Constitutional Issues in Constitutional Issues in Criminal Justice Engelhard Hall Room 211 Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00 p.m. – 5:20 p.m.
Instructor:
Elizabeth Webster Office: Center for Law and Justice Room 559 liz.webster@rutgers.edu
Office Hours: Thursdays, 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. or by appointment
Course Description This course provides an overview of the history, content, and interpretation of the United States Constitution and its amendments as they relate to criminal justice practice and policy. Students examine how the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the constitution has shaped criminal justice practices. Primary focus is placed on the study of the protections guaranteed to criminal defendants under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, including issues related to equal protection under the law, search and seizure, interrogations and confessions, speedy trial, jury selection, the right to counsel, and protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Overall, we will discuss the interplay between upholding individual constitutional rights, limiting government actions, and ensuring public safety.
Learning Objectives: On successful completion of this course, students will be able to: • Understand their constitutional rights and recognize when those rights have been violated • Discuss historical and current tensions between balancing individual, state, and federal rights • Evaluate specific criminal justice system interactions for how well they uphold individual constitutional rights and protections • Participate in current debates about how the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution and whether or not case rulings reflect the true intent of the law.
Required Texts J. Scott Harr, Karen M. Hess, Christine Orthmann and Jonathon Kingsbury. Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System. Wadsworth Publishing, 6th Edition.
Regular readings posted to Blackboard (BB)
Attendance/ Participation: Regular attendance and active participation are expected. The success of the class depends upon your positive presence. Since this is a discussion-based class, you are expected to respectfully contribute to the discussion. However, your participation grade depends less on how much you contribute than on your positive presence in the classroom. Positive presence means: attending regularly and arriving on time, turning off phones and removing headphones, actively listening, taking notes, and refraining from leaving the room until class is finished. Read: If a student is tardy, disruptive, or inconsiderate it will not help his/her participation grade to contribute to the discussion on occasion. Respect for fellow classmates is paramount. I do not take attendance or count the number of classes you have missed. However, the expectation is that you will attend unless you have a compelling reason not to attend. Missing class regularly will hurt your grade.
Grading The final grade will be based on the following: Class Participation: 15% Midterm Exam: 25% Final Exam: 25% Quizzes: 20% Paper: 15% Grades will be calculated as follows: A 90.0% or higher B+ 87.0% to 89.9% B 80.0% to 86.9% C+ 77.0% to 79.9% C 70.0% or 76.9% D 60.0% to 69.9% F 59.9% or lower
Assignments Quizzes: We will have four take-home quizzes, each worth 5% of your grade. Quizzes consist of short essay questions on recently covered material and will help prepare you for the exams. Quizzes will be posted to Blackboard in advance and must be delivered to class or emailed to the professor on the day that they are due. Quiz dates: Feb 5, Feb 26, April 23, March 26
Exams: The two exams, together, are worth 50% of your grade in the class. Regular attendance and good notes are critical to your success on the exams. All exams are closed-book, no notes, inclass exams. Questions will consist of multiple choice, term definition, and short essay. We will spend one class period reviewing for each of the exams. Be sure to attend these review sessions as they are both informative and fun, conducted in the style of a jeopardy game show. The final exam will not be cumulative. Exam dates: March 10, May 7
Missed Exams: Students who fail to take an exam on the date scheduled will not be provided a make-up exam unless extenuating circumstances exist and proper documentation is provided to
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warrant such action. Failure to promptly notify me of the need for a make-up examination will result in a grade of zero for that examination. Failure to provide documentation will result in a grade of zero for that examination. Documentation must be provided before the make-up exam can be administered.
