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Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #15, Apr 20]

"Welcome to our last class together," Alex said, offering her students a light smile. "I'll be honest: I've really enjoyed our conversations this semester. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about justice, and thank you for your insights and perspectives on all the subjects we've covered. They've been nothing short of fascinating."

She gestured to the stack of papers on her desk. "This, of course, is your final. It's structured just like the midterm was. You can use anything you may have brought with you, but you shouldn't need to. You cannot work with your classmates, and I'll ask that you not talk to one another until all exams have been handed in. Even if you and your friend are both finished, the next person over might not be, and your conversation could be a distraction.

"Once you've handed in your exam, you're free to leave. Or, if you'd rather, you can stick around and tell me what you thought of class -- what I did wrong, what I did right, anything like that. But for now, you've got finals to complete. Good luck, and show me what you know."

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With the icon that has the longest listing in the drop-down! This one is "no really opposing counsel can bite me."

Such as it is. Time for last-minute panicking and last-minute chatter, though the latter should be brief as the tests will be handed out ASAP.

Just like the midterm, this test has five questions, spaced out enough that you could write a couple of paragraphs between each answer comfortably, though that is not to suggest that each question merits such verbosity.

(I like nesting my OCD, dammit. And as always, feel free to handwave if you'd rather.)

Blackstone's formulary states that it is better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be imprisoned. If you were to create a justice system with an eye towards Blackstone, what elements and/or safeguards might you include, to protect the innocent from false imprisonment? List at least two.

Edited 2010-04-20 11:16 (UTC)

A tort is defined as being a wrongful act that causes harm to another person. Torts are addressed in civil court, where individuals seek compensation for personal wrongs.

Torts are wrongful, but not necessarily criminal. Give one example of an act which could be a criminal tort, and one that could be non-criminal.

Certain justice systems forbid cruel and unusual punishment, that is, any legal redress which is viewed to be needlessly painful, humiliating, or degrading. Give one example of punishment that would qualify as being cruel and/or unusual, and one which does not.

A prosecutor conducts an unlawful search of a private residence, in order to obtain information that is key to convicting a dangerous pedophile. The defense argues that the information should be withheld, as the search clearly violated the law. The prosecutor notes that the unlawful search occurred in the victim's home, and not the defendant's, and so the defendant's civil rights have not been compromised. The victim may sue the prosecution in civil court, but the accused lacks standing to object to the search. Should the evidence be admitted? Give one argument for each side.

A convict is released from prison and moves to a new residence. The local neighborhood watch posts flyers with his picture and a description of his crimes, warning citizens to avoid contact with him. The flyers are on telephone poles and posted in the windows of local businesses, even occasionally tucked under the windshield wipers of cars. Some of the businesses in question bar the convict from their premises. The convict insists this is harassment, and that he has paid his dues to society and is trying to move on with his life. The neighborhood watch argues that they have a right to inform the population about the dangerous element in their midst. Should the police intervene? Give one argument for each side.

If you have questions about the test, feel free to raise your hand or approach her and ask for clarification.

During the exam, they'll be off-limits, but afterwards, feel free.

Tell her what you thought of class, or be glad that the final is over. Or burp out the national anthem of Paraguay, if you happen to know it offhand.

... okay, that last one, not so much.

Joan Girardi

Joan was pretty sure she would never hear the end of it from her father if she didn't do well on this final.

I had no idea if Alex-class would even work, and I certainly never imagined her as a teacher when I first apped her a year ago. Thank you all for being kickass and taking this class such cool places. Thank you to Alex's TAs for being awesomesauce. And thank you to

raspberryturk who helped me tweak the class topic from "uh I dunno something about law?" into something I could actually, you know, submit.

The case study in Q4 is from Guilt, S3E18, and yes, Alex was the prosecutor in question, in the midst of having a complete breakdown after her emotionally unstable teenage victim attempted suicide. Q5 isn't a direct parallel to any SVU episode, but there are elements of Victims (S2E13) and Closure, Part II (S2E3) at work.

