This course studies Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment constitutional restraints on the activities of law enforcement officers during the investigatory stage of the criminal process. Special attention will be paid to how the Supreme Court has attempted to resolve the tension between individual rights and crime control needs in its decisions regulating the following law enforcement practices: investigative detention, arrest, police interrogation, searches and seizures, and eyewitness identification. The rights to counsel and to a jury may also be covered.

Please review faculty specific descriptions for additional details regarding each offering.

This course is related to Criminal Procedure: Adjudication, but neither course is a prerequisite.

Course previously titled Constitutional Criminal Procedure.  Students should not take this course if they previously took Law 202. Constitutional Criminal Procedure. Students may take both Criminal Procedure: Investigations and Criminal Procedure: Adjudication.

This course will prepare students to understand the rules regarding the investigation of criminal cases.  Students will  learn the history, policies and rules applicable to police investigations.  They will also be prepared to address these issues at a motion to suppress.  Finally, students will understand the impact of other issues, such as race and cultural biases, on the criminal justice system.