Courts and Criminal Procedure Exam Practice Tests

Course Introduction

Courts and Criminal Procedure offers an in-depth exploration of the American criminal justice system, focusing on the structure, function, and processes of the courts. The course examines the roles of key participants, including judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and defendants, while providing a detailed analysis of procedural rules governing criminal cases. Topics include arrest, charging, pretrial motions, plea bargaining, trial procedures, sentencing, appeals, and the constitutional protections afforded to individuals. Through case studies and landmark decisions, students gain insight into how legal processes balance public safety, individual rights, and the maintenance of justice within society.

Recommended Textbook

America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System 11th Edition by David W. Neubauer

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17 Chapters

1664 Verified Questions

1664 Flashcards

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Chapter 1: Courts, Crime, and Controversy

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Sample Questions

Q1) Criminal justice is best viewed as a system and a A)conglomerate

B)business

C)nonsystem

D)victim's agency

Answer: C

Q2) What is the name of a request for a judge to make a decision?

A)an affidavit

B)a warrant

C)a motion

D)a judgment

Answer: C

Q3) The operation of two separate and distinct court systems in the United States is referred to as:

A)a dual court system

B)checks and balances

C)separate but equal

D)judicial federalism

Answer: A

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Page 3

Chapter 2: Law and Crime

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Sample Questions

Q1) The mental state required for a crime to have been committed is referred to as the actus reus.

A)True

B)False

Answer: False

Q2) What type of law in the United States places a heavy emphasis on protecting the rights of individuals?

A) procedural law

B) inferential law

C) substantive law

D) administrative law

Answer: A

Q3) The Constitutional right to counsel applies at both criminal and civil proceedings.

A)True

B)False

Answer: False

Q4) The _____ of a crime provide the technical definition of a crime.

Answer: elements

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Page 4

Chapter 3: Federal Courts

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Q1) The United States has a _____ court system, which means that it has one national court system plus separate court systems in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Answer: dual

Q2) When cases are appealed, appellate court judges may call on witnesses to testify.

A)True

B)False

Answer: False

Q3) Which of the following gave the U.S.Supreme Court the authority to invalidate an act of Congress as unconstitutional?

A)Marbury v.Madison (1803)

B)Article III of the U.S.Constitution

C)The Judiciary Act of 1789

D)The Judiciary Act of 1801

Answer: A

Q4) A _____ is a court order that temporarily suspends activity in a case.

Answer: stay

Q5) Appellate courts primarily review the legal decisions made by _____ courts. Answer: trial

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Chapter 4: State Courts

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Sample Questions

Q1) Corrupt local officials are often prosecuted by their peers.

A)True

B)False

Q2) Misdemeanors are handled by which courts?

A)lower courts

B)supreme courts

C)justice of the peace courts

D)problem-solving courts

Q3) Citizens are more likely to have contact with a trial court of limited jurisdiction than with any other type of court.

A)True

B)False

Q4) Intermediate courts of appeals must hear all properly filed appeals.

A)True

B)False

Q5) Supreme courts in states without intermediate courts of appeals have no power to choose which cases will be placed on their dockets.

A)True

B)False

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Chapter 5: The Dynamics of Courthouse Justice

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Q1) The federal speedy-trial law is viewed as an important objective irrespective of whether the defendant's interests are in jeopardy.

A)True

B)False

Q2) Compare and contrast the law on the books and the law in action approaches to court delay.Which approach do you think is the most effective at addressing the problem of delay in courts? Why?

Q3) What factors often influence discretionary decision making by members of the courtroom work group?

A)legal judgments

B)policy priorities

C)personal philosophies

D)legal judgments, policy priorities, and personal philosophies

Q4) What is the name of the concept that describes the network of ongoing relationships among courthouse actors?

A)courtroom security

B)courtroom workgroup

C)courtroom personnel

D)courtroom ethics

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Chapter 6: Prosecutors

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Q1) In _____ prosecution, separate prosecutors are assigned to specific court functions, such as initial appearance, charging, grand jury, trial, or appeal.

Q2) How many offices are involved in prosecution in state courts?

A)one.

B)three.

C)two.

D)four.

Q3) When they first begin working as prosecutors, rookie assistant attorneys learn important unwritten rules, legal practices, and appropriate penalties

A)primarily through personal experience with informal awards and sanctions.

B)at law school.

C)under direct, close supervision of the district attorney.

