basic grounding and overview chapter 1. copyright ©2008 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights...

Basic Grounding and

Overview

Chapter 1

Copyright ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

Introduction

• The term Criminal Investigation captivates people’s imagination.

• News headlines are filled with stories of crime and the investigation of crime.

• Popular television shows feature crime and criminal investigations.

• What is a criminal investigation?– The lawful search for people and things to reconstruct the

circumstances of an illegal act2, apprehend or determine the guilty party, and aid in the state’s prosecution of the offender.


3

Introduction• Criminal Investigation has the following primary

objectives:– Respond to emergencies at the scene of the crime.– Determine whether a crime has been committed, and if so,

what crime.– Establish crime scene priorities.– Identify suspects.– Gather and preserve evidence.– Recover stolen property.– Assist in the prosecution and conviction of the defendant or

defendants.


4

What is a Crime?

• Crime - An offense against the public at large, proclaimed in a law and punishable by a governing body.

• An act committed or omitted in violation of law forbidding or commanding it, for which the possible penalties upon conviction for an adult include incarceration.


5

Development of Criminal Law

• At one time most people considered crime a private matter.– compensation or relief in the form of revenge.

• In time, societies evolved into nation-states, and the customs and traditions that had guided individual behavior were replaced with written law.

• The state, or the government, became the representative of the public at large (Plaintiff).


6

Criminal Law Terms

• Criminal law is the body of law that for the purpose of preventing harm to society defines what behavior is criminal and prescribes the punishment to be imposed for such behavior.

• Prosecutor is the name given to the government as the party that accuses a person of a crime.

• Defendant, in criminal law, is the person who is accused of a crime.


7

Sources of Criminal Law in the United States

• The early American colonists came from England, and they adopted the law of England as the law of their new land.– Common law• Principles and rules of action based on usage

and custom in ancient England and incorporated into colonial American laws and subsequent state statutes.


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• Most crimes are defined by statutory law. – Statutory law• The body of laws passed by legislative bodies,

including the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and local governing bodies.• State Statutes• City Ordinances• Town Bylaws


9

Criminal Laws (Federal v. State)

• The distinction between federal and state criminal laws is very important.

• The U.S. Constitution created a national government with limited powers, and one of the limitations is of police power.

• The federal government has no general police power; it can create criminal statutes only for those areas over which the federal government has jurisdiction.– For example, Congress can create laws against

counterfeiting because the federal government has the power to coin money.


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• Case law– The sum total of all reported cases that interpret previous

decisions, statutes, regulations, and constitutional provisions that then become part of a nation’s or a state’s common law.

• Administrative law– The body of law created by administrative agencies in the

form of rules, regulations, orders, and decisions, sometimes with criminal penalties for violations.


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• Penal Code– A collection of state statutes that define criminal offenses and

specify corresponding fines and punishments.• The Texas Murder Statute (PC 19.02)

– A person commits an offense if he:– (1) intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual;– (2) intends to cause serious bodily injury and commits an act

clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual; or

– (3) commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.


12

Classification of Crimes

• Crimes can be classified in a number of ways. One way to classify crimes is according to the severity of the criminal behavior.

• Felony is a relatively serious criminal offense punishable by death or by imprisonment for more than a year in a state or federal prison.

• Misdemeanor is a less serious crime that is generally punishable by a prison sentence of not more than one year in a county or city jail.


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What is Criminal Investigation?• Criminal investigation is a scientific and systematic

series of activities designed to use various pieces of information and evidence to explain the events surrounding a crime, identify a suspect, and link that suspect to a particular crime or series of crimes.

• In this process, police and detectives use items such as weapons, fingerprints, blood, fibers, and other traces found at the scene of a crime, computer technology, and a number of scientific and academic disciplines, along with logical reasoning, to solve the crime.


14

Rights of the Accused

• Substantive law is the body of law that creates, defines, and regulates rights and defines crime and its penalties.

• Procedural law is the body of law that prescribes the manner or method by which rights and responsibilities may be exercised and enforced.– For the criminal investigator, procedural law covers such

subjects as the way suspects can legally be arrested, searched, and interrogated.


15

Rights of the Accused

• Due process of law is the rights of people suspected of or charged with crimes, prescribed by the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, and federal and state statutes.

• Most of the procedural, or due process, rights of criminal suspects in the United States are found in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.


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A Summary of the Bill of RightsGuarantees of Basic Citizens’ Rights• First Amendment: freedom of – Religion– Speech– Press– Assembly– Right to petition the

government


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A Summary of the Bill of Rights• Protection against Arbitrary Police and Court Action• Fourth Amendment: prohibits unreasonable searches and

seizures• Fifth Amendment: requires grand jury indictment for serious

crimes, bans double jeopardy, prohibits having to testify against oneself, and guarantees no loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law

• Sixth Amendment: guarantees right to speedy, public, impartial trial in criminal cases, with counsel and right to cross-examine witnesses

• Seventh Amendment: guarantees right to jury trial in civil suits• Eighth Amendment: prohibits excessive bail or fines and cruel

and unusual punishment


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A Summary of the Bill of RightsProtection of States’ Rights and Other Rights• Ninth Amendment: affirms that rights not listed in

other amendments are not necessarily denied• Tenth Amendment: states that powers not delegated

to the national government or denied to the states are reserved to the states

Military Protection and Rights• Second Amendment: guarantees the right to organize

state militias and to bear arms• Third Amendment: prohibits the quartering of soldiers

in homes in peacetime


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Requisites of a Successful Criminal Investigator

• A criminal investigator must have many attributes, some of which are:– Curiosity, habitual inquisitiveness– Observation, using all five senses– Suspicion and refusal to take anything for granted– Memory, ability to recall facts and past events– Ordinary intelligence and common sense– Ability to gain and hold confidence– Persistence and endless capacity for work– Knowledge of the essential elements of a crime


20

Deductive Reasoning

• Deductive reasoning is drawing conclusions from logically related events or observations.– Suppose an investigator notices a kitchen knife

extending from the back of the victim and also sees a pool of blood beneath the victim. The investigator deduces that the weapon used in the death of the victim was a knife.


21

Inductive Reasoning

• Inductive reasoning is making inferences from apparently separate observations or pieces of evidence.– Inductive reasoning moves from examining

apparently separate pieces of evidence to drawing an inference or building an explanation of the crime based on a logical connection between these separate elements.


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Example of Inductive Reasoning

• An investigator finds a victim lying in a pool of blood, and this victim has numerous cuts from what might have been a sharp cutting object.

• The investigator could, using inductive reasoning (moving from separate pieces of evidence to a generalized inference), infer that the victim died as a result of the wounds inflicted by a knife—despite the fact that no knife may have been found at the crime scene.


23

Drawing Conclusions

• Whether investigators use deductive or inductive reasoning, any conclusion drawn by a criminal investigator should be based on careful reasoning and systematic collection of information and evidence.

basic grounding and overview chapter 1. copyright ©2008 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights...

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