Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Abbe Lowell

J.D. Course 032 | 2 credit hours

This course addresses the law, strategy, and ethical considerations of criminal procedure and litigation beginning with the decision to commence an investigation and/or charge through sentencing. Topics to be explored will include the prosecutorial decision to charge, representation (e.g., conflicts) of and compensation (e.g., forfeiture) by client issues, grand jury practice, immunity and plea negotiating, discovery, motions practice, prosecutorial and defense misconduct, selected trial issues, and sentencing. Materials for this course will include court opinions, pleadings from actual cases, Department of Justice manuals and policies, and news and law articles. The course may be organized around an actual case from its investigation inception, through pre-trial motions and discovery, to trial and verdict.

Prerequisite: Criminal Justice (or the equivalent Democracy and Coercion) or Criminal Procedure.

Students may not receive credit for both this course and Advanced Criminal Procedure or Advanced Criminal Procedure: Race and Poverty or Federal Investigations and Prosecutions.