If a pregnant woman addicted to drugs takes drugs that harm her fetus, can the woman be punished for a criminal act? Would this be punishing her for her “status” as a drug addict?
Is it realistic to separate morality from the criminal justice system the way Justice Holmes urged? Does society have a right to set forth its majoritarian view of morality through legislative action declaring unpopular or strange behavior criminal?
Should accomplices receive the same punishment as perpetrators?
What factors guide a courts or a legislature’s decision to classify a defense as an affirmative defense or a case-in-chief defense? Who should bear the burden of proof for each of these defenses?
When a fight breaks out in the course of a professional hockey game, one player uses a hockey stick to bludgeon an opposing player. By consenting to participate in a contact sport, has the victim consented to this touching, or has a battery occurred? Explain.
When you steal your friend’s lottery ticket, for which she paid $1, you have committed petit larceny. Do you become guilty of grand larceny if the ticket turns out to be a winning ticket worth $1 million?
If the First Amendment protects the burning of the American flag, does the amendment protect the burning of a cross on someone’s lawn?
Suppose a condemned prisoner is placed in the electric chair and the switch is thrown, but the chair malfunctions. After the electric chair is repaired, may the prisoner be required to endure a second “execution”? Consider this question in light of a general sense of justice; due process; or the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. See Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber, 329 U.S. 459, 67 S.Ct. 374 (1947)
Answers must be cited like this:
Lippman, Mathew, (2019), “Criminal Procedure”, (Chapter 1: Introduction to Criminal Procedure, pgs. 1-14), 4th edition, Sage Publishing Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA.
