Test Bank for Criminal Law, Student Value Edition, 2nd Edition

Exam Name___________________________________ MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 1) The U.S. Constitution divides governmental authority into three branches. Which one is NOT a branch of the U.S. government? 1) _______ A) Judicial. B) Executive. C) Jurisdictive. D) Legislative. 2) A system of government where power is constitutionally divided between a central governing body and various constituent units is known as: 2) _______ A) Principle of Legality. B) Confederation. C) Principle of Leniency. D) Federalism. 3) Which Amendment states “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”? 3) _______ A) Second. B) Fourteenth. C) Eighth. D) Fifth. 4) The ________ test states the law must be “narrowly tailored” to serve a “compelling” government interest. _______ A) Strict Scrutiny. C) Rational Basis. 4) B) Intermediate Scrutiny. D) Balanced Basis. 5) This test is used under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for classifications based on race. 5) _______ A) Strict Scrutiny. C) Rational Basis. B) Intermediate Scrutiny. D) Balanced Basis. 6) This test is used under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for classifications based on gender. 6) _______ A) Strict Scrutiny. C) Rational Basis. B) Intermediate Scrutiny. D) Balanced Basis. 7) This test is used under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for classifications which are not based on race or gender. 7) _______ A) Strict Scrutiny. C) Rational Basis. B) Intermediate Scrutiny. D) Balanced Basis. 8) Assume that a state decides to define a juvenile as someone under the age of 16, not the usual 18. Assume further that a 17-year-old committed robbery before the change. To suddenly try him or her as an adult could constitute a (n) ________ violation. 8) _______ A) Stare decisis. B) Ex post facto. C) Malum prohibitum. D) Malum in se. 9) This Supreme Court case raises the issue of whether an ex post facto violation occurs when the punishment scheme for an offense is altered after its commission. 9) _______ A) Garner v. Jones. B) Lynce v. Matthis. C) Keeler v. Superior Court. D) Winters v. New York. 10) A law will be ________ if it prohibits action that is protected by the Constitution. A) Void for equal protection. B) Void for nebulousness. C) Void for overbreadth. D) Void for vagueness. 10) ______ 11) Overbreadth cases frequently involve the ________ Amendment, which protects the freedom of religion, assembly, and speech. 11) ______ A) Eighth. B) Second. C) First. D) Fifth. 12) ________ is defamation by the written or printed word. A) Seditious Speech. B) Slander. C) Group Libel. D) Libel. 12) ______ 13) ________ is defamation by the spoken word. 13) ______ A) Group Libel. B) Libel. C) Seditious Speech. D) Slander. 14) ________ is an attack on the good reputation of another. A) Defamation. B) Slander. C) Group Libel. D) Libel. 14) ______ 15) ________ advocates rebellion against the government. A) Group Libel. B) Seditious Speech. C) Slander. D) Libel. 15) ______ 16) This Supreme Court case decided that the death penalty, as it was being carried out at the time, was unconstitutional. 16) ______ A) Coker v. Georgia. C) Atkins v. Virginia. B) Roper v. Simmons. D) Furman v. Georgia. 17) This Supreme Court case determined that the death penalty is not permitted for the rape of an adult. 17) ______ A) Roper v. Simmons. C) Furman v. Georgia. B) Coker v. Georgia. D) Atkins v. Virginia. 18) This Supreme Court case determined that the death penalty is not permitted for the rape of a juvenile. 18) ______ A) Atkins v. Virginia. C) Coker v. Georgia. B) Kennedy v. Louisiana. D) Gregg v. Georgia. 19) This Supreme Court case determined that a mentally retarded convicted defendant cannot be executed. ______ 19) A) Kennedy v. Louisiana. B) Roper v. Simmons. C) Coker v. Georgia. D) Atkins v. Virginia. 20) This Supreme Court case determined that if the defendant is under the age of eighteen when they commit the capital crime, they cannot be executed. 20) ______ A) Roper v. Simmons. C) Coker v. Georgia. B) Atkins v. Virginia. D) Furman v. Georgia. 21) Which Amendment to the U.S. Constitution addresses the issue of double jeopardy? 21) ______ A) Second. B) Fifth. C) Eighth. D) First. 22) For double jeopardy purposes, which is NOT considered a separate sovereign? A) The Federal Government. B) Counties within the same State. C) Each Native American Tribe. D) Each State Government. 22) ______ 23) Early English common law contains the foundations of the modern-day double jeopardy. The rule of ________ prohibited the retrial of a defendant who was found not guilty. 23) ______ A) Autrefois acquit. C) Malum prohibitum. B) Malum in se. D) Autrefois convict. 24) There are four main exceptions to the Blockburger rule. Which is NOT one of the exceptions? A) Court Case is Dismissed by the Judge but the Defendant is not Acquitted. B) Defense Plea Bargains over the Prosecution’s Objection. C) Conduct Committed after the First Prosecution. D) Court Hearing the First Offense Lacks Jurisdiction. 24) ______ TRUE/FALSE. Write ‘T’ if the statement is true and ‘F’ if the statement is false. 25) Indirect protections are more concerned with the criminal law itself than they are with the treatment of individuals. 25) ______ 26) The courts presume that all laws are constitutional. 26) ______ 27) The federal government’s law-making authority is limited. 27) ______ 28) The government is not required to treat everyone exactly the same. 28) ______ 29) First degree murder is fundamentally equivalent to negligent homicide. 