Assignment: The Role of Jurisdiction and Precedent in Criminal Law
From this week's readings, you know that jurisdictional decisions affect many cases, even when the jurisdiction may initially seem clear. This can be because one agency exerts general police authority, but the crime relates to an area of specific police interest (such as narcotics), or because there is a lack of precedent for an agency to investigate a given crime.
In this Assignment, you apply what you have learned about jurisdictional decisions by playing the role of a law enforcement officer arguing for jurisdiction.
To prepare:
Read the case studies found in the Criminal Justice Case Studies: Criminal Law,
This Assignment requires you to apply your learning to all the case studies in the document.
Write a paper that is divided into the following two parts.
Part 1
In 250 words, address the following for each of the three cases:
- Identify the criminal justice agencies that may want to claim jurisdiction in the case study.
- Explain briefly why each agency would want to claim jurisdiction and what the benefit would be to each agency.
- Explain briefly why an agency may NOT want to assume jurisdiction.
Part 2
In 500 words, address the following:
- Select one of the case studies discussed in Part 1 and choose one of the agencies you discussed that could potentially claim jurisdiction.
- Imagine that you are going to argue to your superior that your agency deserves jurisdiction.
- Write a report explaining why your agency deserves-or may not want-jurisdiction. Expand upon and build support for the brief explanation from above.
Be sure to state your position and draw upon examples from the case study and Learning Resources to support your position.
Readings:
Role of Jurisdiction and Precedent in Criminal Law
By Meshunna D. Ross