal prosecution.

  • The official website of the United States Attorney’s office:

3. Identify the three somewhat overlapping agencies involved in prosecution in state courts.

4. Explain the major factors affecting the work life of assistant district attorneys.

  • An article titled Bad Faith Exception to Prosecutorial Immunity for Brady Violations by Bennett Gershman of Pace Law University. In the article, Gershman discusses prosecutor’s absolute immunity from civil liability for actions that violate a defendant’s constitutional rights. (LO5)

5. Analyze the principal factors affecting prosecutorial ethics.

  • This website, Above the Law, provides information on federal prosecutors working for free:
  • PBS video about prosecutorial misconduct:

6. Outline two major examples of the expanding domain of the prosecutor.

Chapter Seven

Defense Attorneys

1. Interpret the four major legal issues surrounding the right to counsel.

  • United States Supreme Court website, which provides information about a defendant’s right to competent advice.
  • This website offers training and services to defense attorneys:

2. Discuss how the courtroom workgroup affects how defense attorneys represent their clients.

This is an article about legal advertisements. (LO3)

3. Explain why most lawyers do not represent criminal defendants.

  • The National Legal Aid and Defender Association website:

A PBS video that explains why lawyers in the American adversarial system are more interested in winning cases than seeking justice.

4. Compare and contrast the three systems of providing indigents with court-appointed attorneys.

  • A blog post from the ACLU that describes the three different ways in which indigent defendants are provided with court-appointed counsel.

5. Recognize possible tensions between lawyers and clients.

  • This article provides information about the recent influx of lawyers:

(LO3; LO6)

6. Analyze the importance of legal ethics to the defense of criminal defendants.

  • An article about the defense team for George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watchman that shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was staying with his father who lived in the neighborhood.

Chapter Eight

Judges

1. Discuss the role of the judge within the courtroom workgroup.

  • A PBS frontline video about whether or not the Supreme Court, as opposed to Congress, is the best interpreter of the Constitution.

2. Name the three major ways that judges are selected in the United States.

  • The American Judicature Society website, which provides information about how each state selects judges.

3. Analyze the consequences of different methods of judicial selection.

  • A PBS video that addresses the question: does judicial election, a system practiced in many states, taint judges’ ability to uphold justice, particularly when most of their campaigns are financed by special interest groups such as trial lawyers and big corporations whose cases are handled by the same judges?
  • An article about lifetime appointments for federal judges:

4. Recognize major changes in the composition of the bench over that last several decades.

5. Describe the activities of state judicial conduct commissions.

  • The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct website:
  • American Bar Association Model Code of Judicial Conduct:
  • An article about the infamous case of a judge beating his disabled daughter:

6. Explain the difference between the impeachment and the removal of a federal judge.

Chapter Nine

Defendants and Victims

1. List the three characteristics of defendants.

  • The Bureau of Justice Statistics website, which includes information onfederal criminal case processing statistics.
  • An article titled The Myth of a Fair Criminal Justice System by Matthew Robinson and Marian Williams, about why the criminal justice system is not fair.
  • An article titled Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim by Rachel Pergament on the case of Susan Smith, who drove her two young boys into a lake and left them to die.

2. Describe how victims and witnesses view the court process.

3. Describe how court actors view victims and witnesses.

4. Discuss the prior relationships between defendants and victims and why this is important in domestic violence cases.

  • An article about Chris Brown’s infamous assault on Rihannha:
  • An article titled “Profile of Intimate Partner Violence Cases,” provided by the Bureau of Justice Statistics website.

5. Identify three types of programs that are designed to aid victims and witnesses in coping with the criminal justice process.

  • Victim/Witness Assistance Program (VWAP) website:

6. Explain why some view victim programs as aiding victims whereas others view these programs as manipulating victims.

  • Mothers Against Drunk Driving Website:

Chapter Ten

Arrest to Arraignment

1. Define the two methods of estimating the amount of crime in the United States.

  • The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) on the official website for the FBI.
  • The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) on the official website for the FBI.

