I. Book required:
A. Allen, Hoffman, Livingston, Leipold, & Meares, Criminal Procedure: Investigation and Right to Counsel (4TH Ed. Aspen, 2020) (ISBN 978-1-5438-0437-9).
II. Book Recommended
A. Dressler, Michaels, & Simmons, Understanding Criminal Procedure—Volume 1: Investigation (7th ed. 2017)(LexisNexis). This is a succinct, clearly-written treatise that past students have found quite helpful. (though it will not include the very recent cases).
III. First Week’s Assignment
I will call on students randomly, so please be well prepared for each class. I will by August 1 create a TWEN page that contains last year’s powerpoint slides to help you in your preparation. Please register on TWEN. I will also be posting videos on Echo 360 prior to many of our classes that you must review and be prepared to discuss.
Week of August 23, 2021--INTRODUCTION; DUE PROCESS
Tuesday: pp. 3-26 in Casebook; Article by Rachel Aviv, “Your Son is Deceased” published in The NewYorker Feb. 2, 2015, found at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/02/son-deceased; Article by Amina Kahn found at https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-08-15/police-shootings-are-a-leading-cause-of-death-for-black-men ; Op-Ed. By Dan Kobil found at https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20200613/column-upcoming-election-will-be-key-to-confronting-discrimination-in-our-legal-system
The foregoing essays will be used to inform a general discussion of how we believe the criminal justice system operates, and should operate. Consider why the Constitution includes certain provisions which actually benefit criminals? In a society that values preserving order and personal security, why prohibit unreasonable searches or compelled self-incrimination? How much force can the police properly use when enforcing the law? Most importantly, what role does race play in our criminal justice system formally, and in practice?
Thursday: pp. 55-88 (stop at Hamdi). Prior to class, view two asynchronous videos posted on Echo 360 for Class 2, Week 1 regarding Due Process.
The Supreme Court’s initial efforts to regulate the various systems of criminal procedure utilized the due process components of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. During this class, we will look at what why the Court largely abandoned Due Process in the 1960s. Finally, we will learn what remains of this approach and how due process still limits the state and federal criminal justice systems in several areas.