D)by asking questions of experienced prosecutors, court clerks, and police officers.

Q4) A prosecutor is a lawyer as well as a(n) _____ of the court, whose primary responsibility is to see that justice is served.

Q5) U.S.attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the _____, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

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Page 8

Chapter 7: Defense Attorneys

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Q1) Argersinger v.Hamlin (1972) affected what kind of criminal defendants?

A)nonfelony defendants.

B)capital punishment defendants.

C)juveniles.

D)statutory defendants.

Q2) Defending unpopular clients is the basis for a great deal of _____ of lawyers.

Q3) Which of the following U.S.Supreme Court decisions held that defendants have the right to court-appointed counsel during custodial interrogations?

A)Gideon v.Wainwright

B)Terry v.Ohio

C)Miranda v.Arizona

D)Plessey v.Ferguson

Q4) The assigned counsel method is

A)attorneys appointed by the judge on a case-by-case basis.

B)attorneys hired to provide services for a specified dollar amount.

C)a salaried public official representing all indigent defendants.

D)None of these answers is correct.

Q5) Lawyers who are less cooperative find that they do not get _____ case scheduling considerations.

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Chapter 8: Judges

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Sample Questions

Q1) How many states currently use election by legislature to choose judges?

A)none

B)one

C)two

D)three

Q2) Judges are _____ by other members of the courtroom work group.

Q3) Over the past several decades, the composition of the bench has become

A)more diverse

B)more white

C)less diverse

D)more male dominated

Q4) Federal judicial _____ are initially heard by judicial councils, which are the administrative arm of each U.S.Court of Appeals.

Q5) If state judicial conduct commissions find merit to a complaint about a judge, they often implement formal sanctions immediately.

A)True

B)False

Q6) Discuss the role of the judge within the courtroom work group.

Q7) In _____ elections, the candidate's political party is listed on the ballot.

Page 10

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Chapter 9: Defendants, Victims, and Witnesses

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Q1) Most victim compensation programs

A)reimburse victims for lost or damaged property.

B)provide for the recovery of medical expenses and some lost wages.

C)ensure that defendants pay restitution.

D)All of these answers are correct.

Q2) Victim cooperation with the prosecution dramatically _____the odds that a case will be prosecuted.

Q3) Members of the courtroom work group generally enjoy interacting with victims and witnesses.

A)True

B)False

Q4) It is estimated that career criminals commit what percent of crimes?

A)over 40%

B)over 50%

C)over 60%

D)over 70%

Q5) As prosecutorial dominance increased in the United States, the power of victims declined.

A)True

B)False

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Chapter 10: Arrest to Arraignment

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Q1) Discuss case attrition and the role of the courtroom work group. Within the courtroom work group, who has the power to control attrition and what types of judgments go into dismissing cases? Be sure to provide examples.

Q2) During a hearing before a grand jury, the prosecutor must disclose exculpatory evidence against the target of the grand jury investigation.

A)True

B)False

Q3) A(n) _____ is the charging document most commonly used for misdemeanor and ordinance violations.

Q4) During what part of the criminal court process does a defendant enter a plea?

A)arrest

B)plea agreement

C)bail

D)arraignment

Q5) Defendant's may be formally charged by a complaint signed by a witness.

A)True

B)False

Q6) List and explain three reasons why a defense attorney would want to have a preliminary hearing.

Page 12

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Chapter 11: Disclosing and Suppressing Evidence

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Q1) What legal doctrine was established to control police misconduct?

A)exclusionary rule

B)rules related to exculpatory evidence

C)writ of habeous corpus

D)stare decisis

Q2) All potentially _____ evidence must be disclosed to the defense.

Q3) Discovery is designed to give only the defense in a legal dispute a good idea about the evidence that will be presented at trial.

A)True

B)False

Q4) Reciprocal disclosure by the defense during discovery is limited because the Constitution affords certain fundamental protections to the defendant.

A)True

B)False

Q5) The most controversial of the U.S.Supreme Court's criminal justice decisions have concerned how the police gather evidence.

A)True

B)False

Q6) Define, compare, and contrast formal and informal discovery.

Page 13

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Chapter 12: Negotiated Justice and the Plea of Guilty

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Q1) Both crime control and due process advocates oppose plea bargaining but for different reasons.What are the differing reason for each groups' opposition?

Q2) Discuss the varying explanations for plea bargaining and explain which theory you believe provides the best explanation.

Q3) An Alford plea technically does not require _____.

