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Program in Criminal Law and Procedure

The moral and physical force of the law is nowhere more evident than in the criminal law. It is here that the law authorizes the government to take a person's property, liberty, or even life. The law must both empower government to protect its citizens from lawless behavior, but also protect citizens from the wrongful or mistaken application of the ultimate governmental power. In a nation such as ours, which is dedicated to the rule of law, the criminal demands of government that it define and prove crimes with specificity and that it exercise its power within strict limitations, many of them found in the U.S. Constitution.

Core Law Courses

• Criminal Law

  This required first-year course examines the purposes and limitations of criminal sanctions; penal and correctional theories; disposition of convicted persons; analysis of basic principles and doctrines of criminal law and their relation to substantive offenses; and administration of criminal justice.(Baude, Bradley, Brown, Hoffmann; 4 credits)

• Criminal Procedure: Investigation

  Perhaps the most basic grievance that led to the Declaration of Independence was that concerning searches and seizures. The enforcement of the Stamp Act by means of writs of assistance aroused the colonists against the British. When the Bill of Rights was passed, a prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures was one of its most fundamental provisions. It is thus not surprising, that Fourth Amendment law is the subject to which the Supreme Court devotes a great deal of attention. A close second, in terms of both its importance to the Bill of Rights and to today's Supreme Court, is the right against self-incrimination. It is with these two constitutional rights that the course is concerned. Criminal Procedure cases make up about 90% of the petitions to the Supreme Court and are among the most common subjects of Supreme Court (and all court) decisions. Consequently, a solid grounding in this field is essential to a well rounded legal education. It is of particular importance to students contemplating a judicial clerkship. (Bell, Bradley, Hoffmann; 3 credits)

• Criminal Procedure: Trial

  This course covers the procedures in criminal cases after the initiation of formal proceedings. As such it covers plea-bargaining, guilty pleas and trial issues such as the defendant's right to testify, to discover exculpatory material and against self-incrimination. Constitutional issues, as presented in U.S. Supreme Court cases, are emphasized. Special attention is given to the cases covering the right to counsel. This course is one of the "troika" of basic Bill of Rights courses offered by the law school (along with Constitional Law II and Criminal Procudure: Investigation). As such it is a fundamental part of a sound legal education, and covers topics that are frequently part of the bar exam. It is a necessity for anyone contemplating a career in criminal law or a judicial clerkship. Criminal Procedure: Investigation is not a prerequisite. (Bradley, Hoffmann; 2 credits)

• International Criminal Law

  International criminal law has become an increasingly important and controversial area in foreign policy and international relations. This course explores the main elements of this subject: (1) the international aspects of the application of national criminal law (e.g., extradition and law enforcement cooperation); (2) the development and enforcement of international crimes in national courts (e.g., torture and terrorism); and (3) the establishment and operation of international criminal tribunals and courts (e.g., Nuremberg, Yugoslavian, and Rwandan war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court).

  This course fulfills the second-year writing requirement, and thus grades will be based on a series of writing assignments. Thus, second-year students, who have not satisfied the requirement, will receive priority in enrollment. (Fidler, 3 Credits)

• Federal Criminal Law

  The course focuses on federal criminal prosecutions, such as have been brought against inside stock traders, Mafia figures and corrupt politicians. Most of the course deals with specific federal statutes such as RICO, the Travel Act, and mail and wire fraud statutes. Certain newer crimes will also be covered as time allows. The course will also cover the federal sentencing guidelines, which have become a much litigated aspect of federal criminal law. Since many previously "respectable" people are being prosecuted by federal authorities, it is not unusual for them to turn to their corporate lawyer for help when this happens. Consequently, a grounding in the fundamentals of federal criminal law could be useful to any lawyer. The course would also be invaluable for anyone contemplating a federal clerkship where much of the time is spent on federal criminal matters. The professor is a former federal prosecutor both with the United States Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. and with the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. There are no prerequisites beyond the first year Criminal Law course.(Bradley; 2 credits)

• Law & Psychology of Crime, Culpability & Punishment

  This course is cross-listed in the School of Law and the Department of Psychology. It is co-taught by Professors Joe Hoffmann (Law) and Jim Sherman (Psychology). The course will be for three credits. The course is limited in enrollment to no more than 20 students. There are no prerequisites for the course (other than the required first-year Criminal Law course, for law students). The course will satisfy the Law School's Perspectives and Third-Year Research Paper requirements.