2. Discuss how arrests made by the police impact the criminal court process.

  • The video Miranda v. Arizona (1966) on C-Span:

3. List the four ways that criminals are formally charged in court and who are the major actors in each of these important documents.

  • The case of County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (89-1817), 500 U.S. 44 (1991), in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a crime suspect arrested without a warrant must be arraigned within 48 hours of his/her arrest.

(LO4)

4. List the four most common ways that defendants secure pretrial release.

  • This link will take you to the website for Dog the Bounty Hunter, a reality show that follows a family of bounty hunters in Hawaii:

(LO5)

5. Compare and contrast "law on the book" and "law in action" approaches to bail setting, including the overall effects of the bail system on criminal defendants and their cases.

6. Explain the role bail agents play in the criminal justice system.

  • PBS video After Guantanamo: The video covers prisoners suspected of terrorist-involvement, who have been in Guantanamo for nearly a decade without having been charged. (LO2).

7. Contrast how the law on the books approach to criminal justice and the law in action perspective offer contrasting views of the preliminary hearing.

8. Explain why some jurisdictions use grand juries extensively and others do not.

9. Delineate the three major reasons for case attrition.

10. Describe the four layers of the criminal justice wedding cake.

Chapter Eleven

Disclosing and Suppressing Evidence

1. Explain the reasons why the process of discovery exists in both civil and criminal cases, but is significantly curtailed in the latter.

2. Differentiate formal and informal discovery and the reasons why both are used in criminal cases.

  • An Analysis of the Impact of Discovery Rules on Dispositions in Criminal Cases by Connie Solimeo, about criminal trial discovery rules in New York. The rules are in place for the purpose of facilitating a fair trial.

(LO3)

3. Identify the types of evidence subject to mandatory criminal discovery.

4. Compare and contrast the exclusionary rule and the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.

  • Information on the website of the Legal Information Institute about the court’s ruling in United States v. Patane that a failure to give a suspect Miranda warnings does not require suppression of the physical fruits of the suspect’s unwarned but voluntary statements.
  • Information about the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Mapp v. Ohio:

5. Summarize how the decision in Miranda v. Arizona regulates the process of police interrogations of suspects.

  • PBS video FRONTELINE: The Confessions @ The video describes the technique the police used in this case to coerce four navy sailors into confessing to a rape they did not commit.

6. Summarize how the decision in Miranda v. Arizona regulates the process of police interrogations of suspects.

  • PBS video FRONTLINE: Top Secret America @ The video analyzes whether or not the federal government has been overreacting to the 9/11 tragedy in the way it has utilized special laws and techniques in its efforts to fight terrorism.

7. Explain the requirements governing the application for search warrants, the issuance of search warrants, and the execution of search warrants.

  • Case Law For Cops website, which provides information about warrant exceptions for police.

8. Identify the major exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.

9. Analyze the effect of the exclusionary rule on the operations of the courtroom workgroup.

  • Street Inc. and the Supreme Court Historical Society Website:

Provides information about the exclusionary debate.

10. Evaluate whether the exclusionary rule should be abolished.

Chapter Twelve

Negotiated Justice and the Plea of Guilty

1. Distinguish between the 3 most common types of plea agreements.

2. Discuss the three major factors influencing bargaining and discretion.

  • Information about plea and charge bargaining, obtained from the Bureau of Justice Assistance website.
  • PBS video FRONTLINE: The Plea @ Video provides information about the excessive use of plea bargains. (LO5, LO6)

3. Recognize the importance of Boykin v. Alabama.

  • Read about the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Missouri v. Frye (2012) here:
  • A section of the Legal Information Institute website that explains the federal plea bargaining rules:
  • A description of the West Memphis Three that includes information on Alford pleas:

4. List the major reason each of the members of the courtroom workgroup engage in plea bargaining.