Law 605:  Criminal Procedure: Investigations

This course deals with selected aspects of the administration of criminal justice. Primary emphasis is placed on the limitations imposed upon the criminal justice system by the Constitution and its amendments. The course focuses on those portions of the criminal justice system relating to the investigation of criminal activity; in depth study of the procedures employed in the processing of criminal cases is postponed until the course in Criminal Procedure: Adjudication (Law 679). The primary matters considered in this course may include the following: (1) the concept of due process and its relation to the investigation and prosecution of criminal activities; (2) the right to counsel; (3) constitutional limitations on arrest, search, and seizure; (4) wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping; (5) police interrogations and the fifth amendment; (6) the entrapment defense; (7) pretrial identification procedures; and, (8) the scope and administration of exclusionary rules intended to deter certain police activity. 

Sequence and Prerequisites: None. Students may take one or both Criminal Procedure courses; enrollment may be separate or concurrent.

Evaluation: Final Examination.