The Illustrated Guide to Law
A free resource, teaching how the law works… and how it doesn't!
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CRIMINAL LAW
Crime
1. Introduction: What IS Crime?
2. More than “Don’t”
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Meet the State
Punishment
Introduction
1. Punishment: “Take That!”
2. One Tool
3. What IS Punishment?
4. A Hell of a Thing
5. Options
Rehabilitation
6. For the Love of God, Why?
7. I Can Fix Him
8. Is Rehabilitation Necessary?
9. Does Rehabilitation Work?
10. Tough Love
11. It Ain’t Easy
Deterrence
12. Deterrence: Don’t Do That Again!
13. Specific Deterrence
14. General deterrence
15. Measuring Deterrence
16. Does Deterrence Work?
17. When Deterrence Works
18. Perception Is Everything
19. Who Knows?
20. Can’t We Be Civilized
The Three 'R's
21. Removal
22. Removal: Off the Streets
23. Removal: Problems
24. Removal: Civilized?
25. Retribution: What’s It Worth?
26: Retribution: Proportional Suffering
27. Retribution: Civilized?
28. Retaliation: Striking Back
29. Retaliation: Civilized?
Guilt
Introduction
1. Introduction: “I Didn’t Mean To!”
2. Justice
3. Who Deserves Punishment?
4. Culpability
Mens Rea
5. Jack and Jill
6. Jan and Dean
7. Bonnie and Clyde
8. Romeo and Juliet
9. Ricky and Lucy
10. Mens Rea = Mental State
11. Guilty mind
12. Accident
13. Negligence
14. Recklessness
15. Knowledge
16. Intent
17. The Mens Rea – O – Meter
Axes of Evil
18. Awareness
19. Responsibility
20. Blame
21. Indirect Cause
22. Let’s Play “Pin the Blame on Somebody”
23. Two Axes: Mens Rea, and Responsibility
24. Intent Without Causation
25. The Third Axis: Depravity
26. Punishing Awfulness
27. Deserving It
Actus Reus
28. What Have You DONE?
29. An Assault
30. The Elements of Crime: Guilty Mind, and Guilty Act
31. Voodoo
32. Causation
33. A Series of Unfortunate Events
34. Cause In Fact, and Proximate Cause
35. Concurrence
36. He Missed and Maimed Mamie Instead
37. Transferred Intent
Attempt
38. Attempt: “At Least You Tried”
39. It’s All About You
40. Schemes
41. Dreams
42. Making Scenes
43. Working
44. Digging
45. And Then There’s Maude
46. She Takes Her Shot
47. Thought Crime?
48. Mere Intent
49. Taking Steps
50. Apply the Purposes of Punishment
51. Different States, Different Laws
52. A Continuum
53. Subjective Mind vs. Objective Action
54. Attempt Is Always On Purpose
55. A Safety Valve
56. Abandoned Attempt
57. Abandonment: Timing Is Everything
58. A Change of Heart
59. Impossibility
60. Frick’s Frustration
61. Frack’s Frustration
62. Attempt: Summing Up
Conspiracy & Solicitation
63. Conspiracy: “We’ll All Go Down Together”
64. Assembling the Crew: The Wheels, The Brains
65. Assembling the Crew: The Expert, The Heavy
66. The Plan
67. The Supplies
68. The Job
69. The Line
70. The Signal
71. The Wires
72. The Glitch
73. The Hitch
74. The Getaway
75. The Mess
76. The Rendezvous
77. The Showdown
78. The Cavalry
79. Solicitation
80. Accomplices
81. Accomplice Liability
82. All Kinds of Accomplices
83. Not Every Helper is an Accomplice
84. Criminal Facilitation
85. Conspiracy: Inchoate Crime
86. Conspiracy: Agreement and Action
87. Conspiracy: Agreement and Intent
88. Conspiracy: A Big Net
89. Conspiracy: The Prosecutor’s Favorite Weapon
90. A Separate Crime
91. Withdrawal from a Conspiracy
92. A Conspiracy of One?
93. Felony Murder
94. Foreseeability
95. Fail. Jail.
Defenses
Mistake and Insanity
1. “Excuse Me!”