Paper: Students will be required to write about a US Supreme Court case that relates to the field of criminal justice. It may be a historical case, a recent case, or even a pending case that you have read about in the news. Whatever you choose, be sure to provide a brief overview, discuss why the case is important, and connect it to contemporary issues. Just be sure to choose a case that we have not already discussed at length in class (note the “key cases” cited throughout the syllabus as a guide). First select the amendment (4th, 5th, 6th or 8th) that you want to focus on and then select the case. For example, if you are interested in stop and frisk you might choose to write about the Fourth Amendment and identify a relevant Fourth Amendment Supreme Court case. Formatting: 6-8 pages double spaced (not including cover page or works cited page), Times New Roman, standard margins. Use a minimum of three sources, with in-text citations and a works cited page. How to organize your paper: 1. Provide a brief overview – tell the story of the case, the defendants involved and how it is they are coming before the Supreme Court. (Approximately one page) 2. What are the issues? Explain why this case is important. Justices only consider controversial cases and cases of national importance. What are the issues involved in this case that have not already come before the Court? (Approximately one page) 3. What was the decision? Briefly discuss, being sure to mention how the Justices voted and who wrote the majority opinion. You may quote the majority opinion and/or the concurring and dissenting opinions. If the case has not yet been decided, provide an overview of how you think the Justices will rule (based on what the experts are saying or based on how the Justices have ruled in the past). (One to two pages) 4. What is the significance of the decision? Will this decision change existing laws? Will it change the way that criminal justice practitioners do their jobs? What other impact has it had socially or legally? (Alternatively: has it changed laws? Etc.) (One to two pages) 5. And finally…what do you think? Do you agree with the decision? Why or why not? Do you agree with the decision from a legal standpoint but worry about the social or political consequences of the decision? (Or the other way around.) If you’re not sure, that’s fine too. But you must still be able to provide an educated, exploratory analysis. (Approximately one page)
Due: April 28
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Course Schedule Week One- Introduction and Historical Overview Jan 20:
Constitutional structure, the United States legal system; federal and state court systems; the U.S. Supreme Court
Jan 22:
Textbook: Chapter 3 BB Reading: Lepore, Jill “The Commandments” The New Yorker
Week Two- Fourteenth Amendment and Introduction to Due Process Jan 27:
Textbook: Chapter 4
Jan 29:
Key Case: Arizona v. United States (2012) Reading: Denniston, Lyle “Argument Preview” SCOTUS blog Reading: Denniston, Lyle “Argument Recap” SCOTUS blog
Week Three- First Amendment Feb 3:
Textbook: Chapter 5 BB Reading: Butler, Paul “Ferguson Police Broke the Law” Washington Post
Feb 5:
BB Reading: Kubrin, Charis and Erik Nielson “Rap on Trial.” Quiz One Due
Week Four- Second Amendment Feb 10:
Second Amendment Rights Textbook: Chapter 6 Key Case: DC v. Heller (2008) BB Reading: Oyez.org “Facts of the Case” BB Reading: Denniston, Lyle “Constitution Check: Are there no limits on Second Amendment Rights?”
Feb 12:
Second Amendment Laws
Week Five – Fourth Amendment (Search) Feb 17:
Key Case: Mapp v. Ohio (1961) BB Reading: The Marshall Project “Dollree Mapp: The Rosa Parks of the Fourth Amendment,” December 8, 2014.