Q4) The overwhelming majority of all state and federal felony convictions are obtained as a result of a defendant entering a negotiated plea of guilt.

A)True

B)False

Q5) In what case did the Court hold that a plea of guilty was more than an admission of guilt and also involved the waiver of important constitutional rights?

A)Boykin v.Alabama.

B)Santobello v.New York.

C)Lafler v.Cooper.

D)Missouri v.Frye.

Q6) Explain the reasons that some defendants plead guilty.

Q7) Explain why few cases go to trial but most defendants plead guilty.

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Chapter 13: Trials and Juries

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Q1) What is the term indicating that a prosecutor in a criminal cases must produce some evidence to justify moving a case forward?

A)burden of proof

B)burden of evidence

C)burden of production

D)burden of instructions

Q2) The privilege against self-incrimination is found in the _____ Amendment.

Q3) What do jury consultants use to test which pieces of evidence, witnesses, and arguments might be most effective in convincing people to vote a particular way?

A)focus groups

B)polls

C)mock trials

D)focus groups and polls

Q4) All persons charged with an offense for which any amount of incarceration is possible have a right to a jury trial.

A)True

B)False

Q5) Summarize some of the basic rules of evidence.

Q6) The defense has the opportunity to _____ each of the prosecution's witnesses.

Page 15

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Chapter 14: Sentencing Options

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Sample Questions

Q1) The Court has narrowed the list of death-eligible offenders by striking down death penalty provisions for most crimes.Which of the following crimes remains an open question?

A)rape.

B)child rape.

C)homicide.

D)treason.

Q2) _____is a backdoor solution to prison overcrowding.

Q3) Which of the following is one of the three major issues related to imprisonment as a sentence in the United States?

A)overcrowding

B)conditions of confinement lawsuits

C)high costs of incarcerating prisoners

D)all of these answers are correct

Q4) In ancient societies, the primary purpose of punishment was A)rehabilitation.

B)deterrence.

C)incapacitation.

D)retribution.

Q5) Many lawsuits by inmates involve the _____ Amendment to the U.S.Constitution.

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Chapter 15: Sentencing Decisions

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Q1) Adherents of the crime control model were not concerned with A)excessive discretion.

B)undue leniency.

C)disparity.

D)lenient parole boards.

Q2) Changes in sentencing structure since the 1960s have resulted in a major increase in the number of persons in prison in the United States.

A)True

B)False

Q3) Some state supreme courts held that Blakely did not apply to their state sentencing schemes until what case?

A)Cunningham v.California (2007).

B)United States v.Booker (2005).

C)Rita v.United States (2007).

D)Kimbrough v.United States (2007).

Q4) Many judges say that sentencing is the most difficult part of the job.

A)True

B)False

Q5) How has the U.S.Supreme Court limited sentencing guidelines?

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Chapter 16: Appellate and Habeas Corpus Review

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Q1) Why do appellate courts often find no reversible error was committed during the trial court proceedings?

A)in large part because of the harmless error doctrine.

B)in large part because of the plain error doctrine.

C)in large part because of the reversible error doctrine.

D)in large part because of the deferential error doctrine.

Q2) The jurisdiction of the U.S.Supreme court is almost completely discretionary.

A)True

B)False

Q3) The Fifth Amendment ban on _____ generally prohibits retrial of a person who has already been convicted of the same crime.

Q4) What is it called when an appellate court upholds a lower court's decision?

A)affirmed

B)reversed

C)remanded

D)recused

Q5) In appeals, questions of fact are review de novo.

A)True

B)False

Q6) The party who initiates or files the first appeal is called the _____.

Page 18

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Chapter 17: Juvenile Courts

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Q1) _____ cases are handled formally in juvenile court.

Q2) What are the different ways that a juvenile may be transferred to adult court?

Q3) The Supreme Court held that juveniles are entitled to all of the same due process rights of adults.

A)True

B)False

Q4) All state use the same ages to establish juvenile court jurisdiction.

A)True

B)False

Q5) Gault and subsequent cases signaled that the juvenile court must become a real court and its procedures must be regularized in accordance with A)constitutional requirements.

B)parens patriae.

C)civil law.

D)criminal rules of procedure.

Q6) The courtroom work group member least likely to be present in the juvenile courtroom is the _____.

Q7) The doctrine of parens _____ authorizes the state to act as a parent.

Q8) Juvenile courts are based on _____ law.

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