2. Ignorance of the Law
3. Forgiveness vs. Nothing to Forgive
4. Excuse vs. Justification
5. Mistaken Facts
6. Not a Defense If Not a Crime
7. Provocation: Temporary Insanity
8. Provocation: Elements of the Defense
9. Provocation: The Rationale
10. The “Reasonable Person”
11. “Reasonable?” It Depends
12. Insanity
13. Insanity: You Wouldn’t Understand
14. Delusion
15. What’s the Point of Punishment?
16. Insanity Has Consequences
17. Diminished Capacity
18. Blackout Drunk
19. Another Transferred Intent
20. Only on T.V.
Entrapment
21. “I Was Entrapped!”
22. Cora Gets Advice
23. Cop Costs Extra
24. Outrageous?
25. Grayson Helps Out
26. Sylvester’s Security
27. Solid Saul
28. Jeez
29. Jen Shops Around
30. Federal Assistance
31. Zeke Blocks It
32. Zeke Freaks
33. All Your Myths Are Wrong
34. Myth #1: A Cop Has to Tell You He’s a Cop
35. Think About It
36. Not a Survival Skill
37. Elements of Entrapment
38. Entrapment Explanation
39. You Were Tricked
40. But Were You Willing?
41. Myths #2 & #3: The Police Can’t Get Involved
42. Some Things Undercovers Can Do
43. Myth #4: The Police Can’t Help You Break the Law
44. Myth #5: The Police Can’t Let You Break the Law
45. Opportunity Isn’t Entrapment
46. Entrapment Overcomes Your Free Will
47. Informants
48. The Power of Cops Compels You
49. False Representation
Justification Defenses
Introduction
50. Excuse vs. Justification (again)
51. Excuse = An Option
52. Justification = No Alternative
53. The 3 Justification Defenses
Necessity
54. Meet Dylan the Dimwit
55. Harry the Hero Helps
56. Immediate Danger
57. Lesser of Two Evils
58. Necessity: Elements of the Defense
59. There’s No Chutzpah Defense
60. Becky’s Bentley
61. Weighing Evils
62. Up a Cliff
63. Dire Decision
64. Trolley Problem
65. “As a Matter of Law”: Policy’s Thumb on the Scales
66. The GREATER Good
67. Volition
68. Equivalent Evil
69. No, That Doesn’t Count
70. No, That Doesn’t Count, Either
Duress
71. Duress: “Do or Die”
72. Vicky Meets the Golden Horde
73. Did She Decide?
74. Did She Have a Choice?
75. Elements of Duress: Threat & Fear
76. Elements of Duress: Do or Die
77. Why Duress Is a Defense
78. Stu Meets the Horde
79. Stu and the Snitch
80. 3… 2… 1…
81. …
82. Duress vs. Necessity
83. Duress Doesn’t Always Help
84. Millie the Mule
85. Immediate Danger
86. Overcoming Your Free Will
87. Different States, Different Laws (duress edition)
88. Bob at the Bank
89. Another Guy, Another Bank
90. Stranger Things
91. No Duty, No Defense?
92. Nobody Said the Law Was Fair
93. Trog’s Initiation
94. There’s Still No Chutzpah Defense
95. Duress Is Rare
Self-Defense
96. Self-Defense: “It Was Either Him or Me”
97. Drop It or You’re Dead
98. Defense of Property
