Criminal Law CJL 4110; Section 16CB, Spring 2017
(DRAFT—subject to fine tuning)
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Instructor: Lonn Lanza-Kaduce()Class Meeting: 121 Lit
Office Hrs: T 4:45-6:15; R 8:30-10:00 (3348 Tur)Meeting time:T: 8th & 9th; R: 9th
Course Description
This is a course on substantive (as opposed to procedural) criminal law, including its historical development from the Common Law, the basic dimensions of criminality and the constitutional limits on criminalization, the specific elements of major crimes and the nature of criminal sanctions. The course will be a hybrid one that mixes face-to-face instruction with online learning.
Required Readings
The text will be Samaha’s (2017)Criminal Law 12th Edition (Boston: Cengage ISBN 978-1-305-57738-1). There will be web-based reading materials—some of which students may have to locate and others of which will be posted in Canvas.
Graded Work and Grading
Quizzes and Exams
The testing will be done through a mix of quizzes and exams. Different forms of the quizzes will be in Canvas and will be open book and open note but will be timed. The exams will be closed book and closed note. The quizzes will give you 22 questions to get 20 correct in 25 minutes. The exams will give you 44 questions to get 40 correct during a class period. Note that with the extra questions some cushion is built into each of them for calculating your percentage. The quizzes and exams will cover the material from the announced module or modules; they are not cumulative (although each unit of the course builds in some ways on prior material). In fact, I’m experimenting. The hypothesis is that more students do better in traditional period-long closed book, closed note settings because they prepare differently.
The Timed Case Brief
Figuring out court cases is a good critical reasoning exercise. You will have court cases (or at least case excerpts) to read throughout the course, so briefing practice will also help you understand the cases and law. Right away, you will be exposed to a case and a “brief” using a format designed for this class. There will be a template posted so you can assess your effort. During the second week you will have the opportunity to practice a brief over a case excerpt posted in Canvas(with a template provided for self-assessment). Your graded timed brief will take place on January 17in Canvas in lieu of class. You will be asked to access a court opinion excerpt under Quizzes in Canvas and you will have to write a brief(on that excerpt and only that excerpt) and submit it for grading. The timed, graded brief will be worth 30 points. You will have 60 minutes from the time it opens to complete and submit your brief. You may not use outside materials or go online during the exercise but you may use your notes and materials from class. DO NOT FOLLOW ANY EMBEDDED LINKS TO OUTSIDE SOURCES. DO NOT GO TO MATERIALS OUTSIDE THE CLASS; THEY WILL ONLY TAKE TIME FROM YOUR ANALYSIS AND ARE UNLIKELY TO BE INCLUDED IN THE RUBRIC THAT IS USED FOR GRADING. (In other words, it will hurt more than help.) You will be penalized if we determine you have gone to outside materials. You are expected to submit your own independent analysis. Grammar, punctuation, and syntax matter in all written assignments. You are expected to submit your own independent work. If you are referring to our text or lecture material, you may just indicate that.
The Law School Hypothetical
This is a variation of an essay exam and it will be done in Unit II. Fitting law with facts is an important critical reasoning exercise. You will be given a hypothetical set of facts regarding criminal law (posted under assignments in Canvas). You will be asked to write how you would apply the law to the set of facts. It will be worth 30 points. IT WILL BE DONE ONLINE IN CANVAS. You may use your notes and class materials for this exercise. You will have an hour from the time the site opens to complete it. More than one form of the scenario will be used and you will have to answer the form you are assigned. CHECK THE DATES AND TIMES in the tentative schedule below.
Grammar, punctuation, and syntax matter. You are expected to submit your own independent work. You are to use only the material from the class to conduct the analysis. DO NOT GO TO MATERIALS OUTSIDE THE CLASS; THEY WILL ONLY TAKE TIME FROM YOUR ANALYSIS AND ARE UNLIKELY TO BE INCLUDED IN THE RUBRIC THAT IS USED FOR GRADING. (In other words, it will hurt more than help.) You will be penalized if we determine you have gone to outside materials. You are welcome to refer to our text, lecture, or other class material; just indicate that in your essay.
Statutory Construction Paper
The short writing project will deal with how a statute is constructed. It will take place in the third unit and will be posted as an assignment in Canvas. It will be worth 20 points. It is not timed and can be completed as soon as you want after you cover the relevant material. Submit it as a Word document in Canvas. Grammar, punctuation, and syntax matter in all written assignments. You are expected to submit your own independent work. Please be careful about plagiarism; it is easy to “cut and paste” from others’ work. CITE, CITE, CITE! If you take someone else’s ideas, cite it; if you take someone’s words verbatim, use quotation marks and cite it. If you are referring to our text or lecture material, you may just indicate that. DUE DATE: April 7, 2017 by 11:59 p.m.