  Criminal law presents society with numerous challenging dilemmas. For example, should accidental killings during the course of a felony be treated as murder? Should drunk driving be punished based on the risk of harm created, or on the actual harm caused -- even though such actual harm may be more or less randomly distributed among defendants? How can juries ever put themselves in the shoes of a defendant of a different race, gender, or religion, when deciding difficult questions involving imputation of intent, or motivation, or blameworthiness?

  These issues, and many others, have generally been viewed by the criminal law through the lenses of either Criminology/Economics (i.e., what legal doctrines will further the instrumental goals of deterrence, incapacitation, etc.) or Moral Philosophy (i.e., what legal doctrines will ensure that a defendant receives what he/she deserves). But each of these issues also implicates a host of important and interesting questions about how the human mind works. In many areas of criminal law, a more satisfying explanation for the legal doctrine may lie in such psychological concepts as counter-factual thinking, cognitive dissonance, hindsight bias, mis-predictions of one's own behavior, and illusions of control over random events. This course will examine the social and cognitive psychology behind the doctrines of criminal law, through readings drawn from the literatures of both psychology and law. A substantial collaborative research paper combining both perspectives will be required. (Hoffmann, Sherman; 3 credits)

• Seminar in Law and Society

  This seminar concentrates on law and society scholarship that examines the criminal justice system. After a brief introduction to some cultural bases for popular notions of criminality and law breaking, we will focus on sociolegal studies in five areas: criminal courts and criminal justice personnel, criminal trials, prosecutors, defense attorneys, the police, and punishment. Some issues we will consider include the ways in which law works "on the ground," or the disparity between what the laws says and what happens in reality; the role of race, class, and gender in the decisions made by those whose job it is to enforce the criminal law; the discretion of low-level personnel, the role the criminal justice system is intended to play in society; and finally whether the criminal justice system lives up to the goal of balancing the interests of justice, order, and liberty. (Bell, 3 credits)

• Seminar in Criminal Law
• Seminar in Criminal Law: Death Penalty

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Related Law Courses

• Criminal Law Externship (B545)

  Students receive two to three hours of academic credit for work at prosecutors' and public defenders' offices in this program, which is similar to the independent project internship program.

Trial Law and Procedure

This is a course on the legal doctrines that regulate trial practice. It covers the legal issues affecting jury selection, opening statements, the introduction of evidence, closing argument, and deliberations. It examines how statutory, common, and constitutional law regulates the conduct of the trial participants-attorneys, witnesses, judge, and jurors-at each of these stages. (Tanford, 3 cr.)

• Trial Advocacy

  Trial Advocacy is the introductory course in basic trial skills and advocacy. It covers the procedure, tactics and ethics of case preparation and trial performance; jury selection, opening statements, exhibits, objections, witness preparation, direct and cross-examination, and closing arguments. Students learn by doing, and extensive use is made of live performances, critiques, and videotapes. There is also attention paid to relationships with court officials, courtroom demeanor and judicial interaction. In lieu of a final exam, four students at a time conduct a full trial. Evidence (B723) is a strongly recommended prerequisite or corequisite. (Kellams, Vaidik and Cook ; 3 credits)

• Advanced Trial Practice

  This course provides students with the opportunity to work with either a civil or criminal case and concentrate on methods of preparation, anticipation of procedural and evidentiary issues, the effects of court rules of trial procedure, rehearsal techniques, and the trial. Students are required to conduct the trial at least twice, critiquing and improving upon their work in the first trial. (Tanford, 2 credits)

• Evidence

  Evidence law regulates the proof of facts at trial and reflects the construction of courtroom "truth. " In this course we will examine the rules of evidence, and explore some aspects of their practical application. The course will cover: relevancy, hearsay, privileges, character, impeachment, authentication, best evidence, experts and scientific testimony. We will look at the rules and cases to analyze how evidence law may perpetuate and influence the cultural values, legal rules, and social norms that our society uses to assess credibility. The course is taught in a combination of problem-solving and case methods. (Orenstein, Tanford; 3 or 4 credits)

