Criminal Courts (U.S.) MCQ Questions Answers

1. When courts rely on precedent, they are obeying ______.

2. ______________ was a judge in israel

3. _____ is the process of transferring a juvenile from juvenile court to adult court. Most states give juvenile court judges the power to waive jurisdiction over juvenile cases that meet certain criteria—generally, a minimum age, a specified type or level of offense, and/or a sufficiently serious record of prior delinquency. Some states have direct file waiver provisions, which allow the prosecutor to file certain types of juvenile cases directly in criminal court.

4. Is veterans treatment court a specialized court devoted to military veterans who have run afoul of the criminal justice system?

5. _____ is known as specialized courts that take a broader and more comprehensive approach to delinquency and criminality. Rather than focusing solely on the crime for which the defendant has been arrested, these courts attempt to address the underlying social and economic factors that contributed to the defendant’s involvement in crime. They also involve collaboration among criminal justice and social service agencies and are more likely than traditional courts to incorporate the principles of restorative justice. Examples include drug courts, domestic violence courts, homeless courts, teen courts, and reentry courts.

6. _____ is defined as utilitarian justification of punishment that views punishment as a means to repair the harm and injury caused by the crime and focuses on the victim and the community as well as the offender. Participants in the process discuss the effects of the crime on the victim, the offender, and the community and attempt to reach a collective agreement regarding the most appropriate sanction.

7. _____ is a specialized court that does not adjudicate new offenses but instead provides oversight and support services to offenders reentering the community, with the goal of reducing recidivism and prison return rates.

8. Is problem-solving courts specialized courts that take a broader and more comprehensive approach to delinquency and criminality. Rather than focusing solely on the crime for which the defendant has been arrested, these courts attempt to address the underlying social and economic factors that contributed to the defendant’s involvement in crime. They also involve collaboration among criminal justice and social service agencies and are more likely than traditional courts to incorporate the principles of restorative justice. Examples include drug courts, domestic violence courts, homeless courts, teen courts, and reentry courts?

9. _____ is defined as the original guiding principle of the juvenile justice system; literally translated as “the father of the country,” the phrase refers to the government’s right and obligation to act on behalf of the child—that is, to do what is in the best interest of the child.

10. _____ is a specialized court that involves collaboration between the criminal justice system and mental health agencies with the goal of providing needed services to mentally ill offenders. Defendants participate in court-ordered treatment programs and may have their charges dropped on successful completion of treatment.

11. Is juvenile court a type of specialized court that handles cases involving juvenile offenders, with a focus on rehabilitation?

12. _____ is known as latin for “in place of the parents.” Philosophy that, in conjunction with parens patriae, allows the juvenile court to act in the best interests of the children who appear before it.

13. _____ is defined as A specialized court that focuses on legal problems common to those who are homeless. For example, the court may help homeless individuals pay fines and resolve outstanding infractions and misdemeanor offenses.

14. _____ is a problem-solving court with a specialized docket of drug offenses. The court incorporates intensive judicial supervision of drug offenders, mandatory drug treatment, and a rehabilitation program providing vocational, education, family, and medical services.

15. Is domestic violence court a problem-solving court with a specialized docket of domestic violence cases. A multidisciplinary team of criminal justice and social service agency officials attempt to craft interventions that will ensure both victim safety and batterer accountability?

16. _____ is known as a specialized court, located in a neighborhood rather than in the downtown core, that handles minor offenses and emphasizes finding solutions to crime problems that are plaguing the neighborhood.

17. _____ is defined as civic-minded individuals who, during the early part of the 20th century, advocated state intervention to save at-risk children who were not being adequately controlled or supervised by their parents. Their stated goal was to help delinquent, abused, and neglected children who were suffering due to the negative effects of rapid industrialization.

18. _____ is the notion that communities that allow “broken windows”—which is a metaphor for litter, decay, vandalism, graffiti, and similar types of social disorganization—to proliferate will have higher levels of crime than will communities that attend to these problems and clean up their streets and neighborhoods.

19. Is intermediate appellate courts state courts found in many states that are the first to hear appeals from lower state courts. Intermediate appellate courts must hear the appeal and render a decision before either side can appeal to the state court of last resort?

20. _____ is known as an appeal filed prior to adjudication of a criminal case. This type of appeal focuses on critical constitutional questions that have no bearing on the defendant’s guilt (or lack of).

21. _____ is defined as rule that states that an error that would not have altered the outcome of the case (i.e., a harmless error) does not require the appellate court to overrule the offender’s conviction or sentence.

22. _____ is limits the timing of an appeal until after the court hands down its final judgment as to the defendant’s guilt.

23. Is double jeopardy clause clause in the Fifth Amendment that prevents the state or federal government from prosecuting an individual for the same crime more than once?

