Chapter

4

Criminal justice professionals are expected to know the law and when it changes

There are many resources you can use to stay current with the law

Researching the law enables you to find answers to legal questions and to understand the judicial system Rarely a YES or NO answer, though…

Keeping current with the law makes you a more credible professional

Information about the law is written for the layperson in popular literature

It does not go in depth that professional or scholarly literature does Time, Newsweek, Readers Digest

Most of these sources are sociological and do not report the actual law

Written for the practitioner in a given field

For Criminal Justice, it may include: The Police Chief FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Corrections Today UCLA Law Review The Journal of Municipal Government and NCJA Justice Bulletin

These periodicals are to keep readers current on the ever changing constitutional law

Contain articles on newly enacted laws and their effect on the CJ System

Written for people interested in theory, research and statistical analysis Justice Quarterly-the official publication of the

Academy of Criminal Justice

All of these sources are considered secondary sources Actual cases and the opinions handed down

are primary sources

Presents the raw data or the original information Include the U.S. Constitution Constitutions of the 50 states Statutes of the U.S. Congress Statutes of the 50 state legislatures Appellate court decisions of the federal and

state courts

Involves selecting, evaluating, analyzing and synthesizing data or information

It is usually easier to understand than primary information Legal periodicals- record and critique the

activities of legislators and judges and discuss current case law Law school publications, bar associations

publications and special subject and interest publications

Treatises/ Texts- is a comprehensive document on a legal subject. Go into specific subject depth

Legal Encyclopedias- narratives arranged alphabetically by subject with supporting footnotes General law, local or state law, and special subject Corpus Juris Secondum American Jurisprudence Guide to American Law

Legal Dictionaries- define words in their legal sense Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, Black’s Law Dictionary

Other Sources of Information

A legal citation is a standardized way of referring to a specific legal source

There are three basic parts A volume number An abbreviation for the title A page or section number Usually followed by the date

EXAMPLE: Miranda v Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) Volume 384 of the United States Reports,

page 436, decided in 1966

Case citation is important because it shows the student exactly where to find a specific case or point Lets the reader know if the case is relevant to

the problem they are researching The citation will also point out if it is an

appellate case Sometimes there are additional citations that

show where a case may be found in commercial reporting services -- String cites Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16

L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)

Court decisions are recorded as opinions Describe what the dispute was about States what the court decided and why The opinion may be written by one member of the court

or many Concurring opinions – an opinion written by

a Justice who agrees with the holding, gives additional or different reasons for voting with the majority

Dissenting opinions – written by a Justice who disagrees with the holding and voted against the majority

Some landmark cases have eight or nine opinions National Reporter System - Publishes regional sets of

cases as well as sets for specific states

A legal opinion usually contains A description of the facts A statement of the legal issues presented The relevant rules of law The holding The policies and reasons that support the

holding

Caption- title of the case (U.S. v Smith), (Land v Smith)

Holding- the rule of law applied to the particular facts of the case and the actual decision

Issue: the question presented to the court Reasoning: the reasons behind the court’s

decision Affirm- Agree with a lower court’s decision Reverse- Overturn the decision of the lower court Remand- return the case to the lower court for

further action

1. Must be able to think in reverse Opinion provides the end result of the deliberations,

isolate what the dispute involved, what the trial court decided, how it proceeded and what happened on appeal

2. Untangle the interplay of the basic components of a judicial decision

Each affects the others in a process that goes back and forth and around in what may appear to be circles

3. Drawing inferences - Not all elements of the judicial opinion may be included

Infer them from the decisions made

Purpose: To outline the case in summary form (brief) Our case briefs will contain the following –

this is different from the book! CASE NAME/CITATION – On top of page FACTS: Well-written paragraph of MAIN facts

(Tell the story!!) ISSUE(s): Question the court is presented

with (Usually starts with “Whether” or “If”) HOLDING: The decision of the court REASONING: Why the court decided the way

it did OTHER OPINIONS/DISSENTS: Quick sentence

explaining different opinions/dissents

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee v. Jenna M. CHRISTOPHERSON, Appellant, Supreme Court of Illinois, 899 N.E.2d 257 (2008) FACTS: Christopherson provided beer to Smith. Smith was under the age of twenty-one, and she died in a one-car accident after drinking some of the beer. ISSUE: Whether minors can be charged with “delivery of alcoholic liquor to a minor” under Illinois lawHOLDING: Illinois law expressly prohibits the delivery of alcohol to minors by all persons. The appellate court correctly reversed the judgment of the circuit court, which improperly dismissed the charge against defendant on the basis that she is under 21, and remanded the cause for further proceedings.REASONING: The language of the statute was clear, and its context was not at all ambiguous. Therefore, there was no reason to depart from the language to fulfill legislative intent.

Opinions also provide judges with an opportunity to express thoughts on issues that are not essential to the court’s decision Dicta: Statements by a court that do

not deal with the main issue of the case Additional discussion Not binding on future courts

Shepardizing a case involves using Shepard’s Citations Reference that tracks cases so legal

researchers can easily determine whether the original holding has been changed through any appeals

Criminal justice practitioners will not have to do this

Example of Shepard’s Citing List

Thanks to the Internet, researching the law is accessible to everyone Findlaw, LexisNexis, American Bar Association, U.S.

Supreme Court, etc. Information Literacy

The ability to effectively identify an issue, narrow that issue, access appropriate online sites, separate fact from fiction and present the findings professionally

To evaluate the reliability of information on the Internet, consider the credibility of the source and the currency of the information

How would you rate your information literacy? What could you do to raise it??

Blogs and online discussion groups are new developments There are electronic bulletin boards and

virtual discussion groups covering law and criminal justice issues

Blogs are a way to get a variety of perspectives on an issue

Step 1 – Identify the issue you want to research Step 2 – Identify some research terms or

phrases that might be used to reference your topic

Step 3 – Choose the resources to conduct the research

Step 4 – Decide how to access the resources Step 5 – Access your sources and search using

the terms you have identified Step 6 – Interpret the results Step 7 – See how other courts are interpreting

the law