Extra Credit
An extra credit project will be announced.
Make Ups
If youmiss any of the exams, the graded brief, or the graded hypothetical, you will be allowed to make it up only if you have documentation for an excused absence during the time when the respectiveexercise was scheduled. ALL MAKE UPS WILL BE DONE IN PERSON AND SCHEDULED FOR 8:30A.M. on APRIL 19, 2017.
Grade Scale
Grading will be on a point system; we expect a total of 200 points (subject to midcourse adjustments). I will not use minuses. The grading scale will be: A=90% or more of the total points; B+=87-89%; B=80-86%; C+=77-79%; C=70-76%; D+=67-69%; D=60-66%; E< 60%. The Grade Book will be maintained in Canvas. Because of “cushion” points, the percentages computed by Canvas will be off; calculate your own percentages.
Graded AssignmentsPoints
2 quizzes (online)20 each
2 exams (in class)40 each
1 brief(online)30
1 law-school hypothetical (online)30
1 paper (online)20
Communications
Sent messages are not completed communications until they are received. If you leave an important message and get no response, follow up to make sure it has been received. The best way to contact me is through email. My old ears don’t always pick up voice mail and messages too often get garbled. For confidentiality reasons, be sure to use the Canvas message system and not a private provider like gmail. I am not supposed to be careful about conducting business through email providers outside the UF services. Please email through the e-learning Canvas website so that I can keep class matters organized and separate from the other many emails that come in every day.
Student Rights and Responsibilities
Please inform yourself about your rights and responsibilities, including academic honesty guidelines, formal and informal procedures for hearing academic dishonesty cases, the grievance procedure, and confidentiality of student records. See generally: See also: According to university rules, on all work submitted for credit by students at the university, the following pledge is either required or implied: "On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment." You are expected to do your own independent work.
Student records are confidential. Only information designated “UF directory information” (see University Regulation 6C1-4.007) may be released without your written consent. UF views each student as the primary contact for all communication. If your parent or anyone else contacts me about your grade or performance or for any information that is not “UF directory information,” I will ask him or her to contact you.
Students requesting classroom accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation. Its Disability Resource Center’s website is: Please get information about accommodations to me by before January 15 so we have time to work out arrangements before the first graded exercise.
You may raise matters or concerns you have about the course with your instructor, the department chair (Dr. Zsembik) or the university ombudsman (
One Classroom Rule
NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES ARE TO BE VISIBLE OR USED IN THE CLASSROOM without prior approval from the instructor. They are too often used during class for purposes unrelated to class and there is some evidence that taking notes the old fashioned way is more effective for learning. Similarly, there are no Powerpoints. My position is that for legal analysis, students need to engage more actively with developing the structure of the points and arguments. The process is organic and not mechanical; it has to be flexible as student questions and comments are incorporated.
Tentative Schedule and Outline
Unit I Introduction (January 5 – Feb. 2)
Reading and Lectures
Module 1
Intro: a. Criminal Law in the American Legal Context (posting)
b. Posted “Sentencing” Ch. 11 inReid’s (2013). Criminal Lawtext
c. Marbury v. Madison (1803); a template brief will be posted
Ch. 2 Constitutional Limits
Module 2
Ch 3 Actus Reus
Ch 4 Mens Rea
Graded Exercises
Timed Brief in lieu of class on January 17—At class time, be at a place where you can access Canvas
Exam 1 over Modules 1 & 2 (Unit I): February 2IN CLASS
UnitII Defenses and Parties (Feb. 7-March 23)
Readings and Lectures
Module 3
Ch5 Justifications
Ch 6 Excuses
Module 4
Ch 7 Parties
Ch 8 Inchoate Crimes
Graded Exercises
Module 3 Quiz 1: Feb. 23 in lieu of class—at class time be at a place where you can access Canvas
Hypothetical: Mar. 2 in lieu of class—at class time be at a place where you can access Canvas
Module 4 Quiz 2: March 23 in lieu of class—at class time be at a place where you can access Canvas
Unit IIICrime Categories (March 28-April18)
Readings and Lectures on Crime against Persons
Module 5
Ch 9 Murder/Manslaughter
Ch. 11 Property
Ch 10 Other crimes against persons
Module 6
Ch 12 public order and morality
Ch 13 crimes against the state
Graded Exercises
Statutory Construction Paper: due online in Canvas April 7 by 11:59 p.m.
Exam 2 over Modules 5 & 6 (Unit III) April 18 (IN CLASS)