CRIMINAL LAW

SECTION 1 - COLQUITT

FALL, 2002

Course Syllabus - Part Ten

ASSIGNMENTS: This syllabus informs you of the topics we will cover during the semester as well as provides you with your reading assignments. You should be able to access the syllabus either by personal computer or through the Law Library’s computer lab.

Normally, all assignments for this course will be contained in the course syllabus. If any new cases or materials are added, this information will be provided during class and by postings on the website.

All assignments in this handout and in the syllabus refer either to our casebook or to the required materials contained on-line at the course website. For example, T 1-20 is a reference to pages 1 through 20 of the required casebook, BONNIE, COUGHLIN, JEFFRIES & LOW, CRIMINAL LAW (1997). Similarly, T A-11 refers to page 11 of Appendix A of the casebook.

As part of your participation in this course, you should read every assignment before class. Simply look under any “Session” and you will see listed the reading assignment(s) for that session of class. We probably will proceed through the course in the order established by the syllabus. Any changes will be posted on the website and announced in class.

BACKGROUND READING: Background reading assignments usually will not be discussed in class. They are, however, important to your understanding of the material that will be discussed. If time permits, we may cover any difficult subjects contained in the background materials.

OBJECTIVES: At the beginning of each major topic area, this syllabus states certain objectives. The objectives are for illustration only. Certainly, they are not all-inclusive. You should add appropriate objectives as you study the materials for this course.

LINKS: Underlined listings in blue font are "links." Simply "click" on any link with your left mouse button and the listed material will appear on your computer screen. You then have three options: Read the material on-line, save it to disk, or print it.

JUSTIFICATION AND EXCUSE

OBJECTIVES: 1) To identify, define, analyze, and distinguish specific defenses; 2) To distinguish between justification and excuse; 3) To critique some defenses; 4) To revisit the concept of blameworthiness.

"THOUGHT STIMULATORS":

"Although the law of self-defense has evolved over some nine centuries, its basic parameters were established very early and have changed remarkably little." CYNTHIA K. GILLESPIE, JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE 31 (1989).

"There is a readiness to see women as less culpable than men for their acts, or at least, to see women's acts as more likely to have arisen from experiences of victimization." KATHLEEN DALY, GENDER, CRIME, AND PUNISHMENT 133 (1994).

"Men who kill their wives often receive lenient sentences. Women who kill their male abusers, however, rarely receive any leniency from the courts. Their claims of self-defense are refused, they are silenced in the court system, and they are sentenced to lengthy prison sentences." Shelley A. Bannister, Battered Women Who Kill Their Abusers: Their Courtroom Battles, in ROSLYN MURASKIN & TED ALLEMAN, IT'S A CRIME - WOMEN AND JUSTICE 316 (1993).

"The prosecution of Bernard Goetz will remain with us as a focal point of our best efforts to find a just solution to the problem of defensive response to perceived dangers on the streets. The legal system succeeded in directing the public's energies away from retaliatory actionand into legal argument. But the issues are too deep, the fears too great, to settle the argument with a verdict and a sentence. As long as we fear mugging on the subway, we will be engaged by the burdens of pondering when self-defense should be a crime." GEORGE P. FLETCHER, A CRIME OF SELF DEFENSE (1988).

SESSION 44 - Justification

T 324-340
MODEL PENAL CODE § 3.04 - T A-28 - A-29

The text assignment includes the following principal case:

Commonwealth v. Markum - T 325-331

SESSION 45 - Justification - Defense Against Aggression

T 340-360

The text assignment includes the following principal case:

People v. Goetz - T 340-346

SESSION 46 - Justification - Defense Against Aggression (cont'd)

T 360-386

The text assignment includes the following principal cases:

State v. Kelly - T 360-369
People v. Young - T 378=385
People v. Young - T 385

SESSION 47 - Justification - Public Authority

T 386-399

The text assignment includes the following principal cases:

United States v. Ehrlichman - T 386-390
United States v. Barker - T 393-398

OPTIONAL READING: [Even Higher Authority]

United States v. Elder
Hill v. State
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah

SESSION 48 - Excuses

"THOUGHT STIMULATORS":

"Excuses are based on shifting assessments of the degrees of firmness and strength that are required of the average citizen." Michael Corrado, Is There an Act Requirement in the Criminal Law?, 142 U. PA. L. REV. 1529, 1560-61 (1994).

T 399-418
MODEL PENAL CODE § 2.09 - T A-25 - A-26

The text assignment includes the following principal case:

United States v. Willis - T 401-406

OPTIONAL READING: [Other Excuses]

United States v. Hearst
Zamora v. State
Zamora v. Duggar
Jacobson v. United States
Smith v. State
ALA. CODE § 13A-3-31 and Commentary

END OF PART TEN

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