99. Non-Deadly Force
100. Rico’s Ranch Hands
101. Defending What You Stole?
102. SELF Defense
103. OMG, the Saloon
104. Laredo Luke
105. Blam
106. Defense Against Unlawful Violence
107. Only Necessary Force
108. Throwing the First Punch
109. Pre-Emptive Self-Defense
110. When Fighting Back Is Illegal
111. Same Night, Another Fight
112. So Far, So Good
113. Escalation
114. Defender Becomes Aggressor
115. DEADLY Force Has Different Rules
116. Caleb Crawls In
117. Home Intrusion
118. Deadly Force: Last Resort
119. Deadly Force: Elements of the Defense
120. Your Own Home: No Duty to Retreat
121. Your Own Home: Necessity Still Necessary
122. “Imperfect” Self-Defense
123. Two Gunslingers
124. He Shot First
125. Stand Your Ground
126. Making a Getaway
127. An Accident?
128. Reckless?
129. To the Rescue
130. Defense of Others
131. “Transferred” Duty to Retreat
132. Lillie Wants to Stay
133. Hank Had a Drink
134. Hank Hurts
135. Two Years
136. He Will
137. Lillie Says Goodbye
138. …
139. What Have You Done?
140. Battered Woman Defense
141. There’s No “He Needed Killin'” Defense
142. You Did the Right Thing?
Guilt Without Fault
Introduction
1. A Feather
2. Memories
3. MBTA
4. You Did Nothing Wrong? Go to Jail.
5. Soup
6. Impossible
7. Nobody Could Have Guessed It Was Illegal? Go to Jail.
Overcriminalization
8. Countless Crimes: Literally Uncountable
9. Unknown Crimes: Literally Unknowable
10. Criminal Law: Vague, Arbitrary, and Capricious
11. Regulatory Agencies
12. Enacting Without Understanding
13. Do It My Way
14. Progressive Idealism
15. A Man of Principles
16. Prescribing, Not Describing
17. Overbroad
18. Zero Tolerance
19. The Law Means What I Say It Means
20. You’ll Just Have to Trust Me
21. Unfair, Unjust
History of Overcriminalization and Strict Liability
22. Custom and Tradition
23. Law Is Good
24. Law Goes Bad
25. Ancient Rome: Popularity Over Principle
26. Ancient Rome: Countless, Contradictory
27. Ancient Rome: Bad Government? More Laws!
28. Old England: Common Sense
29. Old England: Common Understanding
30. Old England: Straightforward Law
31. Old England: Mens Rea, Justification, Incapacity
32. Old England: Simple Punishment
33. Old England: Might Makes Right?
34. Old England: Corruption?
35. Old England: The State Gets Involved
36. Old England: The Rule of Law
37. Old England: Proliferation of Laws
38. Old England: Overcriminalization
39. Old England: The Need for Reform
40. Old England: A Snare for the Unwary
41. Old England: Blackstone Suggests Reforms
42. America: Listening to Blackstone
43. America: A New Conception of Crime
44. America: Enlightened Thought
45. America: Prison to Progress
46. America: Rehabilitation, a New Idea
47. Self-Help
