SSP 261 - Criminal Law

4.5 Continuing Education Units (CEU). This course is not for Credit(s).

This class is designed to provide the student a substantive criminal law review as it is applied at local, state and federal levels and examines elements of crimes as prosecuted in a court of law and the sources and types of criminal law. Topics to be covered include introduction to criminal law; civil vs. criminal law; purposes of criminal law; sources of substantive law; types of crimes; types of punishment; elements of a crime; defenses to criminal liability; statutory law; crimes against persons; crimes against property; controlled dangerous substances.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. relate the historical perspectives of criminal law to current day criminal law practice;
2. analyze the differences and similarities between criminal law and civil law;
3. compare the sources of modern criminal law to modern civil law;
4. evaluate the essential elements of various crimes;
5. analyze the legal requirements for charging a defendant with a particular crime
and the impact of social class as part of the equation;
6. evaluate the components necessary for a successful prosecution of a criminal case and the role the defense attorney plays in this equation;
7. analyze the process of criminal law through common law, constitutional law, statutory law and case law;
8. evaluate the differences between substantive and procedural criminal law;
9. evaluate, categorize, classify, interrelate, and identify crimes as to seriousness, parties, elements and degree of completion crimes and the elements of the crimes based on scenarios; and
10. evaluate the ramifications of the factors which lessen criminal responsibility.