29) ______ 30) It is legal to punish someone for an action that wasn’t illegal when it was committed. 30) ______ 31) Similar to ex post facto prohibition, there are specific constitutional provisions that ban overly vague laws. ______ 31) 32) The equal protection requirement, the ban on ex post facto laws, and the ban on overly vague statutes apply to some criminal laws some of the times. 32) ______ 33) The Supreme Court has sanctioned bans on freedom of speech. 33) ______ 34) Both the federal government and the states are bound by this constitutional limitation of cruel and unusual punishment. 34) ______ 35) In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty itself constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. 35) ______ 36) It is unconstitutional to execute a mentally retarded murderer. 36) ______ 37) The Supreme Court has declared that the Fifth Amendment’s protection against double jeopardy is not a fundamental right. 37) ______ 38) An individual who is acquitted in criminal court cannot be charged in civil court for the same action. 38) ______ 39) If a defendant successfully appeals a criminal conviction or otherwise succeeds in overturning a conviction, he or she may not be re-prosecuted in a new trial. 39) ______ SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question. 40) Procedural protections that hail from the U.S. Constitution are known as ________ protections. 40) _____________ 41) Whenever federal and state laws are at odds, the ________ law supersedes. 41) _____________ 42) The rational basis test is used under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for ________. 42) _____________ 43) The ex post facto law is a law enacted to ________ punish behavior. 43) _____________ 44) A constitutional doctrine based on the Fifth and ________ Amendments requiring that the laws be written with sufficient clarity and specificity. 44) _____________ 45) ________ speech is that which advocates rebellion against the government. 45) _____________ 46) Guided discretion laws are laws that provide for the death penalty based on weighing aggravating and ________ circumstances. 46) _____________ 47) If a defendant is under the age of ________ when they commit a capital crime, they cannot be executed. _____________ 48) Double jeopardy prevents a second ________ for the same offense. 47) 48) _____________ 49) Double jeopardy does not apply when the court hearing the first offense lacks ________ to try the second offense. 49) _____________ MATCHING. Choose the item in column 2 that best matches each item in column 1. Match each term related to separation of powers with its definition. 50) Federalism A) A system of government where power is constitutionally divided between a central governing body and various constituent units. 50) ______ 51) Confederation A) A system of government that lacks a strong central authority. 51) ______ 52) 53) Principle of Legality Principle of Lenity B) A legal principle stating that a defendant cannot be convicted of a crime unless there is specific legislation making it illegal and defining the potential punishment. 52) 53) ______ ______ C) A legal principle requiring that any ambiguity in a statue should benefit the defendant, not the government. Match each legal term with its explanation. 54) 55) 56) 57) 58) 59) Equal Protection Clause Ex Post Facto law prohibition Void for Vagueness Doctrine Void for Overbreadth Doctrine Cruel and Unusual Punishment Provision The Double Jeopardy Prohibition A) B) C) A constitutional doctrine based on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments requiring that the laws be written with sufficient clarity and specificity. A principle found in the Fifth Amendment that prevents an individual from being charged twice for the same crime. A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment requiring that the government justify any differential treatment on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or other characteristic with a state interest. 54) 55) 56) 57) 58) 59) ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ D) A law enacted to in order to retroactively punish behavior. E) A constitutional principle requiring that laws do not infringe on constitutionally protected behavior. F) The Eighth Amendment prohibits barbaric punishment and disproportionate sentencing. ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper. 60) Compare and contrast the law of legality and the law of lenity. 61) Describe the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause including how the determination is made whether a statue violates the Equal Protection Clause. 62) Compare and contrast libel, group libel, slander, defamation, and seditious speech. 63) Identify the factors the courts must consider when deciding what length of term is appropriate, in determining whether a long prison term violates the Eighth Amendment. Identify which factors is the most important. 64) Define the Blockburger rule. Identify and explain the four situations in which double jeopardy protection does not apply. 65) The drug trade from Central and South America is causing a dramatic increase in criminal activity in New Mexico. The New Mexico legislature wants to take action. They pass a statute with this language: “Any person found transporting illegal substances, including but not limited to, heroin, cocaine and marijuana, into New Mexico will be punished to the full extent of the law.” Is this criminal statute enforceable? Why or why not? 66) There are six constitutional limits on the criminal law. Which limit most often applies to obscenity laws and those dealing with loitering and vagrancy statues? Identify and define the constitutional limit and explain why it best applies. 