Edmund Pevensie

Hyuuga Hinata

Nobody Owens

Bod gathered his thoughts before he started the exam.

I think you'd have to make sure that, during trials, suspects are judged by the sum of all the parts rather than one part. If an eyewitness says one thing but scientific tests prove another, the suspect can't be judged by just one. Trial processes might have to change to accompany this so one part of the case doesn't hold more weight than others.

I also think you'd have to police the police. If there's corruption on the police force, nothing is going to stop them from arresting any person they dislike and sticking them in jail because they have that authority.

Bod tapped his pen against his paper before he got started writing. I don't think imprisoning someone for the duration of their life is cruel and unusual punishment. If they've committed a heinous crime, then they deserve to spend the rest of their life feeling guilty, thinking about that, and being safely incarcerated so they cannot wreck another life.

I think stoning someone might be cruel and unusual though. I know it's not a widely used practice but, from what I've read, parading someone out in the middle of a town and throwing rocks at them until they die sounds unnecessarily cruel and painful. It shouldn't be done.

A criminal tort, Bod started, could be medical malpractice. You're physically harming someone due to your own negligence and possibly causing more damage than was originally there.

A non criminal tort is defamation. If you're purposefully tarnishing the reputation of someone, you're not physically harming them but you are harming them and they might take you to civil court to try and prove this.

Bod was glad he'd studied for this exam. It was definitely needed.

The evidence should be submitted if the prosecutor had probable cause to believe that there was evidence within the residence, then it could be argued that it would admissible for that reason. For instance, if the suspect had given information regarding the evidence or someone had seen the victim with said evidence before the victim went inside his private dwelling.

The evidence should not be submitted because homes cannot just be searched on a whim of whomever. If that were legal, it would give way to searches being conducted for no other reason than that the police might not like the look of you one particular day.

The police shouldn't intervene because, depending on the severity of the crime, the public has a right to know and judge the convict for themselves. After all, the convict thought he had the right to commit a crime so now the public has a right to judge him for themselves. If he committed a potentially dangerous crime, I would feel more comfortable having all the knowledge of him so I could make a choice to avoid him for my own potential safety. If it progressed past information dispersal, perhaps the police should intervene but not when it's just people passing along information.

Bod stopped writing for a bit to formulate the last bit of his essay.

The police should intervene because this level of information dispersal is negatively affecting someone who has served his time and is just trying to move on with his life. At a minimum, people should probably know who he is and what he did but taking it to levels where he becomes a prisoner in his own house isn't right and should have police interaction. I don't know if that would necessarily help as that would put the public on edge and make them angry but the convict's life shouldn't be completely ruined just because he made a mistake and is trying to atone.

Jack Priest

Jennifer Walters
(who is not big and green today, but is just following icon instructions)

Erf. I sadly will have to handwave Jen's answers for the exam. Those are brilliant questions, and she'd have pretty brilliant answers, and... I'm not that smart :D

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Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #15, Apr 20]

Sign In - JST15

During the Lecture - JST15

Final Exam - JST15

Question 1: Innocence, Guilt and Reasonable Doubt - JST15

Question 2: Civil Court - JST15

Question 3: Cruel and Unusual Punishment - JST15

Question 4: Case Study: Civil Liberties - JST15

Question 5: Case Study - Prisoners' Rights and Victims' Rights - JST15

During the Exam: Talk to Alex - JST15

After the Exam: Talk to the TAs - JST15

After the Exam: Talk to Alex - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: During the Lecture - JST15

OOC - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: Question 1: Innocence, Guilt and Reasonable Doubt - JST15

Re: Question 3: Cruel and Unusual Punishment - JST15

Re: Question 2: Civil Court - JST15

Re: Question 4: Case Study: Civil Liberties - JST15

Re: Question 5: Case Study - Prisoners' Rights and Victims' Rights - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: Sign In - JST15

Re: OOC - JST15