• Federal Jurisdiction

  This course is about the power of federal courts. It examines how that power is shaped and limited by the Constitution, by Congress, and by federal judicial doctrine. In a variety of settings, the course will consider the manner in which these sources of law have been and might be used to apportion authority between state and federal courts and between coordinate branches of the federal government. Among the topics to be considered are the "case" and "controversy" requirements of Article III, state immunity from federal suit under the Eleventh Amendment, the authority of Congress under Article III to regulate the original jurisdiction of lower federal courts and the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the authority of federal courts to exercise either less or more subject matter jurisdiction than Congress has enacted, and the responsibility of federal courts to enforce state court judgments. (Baude, Robel 3 credits)

• Civil Rights: Constitutional Litigation

  This course focuses on 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the primary statutory vehicle for litigating questions of constitutional law in civil actions. Much of the course is concerned with tensions caused by a statute that allows the federal system to police state and local governments and officials. Among our primary concerns will be the balances the Supreme Court has struck between the need to vindicate federal constitutional rights and the need to respect the interests of states and localities in governing without undue fear of liability. Another major theme of our study will be the tools the Court brings to statutory interpretation. ( Gutwein, Robel; 2 credits)

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Related Campus Programs

• Department of Criminal Justice

  From its origins more than half a century ago as the first university-based program in police administration in the United States, we have grown to one of the nation's foremost research faculties in criminal justice and law and society. Faculty research covers important developing areas that bridge the study of crime with study of law, culture, race, and gender. In addition to major components of the criminal justice system and the causes and distribution of crime, faculty conduct research in community justice, dispute settlement, violence, cross-cultural studies, and critical theory. The academic backgrounds of the faculty are multidisciplinary and include the fields of anthropology, geography, history, law, political science, psychology, and sociology, as well as criminal justice and criminology.

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Core Faculty

• Jeannine Bell has expertise in issues of policing and hate crimes. She is the author of the book Policing Hatred: Law Enforcement, Civil Rights, and Hate Crime (New York: New York University Press, 2002), and numerous articles on hate crime enforcement. Professor Bell brings her expertise in law and social science to bear on questions of enforcement.
• Craig Bradley is the author of numerous books and articles on criminal law and procedure, including The Failure of the Criminal Procedure Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993). He was also the editor of Criminal Procedure: A Worldwide Study (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 1999). Professor Bradley, a former federal prosecutor and law clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist, is a regular contributor to Trial magazine on issues of criminal procedure.
• Joseph Hoffmann is the co-author of Comprehensive Criminal Procedure (with Ronald Allen, William Stuntz, and Debra Livingston) (Aspen Law & Business, 2nd Ed. 2005), one of the most widely-used casebooks on criminal procedure in the country. He is a nationally-known expert on habeas corpus and the death penalty, and the author of numerous articles on those topics. He drafted the Fundamental Justice Amendment, a major reform of appellate review in capital cases, which was enacted by the Illinois Legislature in 2003. He also served as Co-Chair and Reporter for the Massachusetts Governor's Council on Capital Punishment.

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Student Activities

• Inmate Legal Assistance Project

  The Inmate Legal Assistance Project provides the opportunity for students to work under attorney supervision on intra-institutional problems of federal prisoners at the Terre Haute penitentiary.

• Protective Order Project

  The POP brings together law students, members of the bar, and a local shelter for abused women to assist victims of abuse in obtaining protective orders from the courts. Students and attorneys represent clients in civil cases.

• Trial Competition Team

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Recent Conferences and Enrichment

• Toward a Model Death Penalty Code

  On May 3, 2004, the Massachusetts Governor's Council on Capital Punishment issued a report outlining 10 recommendations for the creation of a fairer and more accurate death-penalty system. These recommendations, many of which are unprecedented, have already begun to influence the ongoing national dialogue about death-penalty reform.

  Conference speakers and panelists examined the 10 recommendations and discussed their potential impact on death-penalty law and practice across the United States. Leading scholars, forensic scientists, lawyers, judges, and policy-makers focused on the major themes of the report, such as narrowing the scope of death-eligible crimes, transforming the nature of capital jury decision-making, elevating the role of DNA and scientific evidence, providing judges with broad substantive review powers, and creating a new death-penalty review commission to study alleged errors in capital cases.

  The conference was sponsored by the Law School's Center for Law, Society, and Culture. Conference proceedings will be published in a symposium issue of the Indiana Law Journal.

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