24. _____ is known as forward-looking justifications of punishment that focus on the future criminal behavior of both the person being punished and other members of society. The goal is to prevent future crime through deterrence, incapacitation, or rehabilitation.

25. _____ is defined as penalty or “tax” imposed on defendants who do not plead guilty but who insist on a jury trial. Notion that defendants who go to trial will get harsher sentences than those who plead guilty.

26. _____ is use of punishment to dissuade offenders from reoffending. An offender who has been legally punished ceases offending because of a fear of future punishment.

27. Is sentencing guidelines structured sentencing system implemented by the federal government and some states. Typically, sentence ranges are determined by the intersection of a crime seriousness score and the defendant’s criminal history score, and judges cannot depart from the guidelines without providing reasons for doing so?

28. _____ is known as punishment philosophy that holds that offenders who are dangerous and likely to commit additional crimes should be incapacitated through a jail or prison sentence. Involves predicting that an individual offender, or offenders with certain characteristics, will commit additional crimes if not locked up.

29. _____ is defined as backward-looking justification of punishment that holds that an offender is punished because he or she has done something wrong—something blameworthy—and therefore deserves to be punished.

30. _____ is a utilitarian justification of punishment that involves preventing crime by reforming, or treating, offenders. The techniques used to reform or rehabilitate offenders include such things as individual or group counseling, education, job training, substance abuse treatment, and behavior modification programs.

31. Is probation a sanction involving community supervision of an offender by a probation officer. May also include other conditions, such as substance abuse treatment or drug testing?

32. _____ is known as the minimum jail or prison sentence that must be imposed on an offender convicted of a particular type of crime; especially common for drug offenses and for offenses involving use of a weapon.

33. _____ is defined as a sanction that is more severe than probation but less severe than a prison sentence. Examples include intensive supervision probation, boot camps, house arrest and electronic monitoring, community service, and monetary fines.

34. _____ is sentencing system in which the legislature specifies a minimum and maximum sentence for each offense or class of offenses. The judge imposes either a minimum and a maximum term of years or the maximum term only. The parole board decides when the offender will be released from prison.

35. Is incapacitation a utilitarian justification of punishment that involves locking up—or otherwise physically disabling—dangerous or high-risk offenders to prevent them from committing crimes in the future?

36. _____ is known as type of punishment in which offenders are ordered to remain at home for a designated period of time. They are allowed to leave only at specified times and for specific purposes—to obtain food or medical services, to meet with a probation officer, and, sometimes, to go to school or work.

37. _____ is defined as statutes that allow the death penalty to be imposed only if the crime involves at least one statutorily defined aggravating circumstance.

38. _____ is use of punishment to dissuade prospective offenders. Potential offenders learn of the consequences of criminal involvement (for actual offenders) and decide not to risk subjecting themselves to such punishment.

39. Is electronic monitoring type of punishment that is often used in conjunction with house arrest, designed to ensure that offenders are at home when they are supposed to be. The offender is fitted with a wrist or ankle bracelet that is worn 24 hours a day. The bracelet emits a constant radio signal to a home monitoring unit, which is attached to the offender’s home phone. The monitoring unit informs the monitoring center when the offender enters and leaves his or her home; it also sends a message if the offender tampers with or attempts to remove the bracelet?

40. _____ is utilitarian justification of punishment in which punishment is seen as a means of preventing the offender from reoffending or discouraging others from following his or her example. Deterrence theorists suggest that potential offenders will refrain from committing a crime if they believe that the odds of getting caught and being severely punished are high and are not outweighed by any anticipated gain from the crime.

41. Is determinate sentence sentencing system in which the legislature provides a presumptive range of confinement for each offense or class of offenses. The judge imposes a fixed term of years within this range. The offender serves this sentence, minus time off for good behavior?

42. _____ is known as a type of fine originating in Europe and Latin America. The fine that the offender is ordered to pay is calibrated both to the seriousness of the offense and to the offender’s ability to pay.

43. _____ is defined as a type of alternative punishment or intermediate sanction in which offenders are ordered to perform a certain number of hours of unpaid work at schools, hospitals, parks, and other public and private nonprofit agencies.

44. _____ is punishment philosophy that holds that all offenders found guilty of a particular type of crime, without regard to their prior record or other personal characteristics, are dangerous and therefore should be incapacitated through a jail or prison sentence.

45. Is boot camp program that targets young, nonviolent felony offenders who do not have extensive prior criminal records. Modeled on the military boot camp, the correctional boot camp emphasizes strict discipline, military drill and ceremony, and hard labor and physical training. Most also provide substance abuse counseling and educational and vocational training. Offenders selected for these programs live in barracks-style housing, address the guards by military titles, and are required to stand at attention and obey all orders?

46. _____ is defined as process of reviewing final judgments of lower courts on questions of law, with the goal of determining whether proper procedures were followed.

