Course Title: Legal Aspects of Evidence
Campus Course Code: CRIJ 3315
UTTC Course Code: CCJO 3322
Campus: UT Brownsville
Program: CCJO
Course Description
This course is a general examination of the rules of evidence and procedures for law enforcement officers. It is designed to introduce the student to basic individual rights under the U. S. Constitution and to show how certain of these rights come into conflict with the maintenance of public order and the enforcement of criminal laws of the U. S. and each individual state.
The course offers an overview of the criminal court system, the arena in which conflict is resolved and in which much of the law of criminal procedure is formulated. Limitations placed on the executive branch of government (police) by the U.S. Constitution will be discussed using specific case precedents. The underlying concepts of the exclusionary rule, privacy, probable cause, reasonableness, and others are examined for universal applicability across a variety of search and seizure issues. Criminal courts tend to focus on individual rights as guaranteed by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments and the manner in which these rights affect the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of criminal behavior.
The primary focus of this course is on the law of arrest, search, and seizure, confessions, and pretrial identification. Evidentiary procedures and related concepts that have been developed over the years by the U.S. Supreme Court will be analyzed.
Objectives and Activities
- Obtain knowledge and understanding of police authority, responsibility, constitutional constraints, laws of arrest, search and seizure, and liability
- Describe major cases and their implications to law enforcement officers (Weeks, Mapp, Terry, Gates, Chimel, Carroll, Miranda, etc.)
- Define the exclusionary rule
- Identify source of police authority
- Identify areas of police responsibility in legal determination settings
- Define Amendments I, IV, V, VI, VIII, and XIV
- Identify arrest, detention, protective custody
- Identify court cases involving search and seizure
- Identify determination of probable cause
- Analyze the concepts and procedures for in- and out-of-court identification
Materials
Visit the Bookstores page for links to campus bookstores that provide information on course materials.
Credits:3
Level:Undergraduate
Faculty
Kevin Buckler
kevin.buckler@utb.edu