48. America: The State Takes Charge
49. Strict Liability: Origins
50. Strict Liability: Principled
51. Strict Liability: Statutory Rape Makes Sense
52. Strict Liability: Changing the Rules
53. Strict Liability: Statutory Rape Law Stops Making Sense
54. Strict Liability: Regulators Love It
55. Strict Liability: Forgetting the Principle
Concluding Thoughts
56. Getting Tough on Crime
57. Choking on Our Institutions
58. Sucks to Be You: Crime Becomes a Lottery
59. Video: No Mens Rea? No Problem!
60. Keep Your Head Down
Examples
Theft
1. A Violin
2. A Crime?
3. Burglary Means Breaking In
4. Robbery Means Violence
5. Larceny Means Theft
6. Petty Larceny, Grand Larceny
7. Mistake About Value?
Assault and Hate Crime
8. Pow! Right in the Kisser
9. Battery Means Bodily Harm
10. Dealing with Defenses
11. Simple? Aggravated?
12. Hate Crime: Born This Way
13. Hate Crime: An Extra Level of Mens Rea
Rape
14. Nope.
15. A Rape Law
16. What “Consent” Means
17. First Degree Rape
18. Force? No Consent.
19. Sooo Drunk
20. But She Said Yes
21. Doesn’t Matter
22. If You Knew, That’s Rape 2
23. You Couldn’t Have Known? Not Rape.
24. Regret
25. He Said, She Said
26. Relevant Facts
27. Rape Shield Laws
28. False Accusations
29. Other Considerations
Homicide
30. Murder and Manslaughter
31. Manslaughter and Negligent Homicide
32. Another Fight
33. Another Accident?
34. Causation
35. Misdemeanor Manslaughter
36. Predictability
37. Mens Rea
38. Awareness of Risk
39. Provocation
40. Alcohol
41. An Idea
42. A Plan
43. A Gun
44. A Felony
45. Deaths
46. Homicide?
47. Felony Murder
48. Homicide vs. Accident
49. A Terrorist
50. A Bomb
51. An Explosion
52. Depravity vs. Mens Rea
53. Violence for Political Goals = Terrorism
54. Breaking the Mens Rea – O – Meter
55. An Injection
Criminal Law: Conclusion
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Introduction: So What?
1. Crim Pro: So What?
2. Hammer Time
3. With Great Power Comes Great… Abuse
4. Out of Control
5. Enter Justice
6. Procedure Is Our Protection
7. Criminal Procedure
Meet the Players
Player One
1. Life Isn’t Pretty
2. All You’ve Got
3. Meet the Cop
4. A Hard Job
5. No, Not Pretty
Player Two
6. Not My Job
7. Still Not My Job
8. Meet the Prosecutor
9. Great Power
10. Great Responsibility
Player Three
11. Why? How?
12. All You’ve Got
13. Meet the Defense Counsel
14. Disservice?
15. Greasing the Wheels
Player Four
16. Got to Be Fair
17. Fair Enough
18. Enter the Judge
19. Fair Question
20. Trying to Be…
Player Five
21. Nope, Not You
Search and Seizure
Introduction: Police vs. Privacy
1. Police vs. Privacy
2. An Officer Finds Evidence
3. Getting Off on a Technicality?
4. Privacy
5. The Fourth Amendment
6. 4th Amendment: Why?
7. 4th Amendment: Prohibition
8. 4th Amendment: Probable Cause
9. 4th Amendment: The Warrant Requirement
10. A Balancing Act
11. Excluding Evidence
12. Why Exclude Evidence?
13. The Beauty of the Exclusionary Rule
14. The Shield of Justice
15. Bad Understanding = Weird Outcomes
Search Warrants and Standing
16. Charlie Gets Arrested
17. Checking Charlie’s Story
18. A Rude Awakening
19. Is It Enough?
20. Get a Warrant
21. Breaking Up the Party
22. Something Smells
23. Oh No! Anyway…
24. Standing
25. What If a Warrant is Based on a Lie?
26. No-Knock Warrant, Protective Sweep
27. Can Police Rely on a Bad Warrant?
Wiretaps: Electronic Eavesdropping
28. A Tragedy
29. A Suspect
30. Many More Hoops to Jump Through
31. Necessity
32. No Other Way
33. Connect the Dots: Building Probable Cause
34. The Easy Part
35. Minimization
36. Lots of Work to Do
37. Listening Isn’t Everything
38. A Call
39. A Code?
40. Surveillance
41. Wham
42. An Arrest
Stop / Frisk / Arrest
43. You’re Being Detained: Seizing the Person
44. Reasonable Suspicion, Probable Cause
45. When Seizure Was Straightforward
46. Search Without Probable Cause?
47. Stop and Frisk
48. Limited Scope
49. Pat-Down
50. Secret Page! Don’t Tell!
51. What IS an Arrest?
52. Sliding Scales of Justice
53. Are You Free to Leave?
54. Example: First Contact
55. Example: Stop
56. Example: Frisk, Arrest
57. It Was Lawful!
58. It Was Unlawful!
Automobiles
59. A Traffic Stop
60. A Stop is a Stop
61. Get Out of the Car!
62. Some Right Balderdash
63. Can You Frisk a Car?
64. Plain View
65. What About the Trunk?
66. Asking Permission
67. Consent to Search
68. Don’t Consent
69. Police: Deception is OK. Coercion is Not.
70. The Scope of Consent
71. What’s In the Trunk?
72. A Checkpoint
73. Detention Without Suspicion
74. Checkpoints: About Cars, Not Crime
75. Lawful Checkpoint Purposes
76. Strangely Lawful Checkpoint Purposes
77. Roll Down the Window, Please
78. Not Suspicious at All
79. This Can’t Be Happening
80. Search Incident to Arrest
81. Searching the Car and Closed Containers
82. Searching the Trunk?
83. Dog Sniff vs. Privacy
84. Dog Sniff vs. Search
85. The Automobile Exception
86. An Outcome
Emergency Exceptions
87. A Quiet Mountain Town
88. A Chase of Life or Death
89. A Pursuit
90. An Unexpected Arrest
91. A Choice
92. A Break
93. A Noise
94. A Seizure
95. Hot Pursuit
96. Hot Pursuit vs. Warrant Requirement
97. Plain View
98. Plain View vs. Warrant Requirement
99. Plain Perception
100. When Police Outweigh Privacy
101. Deadly Force as Seizure
102. Standing vs. Abandonment
103. Standing vs. Concealment
104. Hot Pursuit, Cold Trail
105. To Freeze or Seize
106. Public Safety, Rescue
107. Urgent Need for Assistance
108. Protective Sweep?
109. A New Emergency
110. A Peaceful Mountain Town
THE FOURTH AMENDMENT FLOWCHART
Self-Incrimination
Introduction: Convict Yourself!
1. Introduction: Convict Yourself!
2. Keep an Open Mind
3. Minds Slam Shut
4. Forced to Confess
5. Manipulated Confessions
6. Fraudulent Confessions
7. Punishing the Innocent
8. Innocence Isn’t Everything
9. The Big Concern: Overpowering Your Free Will
10. The Ultimate Abuse of Power
History of Self-Incrimination Law
11. It’s Not What You Think
12. England Was Different
13. England’s Proud Principle
14. Torture
15. England’s Bizarre Notion
16. Who Cares if it Works? It’s Wrong.
17. Common Sense and Common Law
18. Star Chamber: Inquisitorial, Not Adversarial
19. Inquisition: Results, Not Rights
20. Inquisitorial Courts: Parliament Fights Back
21. The Accident of Fundamental Rights
22. Deadly Detour: Church and State Become Buddies
23. Deadly Detour: Religious Persecution, the Police State
24. Deadly Detour: Torture & Coercion
25. Deadly Detour: Abuse & Opposition
26. Deadly Detour: An Innocent Person Has Nothing to Fear
27. Deadly Detour: Coercion Is Un-English
28. England Picks Up Where It Left Off
29. Duress is the Colonial Way
30. Enlightenment Ideas
31. A Bill of Rights
32. The Fifth Amendment
33. Bedrock Principle: A Confession Must Be Voluntary
34. The Crime Wave
35. Results, Not Rights: The American Inquisition
36. Nobody Expected the American Inquisition
37. Torture, American Style
38. Outrage and Confusion
39. OMG Science!
40. What Polygraphs are Really For
41. Scientifically Coerced Confessions
42. Interrogation that Gets Results
43. The Right to Counsel?
44. The Reid Technique: Opening Moves
45. The Reid Technique: Sealing the Deal
46. Maybe Use the Fifth Amendment?
47. Miranda v. Arizona
48. Miranda’s Magic Words
49. Miranda’s Fundamental Disconnect
Taking the Fifth
50. Jane Has a Webcomic
51. Think of the Children!
52. Senate Hearings
53. Jane Respectfully Declines to Answer
54. INNOCENT People Take the Fifth
55. Contempt is Coercion
56. The Elements of the Privilege
57. Neutralizing the Privilege
58. Can Corporations Take the Fifth?
59. Documents vs. Testimony
60. Samples vs. Self-Incrimination
61. Taking the Fifth to Protect Another?
62. Coercion, But Not State Coercion
63. Talking vs. Taking the Fifth
64. Waiving Your Rights
65. Silence vs. Taking the Fifth
66. How to Take the Fifth
Miranda: Custodial Interrogation
67. Miranda’s Magic Words: A Refresher
68. It Begins with an Arrest
69. Speaking of Crime
70. Questions for the Doctor
71. Grill, Interrupted
72. Executing a Search Warrant
73. Another Arrest
74. No Further Questions
75. Guns Drawn
76. Split Them Up
77. What Do You Have to Say For Yourself?
78. There Are No Words
79. I Know My Rights
80. Let’s Change the Subject
81. Choice Words
82. Nice Car
83. A Strange Question
84. A Rough Scene
Recap: We’ll All Go Down Together
85. What Can We Use?
86. No Custody, No Miranda
87. Custody Equals Coercion. Unless…
88. Fifth Amendment Custody
89. Custody Examples
90. The First Step: Was It Voluntary?
91. Voluntariness: This Specific Person’s Free Will
92. Traffic Stop vs. Fifth Amendment Custody
93. Custody vs. Stop
94. Stop Becomes Custody
95. This Is What It Sounds Like, When Cops Lie
96. Police Deception and Coercion
97. Is It Interrogation?
98. Consequences
99. Public Safety Exception
100. Custody + Interrogation = Miranda
101. ANYTHING You Say…
102. Custody is Custody
103. Deep Breaths
104. Interrogation Isn’t Just Questions
105. Cops Get a Do-Over
106. Waiver: A Free Pass
107. How Courts Really Decide
108. It’s So Easy (to Waive Your Rights)
109. Does Miranda Make Everything Worse?
110. INVOKING Your Rights: Silence
111. Miranda: A Second Interrogation?
112. Police Safety Exceptions
113. Rights Waived… or Rights Invoked?
114. INVOKING Your Rights: Counsel
115. Rights… Rights… Who’s Left?
116. The Psylent One…
117. Exercising- I Mean, INVOKING Your Rights
118. ALL YOU NEED TO SAY. (But You Need to Say It.)
119. Knowing and Voluntary Waiver
120. Serious Danger
121. A Long Way Away
122. The Different Story
123. Who’s Playing Who?
124. Self-Incrimination Finale: SHUT UP!
THE FIFTH AMENDMENT FLOWCHART
Eyewitness Identification
Introduction: It Was You!
1. Introduction: It Was You!
2. Did You Get a Good Look at Him?
3. Is That Him?
4. That’s the Guy.
5. Minds Snap Shut
6. Life Passes…
7. …And Then
8. So Many Wrongful Convictions
9. Identification is Memory
A Memory for Faces
10. Memory Isn’t a Movie
11. Connect the Neurons
12. Proustian
13. Sensation vs. Perception
14. Did You Notice?
15. Working Memory
16. Hold That Thought
17. “Chunking”
18. Make It Last
19. Unlimited Capacity
20. Meet Your Hippocampus
21. Use It or Lose It
22. Making Connections
23. The More Ways You Use It…
24. Learning is a Social Skill
25. You Know More Than You Saw
26. Remember This for Me
27. I Remembered It for You
28. A Feature—Not a Bug
29. That Never Happened? Yeah, I Remember It.
30. Filling In the Blanks
31. You Saw Nothing
32. What Have You Seen?
33. Expectations
34. Context Equals Recollection
35. Thank God for Stereotypes
36. Jumping to Conclusions
37. When Stereotypes Fail
38. Paying Attention Ain’t Free
39. PANIC!
40. No, Seriously. Panic.
41. More Memory Malleability
Facial Recognition
42. Wired for Faces
43. Prototypes
44. Diagnosis
45. What’s Different?
46. Different People Have Different Parts That Are Different
47. Cross-Race Identification
48. Faces and Working Memory
49. Cross-Race Identification: Worse Than You Think
Identification Procedures
50. Let’s Be Scientific
51. Scientific Experiment
52. Control Group
53. Witness Problems
54. Experimental Error: Influencing the Outcome
55. Suggestibility
56. So Much Suggestibility
57. Confirmation Bias
58. No! Don’t Reinforce THAT Memory!
59. Misleading Questions
60. Who’s There? Interrupting Cow. InterrupMOOOOOO!
61. Let Your Witness Do the Talking
62. Easy Fix
63. Double-Blind
64. Sequential, or Simultaneous?
65. Faulty Fillers
66. Fine Fillers
67. Showups
68. Showup Problems
69. More Showup Problems
70. Serious Showup Problems
71. Police Sketch
72. Sketches Be Sketchy
73. Best Practices
Identification Law
74. Law?
75. I.D. Issues
76. A Crime
77. An Eyewitness
78. An I.D.
79. Another I.D.
80. A Hearing
81. A Deal?
82. Identification vs. Self-Incrimination
83. Identification and the Right to Counsel
84. Right to Counsel: Timing
85. Right to Counsel: Limitations
86. A Photo Array
87. A Brady Violation?
88. Coaching the Witness?
89. Reliability?
90. Law: It’s About Police, Not Precision
91. So What? Who Cares?
92. Fourth Amendment Issues
93. Fifth Amendment Due Process
94. Are Eyewitness Identifications Inherently Unfair?
95. Urgency vs. Suggestivity
96. Is Memory Legit? 5 Questions
97. Is the Law Stupid?
98. The Judge Rules: The Showup
99. What the Law Wants
100. Tainted Law
101. Fair Suggestions
102. The Judge Rules: In-Court I.D.
103. Taco Time
104. Photo Array Issues
105. Photo Array Concerns
106. Photo Array Arguments
107. More Photo Array Arguments
108. Photo Array Reliability
109. The Judge Rules: Photo Array
110. Is THIS the Eyewitness I.D. Flowchart?
111. THE EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION FLOWCHART
112. A Verdict
113. Enough
114. Saying Goodbye
THE EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION FLOWCHART
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Introduction
What Is Con Law?
1. Con Law Is Divisive Social Issues
2. Con Law Is Powerful Ideas
3. Con Law is Quite a Ride
What Is a Constitution?
4. A Constitution Isn’t Legislation
5. A Constitution… Constitutes
6. A Constitution Creates a Government, and Defines Its Powers
7. A Constitution Is Principles, Not Details
8. The U.S. Constitution Is Brief
THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION (Annotated)
What Were They Thinking?
Why A Constitution?
1. What Were They Thinking?
2. Annapolis
3. The Articles of Confederation
4. A Country in Crisis
5. Even More Crises
6. Hell in a Handbasket
7. Can We Tweak the Confederation?
8. We the People: Popular Sovereignty
9. The Preamble: The Hinge of History
The Constitutional Convention
10. Coming to Philadelphia
11. Madison Has a Plan
12. Amend the Constitution?
13. Should Amendments Be Allowed?
14. Do We WANT a Living Constitution?
15. Hamilton Has a Plan
16. April Fools!
17. In the Room Where It Happened? Nope.
18. Hammering Out the Details
19. The Will of the People? Okay, How?
20. Why Two-Thirds?
21. Why Not More? Why Not Less?
22. Who Says? The States or the People?
23. Guvneer Has a Point
24. Does Anybody Have an Answer?
25. They Skipped A Step.
26. The South Brings Up Slavery
27. The Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Seeds of Secession (long)
28. Protecting the Slave Trade
29. They Skipped Another Step
30. Styling a Final Draft
31. Guvneer Makes Some Changes
32. Really? Really.
33. The Final Day: Mason Makes a Prediction
34. The Final Day: All in Favor?
35. The Final Day: Debates and Disagreement
36. The Final Day: Shut Up, Sherman!
37. The Final Day: Um…
38. The Final Day: The Brink of Disaster
39. The Final Day: A Peculiar Solemnity
40. The Final Day: The Final Vote
41. Franklin Has Something to Say
42. A Nice Speech, But…
43. A Compromise, But…
44. Washington Speaks.
What Does It Mean?
