Courses | Columbia Law School

This course will examine the adjudication phase of the criminal process, beginning with the prosecutor's decision to charge and continuing through sentencing. Although the principal focus will be on the constitutional doctrines regulating the adjudication process, the course will also look at statutory or institutional choices made within the constitutional framework, particularly those prevailing in the federal system. Topics covered include charging discretion and selective prosecution; right to counsel; bail; speedy trial; discovery; plea bargaining; jury rights; sentencing; and double jeopardy. This course is designed to complement The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Ammendments (L6237) or Criminal Investigations (L6109), which deals with the investigation phase of the criminal process, but those courses are not prerequisites.