Feb 19:
Key Case: Terry v. Ohio (1968) Textbook: Chapter 7
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BB Reading: Mason, Caleb. “Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading with Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps.” Saint Louis University Law Journal, 56: 567-586. Week Six- Fourth Amendment (Seizure) Feb 24:
Textbook: Chapters 8 and 9
Feb 26:
Key Case: TN v. Garner (1985) BB Reading: Washington Post “Stop and Seize” Quiz Two Due
Week Seven – Fourth Amendment, cont’d. March 3:
Electronic Surveillance Reading: Ford 2017. “Roaming Charges” The Atlantic Monthly
March 5:
Exam Review
Week Eight - Fifth Amendment (Due Process of Law) March 10:
Midterm
March 12:
Guest Speaker: Kathleen Powell, Research Fellow VERA Center on Youth Justice Key Case: In re Gault (1967)
Week Nine – Spring Break No Classes Week Ten - Fifth Amendment (Due Process of Law/ Right Against Self-Incrimination) March 24:
BB Reading: Goldstein, Dana “The Teenage Brain of the Boston Bomber” The Marshall Project
March 26:
Key Case: Miranda v. Arizona (1966) Podcast: This American Life “Confessions” Textbook: Chapter 10 BB Reading: Kassin, Saul M. “False Confessions: Causes, Consequences and Implications for Reform” Current Directions in Psychological Science 17: 4 Quiz Three Due
Week Eleven- Sixth Amendment (Issue: Right to Fair Trial) March 31:
Key Case: Bordenkircher v. Hayes (1978) Textbook: Chapter 11 BB Reading: Lynch, Timothy “The Case Against Plea Bargaining” Regulation 5
Sandefur, Timothy “In Defense of Plea Bargaining, Regulation April 2:
BB Reading: Natapoff 2012: “Misdemeanors” Cal. L. Rev.
Week Twelve- Sixth Amendment (Issue: Right to Fair Trial/ Right to an Attorney) April 7:
Key Case: Batson v. Kentucky (1986) Podcast: Radiolab, More Perfect “Object Anyway”
April 9:
Key Case: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) In-class Viewing: The Constitution Project. 2013 “Defending Gideon”
Week Thirteen- Sixth Amendment, cont’d. (Issue: Right to an Attorney). Introduction to Eighth Amendment (Issue: Excessive Fines) April 14:
Guest speaker: Kate Krepel, The Bronx Defenders BB Reading: Garrett, Brandon and Tania Tetlow, “Criminal Justice System Collapse: The Constitution after Hurricane Katrina” Duke Law Journal
April 16:
Textbook: Chapter 12 BB Reading: Harris, Evans and Beckett. “Drawing Blood from Stones: Legal Debt and Social Inequality” American Journal of Sociology
Week Fourteen – Eighth Amendment (Issue: Excessive Punishment and the Death Penalty) April 21:
Textbook: Chapter 13 BB Reading: Moskos, Peter. “Bring Back the Lash: Why flogging is more humane than prison.” Washington Monthly.
April 23:
Key case: Glossip v. Gross (2014) BB Reading: Stevenson, Bryan “Cruel and Unusual” excerpted from Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Podcast: Radiolab, More Perfect, “Cruel and Unusual” Quiz Four Due
Week Fifteen – Eighth Amendment, continued (Issue: Death Penalty) April 28:
Class Debate: Does the death penalty constitute cruel and unusual punishment? Final Paper Due
April 30:
Final Exam Review
Week Sixteen – Final Exam May 7:
Final Exam 6
General information Academic Integrity As a member of the Rutgers University community you are not to engage in any academic dishonesty. You are responsible for adhering to basic academic standards of honesty and integrity as outlined in the Rutgers University Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate Students (http://cat.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html). Your academic work should be the result of your own individual effort, you should not allow other students to use your work, and you are required to recognize and reference any material that is not your own. Violations of the university’s policy will result in appropriate action. Students with Disabilities As stated in the Manual for Students and Coordinators of Services for Students with Disabilities (http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/docs/studentmanual.pdf), Rutgers University “is committed to providing equal educational opportunity for persons with disabilities in accordance with the Nondiscrimination Policy of the University and in compliance with § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.” For students with disabilities, review the manual and then contact the Student Disability Coordinator, Nelitha Wilson-Michael (nmichael@andromeda.rutgers.edu; 973-353-5300), who is located in room 352 in the Robeson Campus Center. Psychological and Counseling Services If you experience psychological or other difficulties that may interfere with your performance in the course, please contact the university’s psychological and counseling service center (http://www.counseling.newark.rutgers.edu; 973-353-5805), which is located in Blumenthal Hall, room 101. The center offers a variety of free, confidential services to part-time and full-time students who are enrolled at Rutgers.
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