Class Outline

Part 1: Introduction—The American Way of Justice  

§ The criminal process in the United States

§ Goals of criminal procedure 

§ Criminal justice as a “system”

§ The “war on drugs”

§ Excessive punishment

Part 2: The Fourth Amendment

§ The threshold of the Fourth Amendment 

§ Searches and seizures

§ The warrant and probable cause requirements

§ Exceptions to warrant and/or probable cause requirements

§ Regulating technological policing

§ Pretextual and predatory policing

Part 3: The Fifth and Sixth Amendments 

§ Interrogation and entrapment 

§ Miranda rights

§ Miranda’s hidden rights

§ “Custody,” “interrogation,” “self–incriminating,” “testimonial” 

§ Invocation and waiver 

Part 4: Professional Ethics I

§ History and overview of the regulation of the legal profession

§ The role of the prosecutor

§ The charging decision and the grand jury

§ The defense counsel’s duty to provide zealous advocacy

Part 5: Professional Ethics II

§ Discovery and Brady

§ Punishment without trial: guilty pleas and plea bargaining

§ Prosecutorial misconduct and wrongful convictions

Part 6: The Path Forward—Lessons for Taiwan

§ Police reform

§ Prosecutorial reform

§ Bail reform

§ Juvenile justice reform

§ Prison reform

§ Re-entry reform

§ Evidence-based criminal justice reform

Grading

70% Final Paper

30% Class Participation

Readings for the course will include selected pages from DEVON W. CARBADO, UNREASONABLE: BLACK LIVES, POLICE POWER, AND THE FOURTH AMENDMENT (2022) and CHRISTOPHER SLOBOGIN, ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO U.S. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (2020), along with U.S. Supreme Court case law, social science literature, news reports, and scholarly and advocacy white papers. All required readings are posted on TBD. There is no need to purchase any materials.