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US Criminal Law and Procedure

This course covers the basics of the U.S. criminal justice system. As mentioned by the course name “Criminal Law and Procedure”, much attention is also given to criminal procedure, because it is essential to understanding how the criminal law is actually applied. The course covers the sources of modern criminal law and procedure and their continuing development; organization of the criminal courts; the roles of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, grand juries, judges and trial juries. Other topics of specific interest may be discussed, for example, DNA, lie detectors, the death penalty, the witness protection program, “crown witnesses”, and subsequent exoneration of wrongly convicted defendants. The course is based mainly on the Federal criminal justice system with references to various State systems to explain or contrast different procedures or rules.