1) C 2) D 3) B 4) A 5) A 6) B 7) C 8) B 9) B 10) C 11) C 12) D 13) D 14) A 15) B 16) D 17) B 18) B 19) D 20) A 21) B 22) B 23) A 24) A 25) TRUE 26) TRUE 27) TRUE 28) TRUE 29) FALSE 30) FALSE 31) FALSE 32) FALSE 33) TRUE 34) TRUE 35) FALSE 36) TRUE 37) FALSE 38) FALSE 39) FALSE 40) Direct 41) Federal 42) Classifications 43) Retroactively 44) Fourteenth 45) Seditious 46) Mitigating 47) Eighteen 48) Prosecution 49) Jurisdiction 50) A 51) A 52) B 53) C 54) C 55) D 56) A 57) E 58) F 59) B 60) The law of legality is a legal principle stating that a defendant cannot be convicted of a crime unless there is specific legislation making it illegal and defining the potential punishment. The advantage of the legality principle is that a criminal code provides prior notice to the people of what behavior is illegal. The principle of legality prevents governmental abuse. Yet its downside is flexibility. The criminal law has a hard time keeping pace with new actions, that although harmful, are not yet considered criminal. The principle of lenity is a legal principle requiring that any ambiguity in a statue should benefit the defendant, not the government. When statues are overly vague, for example, that vagueness should be resolved in favor of the defendant. The potential downside of lenity is that there is plenty of room for interpretation in the language of criminal law. As such, when taken to the extreme, the rule of lenity can be used to interpret a statue in a manner that is at odds with legislative intent. For this reason, many states have abolished the rule of lenity. 61) The Equal Protection Law is a clause in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requiring that the government justify any differential treatment on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or any characteristic with a state interest. In order to determine whether a statue violates the equal protection clause, the courts now apply one of three tests depending on the classification in question. If a law classifies people based on race or national origin than the strict scrutiny test is applied. If a law classifies people based on gender than the intermediate scrutiny tested is applied. Finally, a law that classifies people on any other basis is subjected to the rational basis test. 62) Libel is defamation by the printer word. Group libel is speech that defames a certain group or class of people or is “libelous” towards a specific group. Slander is defamation by the spoken word. Defamation is written or spoken words that damage the reputation of the object of the speech. Seditious speech is speech that advocates rebellion against the government. 63) (1) the gravity of the offense compared to the sentence, (2) the penalties imposed on other offenders in the same state for the same offense, (3) the penalties imposed in other states for the same offense, and (4) the defendant’s recidivism. Courts are not required to consider all these criteria, however. To this day, there is some uncertainty as to which (if any) combination is important. 64) An offense is considered the “same offense” for purposes of double jeopardy if two separate statutes that define the offense both contain the same elements. Conduct Committed after the First Prosecution: Double jeopardy does not apply if the second prosecution is based on conduct committed after the first prosecution; Defendant Responsible for the Second Prosecution: If the defendant is responsible for the second prosecution, double jeopardy does not apply; Court Hearing the First Offense Lacks Jurisdiction: Double jeopardy does not apply when the court hearing the first offense lacks jurisdiction to try the second offense; Defense Plea Bargains over the Prosecution’s Objection: If the defense plea bargains over the prosecution’s objection, double jeopardy protections do not apply. 65) The principle of legality is a legal principle stating that the defendant cannot be convicted of a crime unless there is specific legislation making it illegal and defining the potential punishment. The statue proposed by the New Mexico legislature indicates that certain illegal substances (such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana) are already illegal and that existing legislation exists defining these substances as illegal and defining the potential punishment. The proposed statue does not enhance existing legislation and does not meet the principle of legality as it does not define the potential punishment. This specific statue does not appear to be enforceable, rather, the possession of an illegal substance may be enforceable under existing laws within New Mexico. It is not known whether New Mexico has a rule of lenity but the ambiguity in the statue could benefit the defendant, not the government. 66) The void for vagueness doctrine is a constitutional doctrine based on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution requiring that laws be written with sufficient clarity and specificity. Void for vagueness cases have historically fallen into two categories—those dealing with obscenity laws and those dealing with loitering and vagrancy statues. Several cases, including Winters v. New York and State v. Metzger address void for vagueness specific to obscenity laws. In both cases the courts declared the laws were too vague. Several cases have also dealt with the meaning of loitering and vagrancy statues. Students can cite examples such as Kolender v. Lawson and Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville.