Week 1 – Discussion 2

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Jurisdiction/Elements   of Criminal Offenses 

A central component to any criminal case is the jurisdictional requirement for a court to hear a criminal case. In your examinations this week, focus on the power of jurisdiction and its significance as part of the criminal justice system. Who creates jurisdiction, and why is it so significant? Similarly, a sound understanding of the legal requirements of a crime is essential for all criminal justice professionals. You must be able to dissect a criminal statute to understand what actions and mindset are required to be proved to gain a conviction. Criminal statutes are precise, and your understanding of the elements of crime must be precise as well.

• Respond to this prompt if your      last name begins with the letters A through L: Explain the central components      of the legal term and substantive criminal law requirement for      jurisdiction. At a minimum, your response must detail all of the      following:
  • What is jurisdiction, and how       does it affect criminal prosecution?
  • Can the type of crime       determine jurisdiction for a court?
  • Distinguish between federal       and state courts for criminal cases.
• Respond to this prompt if your      last name begins with the letters M through Z: Detail the significance of elements of crimes. At a      minimum, your response must detail all of the following:
  • Define the term elements of       a crime in your own words.
  • What happens when an element       (or elements) of a crime are found to be vague or ambiguous?
  • Why must criminal laws be in       writing?

Guided Response: Just like the first discussion board this week, you must respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts, and at least one of your posts must be to a student addressing the prompt that you did not respond to in your initial, primary response. For example, if you responded to the jurisdiction prompt, at least one of your two responses must be to a student who responded to the elements of criminal offenses discussion board. Your responses must be at least 100 words of content and supported by scholarly sources (i.e., classroom materials, or outside, scholarly sources).