47. _____ is a classification of evidence that includes the actual testimony provided by a witness during a trial. Real evidence is introduced using testimonial evidence.

48. Is real evidence evidence that can be admitted into trial that consists of tangible items such as weapons used in the crime, DNA or fingerprints collected at the crime scene, or other “real” objects relevant to the case?

49. _____ is known as this is an exception to the general rule that all relevant evidence is admissible at trial. Certain categories of individuals generally cannot be compelled to testify in criminal cases. This includes spouses, priests, doctors, or lawyers. The things these individuals say to one another are said to be privileged communications.

50. _____ is defined as according to the Fifth Amendment, “no person . . . Shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” That is, any person charged with an offense cannot be compelled to testify against himself or herself in a criminal trial.

51. _____ is a method of studying jury deliberations. Researchers use mock juries or mock trials that involve hypothetical scenarios. These may be actual mock trials, such as in a university classroom, or simple written scenarios wherein people (often college students) are asked to decide some hypothetical defendant’s fate. Then the researchers compare people’s demographic characteristics to the decisions they hand down.

52. Is liberation hypothesis an explanation for research findings suggesting that legally irrelevant factors (e.g., the race or gender of the defendant and victim, the behavior of the victim at the time of the crime) come into play primarily in cases where the evidence is ambiguous and the outcome is therefore less predictable. The liberation hypothesis suggests that when the evidence is uncertain, jurors will be “liberated” from the constraints imposed by the law and will therefore feel free to take legally irrelevant factors into consideration during decision making?

53. _____ is defined as evidence that requires the judge or jury to make inferences about what happened at the scene of the crime or judgments about the defendant’s role in the crime. Also referred to as circumstantial evidence.

54. _____ is evidence provided by a witness that is based on information provided to the witness by someone else. Generally inadmissible, although there are a number of exceptions.

55. Is direct evidence evidence, such as eyewitness testimony, that by itself proves (or disproves) a fact that is at issue in a case?

56. _____ is known as a charging policy under which prosecutors evaluate cases in terms of their likelihood of conviction at trial; they file charges only if the odds of conviction at trial are good. This policy produces both a high rate of rejection at initial screening and a high trial rate for the cases that are not screened out.

57. _____ is a charging policy that emphasizes case screening as a way of decreasing office workload. This policy results in high levels of referrals to diversionary programs and in overcharging (for the purpose of enhancing the prosecutor’s power in plea negotiations).

58. Is substantial assistance departure a type of downward departure authorized by the federal sentencing guidelines. The judge can impose a more lenient sentence than required by the guidelines if the defendant provides information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of another offender?

59. _____ is known as a hybrid approach to case adjudication, with elements of both plea bargaining and trial. To receive concessions from the prosecutor, the defendant waives the right to a jury trial, and the case is adjudicated by a judge at a bench trial.

60. _____ is defined as agreement for sentencing leniency negotiated during the plea bargaining process. The prosecutor might agree to recommend a particular sentence, recommend that sentences be served concurrently rather than consecutively, or agree to recommend that the sentence not exceed some threshold (a “sentence lid”).

61. _____ is a charging policy under which prosecutors file charges in all cases in which the legal elements of the crime are present. Because prosecutors operating under this policy do not necessarily “screen out” cases where the evidence is weak, there is both a high proportion of cases that are accepted for prosecution and a large percentage of cases that are dismissed at preliminary hearings and trials.

62. Is jury consultant an individual hired by the defense (or, perhaps, by the state) to determine how individuals with certain background characteristics and attitudes will view the case and the parties involved in the case. These results are then used to create a profile of a juror who would be likely to acquit (or convict) the defendant. The lawyers use this profile to guide decisions during the jury selection process?

63. _____ is defined as the notion that prosecutors’ charging decisions in criminal cases reflect their predictions about the likelihood of conviction as the case moves toward trial. Prosecutors attempt to predict how the judge and jury will evaluate the defendant, the victim, and the crime.

64. _____ is a charging policy based on the notion that the majority of defendants—particularly first-time offenders accused of nonviolent crimes—should not be processed through the criminal justice system; the focus of this policy is on early diversion of defendants and the use of noncriminal justice alternatives.

65. Is charge reduction a type of plea bargaining in which the prosecutor reduces the severity of the charge or the number of counts the defendant is facing in exchange for a guilty plea?

66. _____ is known as a request by the defendant to have his or her trial take place in a different location.

67. _____ is defined as a document stating the facts relied on to create probable cause.

68. _____ is term used to refer to unusual concessions defendants agree to make during the plea negotiation process.

69. Is trial by ordeal under this process, the defendant would be required to perform a perilous task, such as walking across burning coals or removing a rock from boiling water. If the defendant performed these tasks and emerged without being harmed, he or she was judged innocent for surely God had intervened and provided protection. If the defendant were injured during the trial, he or she was adjudged guilty?

70. _____ is defined as offenses that involve a potential period of imprisonment of 6 months or less.

71. _____ is the first step in the jury selection process that involves a jurisdiction establishing a list of all potential jurors within its jurisdictional boundaries who can be chosen at random to report for jury duty as needed.

72. Is “key-man” system system under which court clerks and jury commissioners would consult with civic and political leaders (the “key men”) for input on who should be placed on the master list of potential jurors. Predictably, these “blue-ribbon” juries were not representative of the community and included a disproportionately high number of middle- and upper-class middle-aged White men?

73. _____ is known as under this legislation, all litigants in the federal courts entitled to trial by jury have the right to juries “selected at random from a fair cross section of the community in the district or division wherein the court convenes.” Importantly, the act further provides that all citizens must have the opportunity to serve on juries.

74. _____ is defined as a jury’s decision to acquit the defendant despite overwhelming evidence that the defendant is guilty. The jury’s decision is motivated either by a belief that the law under which the defendant is being prosecuted is unfair or by an objection to the application of the law in a particular case.

75. _____ is prior to sentencing, victims are given the opportunity to address the judge, either verbally or in writing.

76. Is trial in absentia a trial conducted without the defendant being present?

77. _____ is known as a court order that requires an individual to appear at a specific time and place to testify as a witness.

78. _____ is defined as evidence is considered relevant if (a) it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence; and (b) the fact is of consequence in determining the action (Federal Rule of Evidence 401).

79. _____ is out-of-court statements made by witnesses who are not available to testify at the defendant’s trial.

80. Is confrontation clause sixth Amendment clause that provides, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . To be confronted with the witnesses against him.” It guarantees the defendant’s right to face and confront any witness or evidence offered by the prosecution in a criminal trial or other proceedings substantially related to his or her ability to defend against the charges faced?

81. _____ is sixth Amendment clause that provides, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . To have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.”

82. Is senatorial courtesy a process whereby the president defers to the wishes of a senator from the state where a vacancy is located in nominating a person for a district court judgeship?

83. _____ is known as judicial elections in which voters are asked whether the judge should be retained or not.

84. _____ is defined as candidates are selected by and affiliated with political parties.

85. _____ is process wherein judges are selected according to their own attributes rather than on the basis of their political connections. Currently, more than a dozen states use nonpartisan elections as a means of judicial selection.

86. Is merit selection plans when a judicial vacancy arises, a bipartisan, broad-based commission (made up of lawyers and nonlawyers) interviews and evaluates candidates for judicial positions and recommends three candidates to the governor. The governor is then required to appoint one of the people recommended by the commission?

87. _____ is known as based on evaluations of how well a judge demonstrates a number of qualities expected of an excellent jurist submitted by individuals who have experience appearing before the judge. Importantly, they focus exclusively on items related to the judge’s behavior and not to case outcomes.

88. _____ is defined as entails ensuring that judges are free to decide cases fairly and impartially based on the facts and the law without consideration of public, political, financial, or other outside pressure.

89. _____ is a state-level commission that is usually made up of sitting or retired judges, lawyers, and laypersons and investigates complaints filed against judges. The commission can dismiss the complaint or admonish, censure, or remove the judge.

90. Is judicial accountability involves the ability of an entity to remove or discipline judges who do not perform their jobs in an acceptable manner?

91. _____ is known as involves holding judges answerable for judicial rulings. Were a judge to deliberately ignore the stated law and binding precedent, the judge should be held accountable.

92. _____ is defined as involves holding individual judges answerable for their conduct on the bench. Because judges are the human element of the justice system, conduct that reflects badly on the integrity and impartiality of the justice system is likely to decrease public trust in the judiciary and should be deterred.

93. _____ is attorneys selected and paid by the defendant.

94. Is public defender program a method of providing counsel for indigent defendants. Lawyers who are employed by the jurisdiction (typically, the county or the state) represent the indigent defendants who are charged with crimes?

95. _____ is known as program in which a contracting lawyer or law firm agrees to accept an unknown number of cases within the contract period, normally 1 year, for a single flat fee.

96. _____ is defined as system under which the contract entered into by the attorney or law firm and the local government entity agrees to a specific number of cases to be handled for a fixed fee per case.

97. _____ is private attorneys who are paid by the state on a case-by-case basis to represent indigent defendants.

98. Is coordinated assigned counsel system under which attorneys apply to be included on a list of counsel to be appointed on an as-needed, rotational basis. As with the ad hoc appointment method, attorneys are paid on an hourly or per-case basis?

99. _____ is known as a method of providing counsel for indigent defendants. A group of private attorneys or a law firm enters into a contract with a jurisdiction and agrees to represent indigent defendants brought before the courts in that jurisdiction.

100. _____ is defined as A method of providing counsel for indigent defendants. Private attorneys are appointed on a case-by-case basis.