45. What Did It Even Mean?
46. Ideas About Interpretation
47. Moving On
A History of Government, in Six Revolutions
Introduction
48. Ideas: Ponet, Grotius, Hobbes, and Locke
49. The American Mind
A Brief History of Government
The Cognitive Revolution
50. The State of Nature
51. Cooperation and Trust
52. Loyalty, Intimacy, and Bonding
53. Language, Narrative, and Culture
54. Bands: Family, Equality, and Liberty
55. Natural Regulation: No Hierarchy, No Religion
56. Natural Regulation: Worth, Social Hormones, Conscience
57. Natural Regulation: Peer Pressure, Gossip, Accountability
58. Natural Regulation: Norms and Justice
59. Violence and War in the State of Nature
The Junk Food Revolution
60. Agriculture: New Norms, New Permanence
61. Kinship: The Narrative of Lineage
62. Kinship: Tribe and Clan
63. Leaders: Dignity, Virtue, Reverence
64. Ancestors and Marriage, Sacrifice and Piety
65. Regulation: Villages and Chiefs
66. Tribal Justice: Self-Help, Group Identity, and Balance
67. Tribal Justice: Judgment and Enforcement
68. Population Problems: Social Breakdown, War, Crime, and Disease
The Institution Revolution
Inventing Religion
69. The Institution Revolution: Gods and Government
70. Ritual
71. Sacrifice: Social Bonding
72. Sacrifice: Team Effort and Prestige
73. Sacrifice: Loyalty and Bonding through Belief
74. Sacrifice: Rent-Seeking and Freeloading
75. Foundations: Hierarchy and Patriarchy
76. Inventing the Gods
77. Inventing Religion: Priests, Feasts, and Sacrifice
78. Inventing Religion: Divination and Administration
79. Inventing Religion: From Shrines to Temples
80. Religion = Government. Government = Religion
Inventing the State
81. Inventing the State
82. What IS a State?
83. Prerequisites for State Formation
84. Why States?
85. “Law” Codes
86. Institutions of Justice
87. Inequality: Power Stays in the Family
88. Inequality: Hierarchy Becomes Class
89. Inequality: Elites and Wealth
90. Honoring Elites: Chinayë’s Story
91. Civilizations Without Borders
92. The Trouble with Territory
93. What Ruling a Territory Requires
94. Prerequisites for Territorial State Formation
95. The Land of Egypt
96. Egypt Needs Leaders, Gods, and Cities… FAST!
97. Ex Pluribus Unum: Egypt Unites
98. Hor-Aha: Establishing a Territorial Monarchy
99. Justice and Taxes: Legitimizing a Territorial Monarchy
100. Delegation and Dynasties: Ensuring the State’s Survival
101. Egypt: The First Territorial State
Inventing the Law
102. What Next?
103. Ancient Law Codes Weren’t Really Laws
104. What Law Codes Were For
105. Hammurabi Ruins Everything
106. Learning from the Law Codes: Jews in Exile
107. Inventing God and Law: Yahweh in the Bronze Age
108. Inventing God and Law: Yahweh Takes Over
109. Inventing God and Law: Yahweh Is.
110. Inventing God and Law: That Old-Time Religion
111. Inventing God and Law: Israel Destroyed. Now What?
112. Inventing God and Law: Religious Reform
113. Inventing God and Law: Josiah
114. Inventing God and Law: Pious Frauds
115. Inventing God and Law: Yahweh. Only Yahweh.
116. Inventing God and Law: God Is Dead
117. Inventing God and Law: Humility Is Hard
118. Inventing God and Law: A New Identity
119. Inventing God and Law: Theocracy
120. Inventing God and Law: Inventing Scripture
121. Inventing God and Law: Deadly Monolatry
122. Inventing God and Law: The Rhetoric of Monotheism
123. Inventing God and Law: You Gotta Have Faith
124. Inventing God and Law: A Funny Thing About Faith
125. Inventing God and Law: The Flip Side of Faith
126. Inventing God and Law: Get It in Writing
127. Inventing God and Law: Another Accident
128. Inventing God and Law: Law’s Complications
129. Complications Continue
130. It Gets Worse
Greece & Rome
131. Athenian Segue
132. Bronze Age Athens
MORE
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Happy Birthday!
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(Spoiler) Roe v. Wade: How We Got to This Point
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James Wilson: Foundations of a Founder
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Posted on
January 1, 2020
by
Nathan
10
All right! Happy New Year! It feels good to be drawing again.
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