Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Ninety-percent of all criminal cases, surprisingly, don't end in a trial but in a plea bargain. Consider both plea bargains and criminal trials and how they complement one another. How - and why - did plea bargains come to dominate American justice? How does the jury system work?
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Much of our forensic knowledge comes from the media. Start your journey through forensic history with what's considered the landmark case for crime reporting: the Jack the Ripper murders from the late 1880s. Along the way, you'll investigate the continuous interplay between forensic advances and larger societal changes.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Faulty eyewitness identification is the most common source of wrongful convictions in the legal system. Here, take a closer look at some real-world instances of wrongful identification; discover how DNA testing has helped exonerate hundreds; and learn what specific reforms can help prevent these horrible mistakes in the future.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Lawsuits today often involve multiple plaintiffs suing multiple defendants on multiple claims. How does this kind of complex litigation work? First, consider the rules governing "joinder" - when claims and parties can be joined in one suit. Then, turn to a familiar (and special) multi-party suit: the class action.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Explore traditional strict liability through the lens of two common kinds of claims that don't require negligence: damage caused by animals and damage caused by ultra-hazardous blasts and explosions. Along the way, examine whether or not strict liability really is all that different from conventional negligence.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Delve into the fascinating stories behind history's many art and document forgeries - creative efforts of con artists to make money by deceiving others. How do the authorities determine which Matisse painting is fake and which one is real? What technology and skill goes into authenticating a piece of writing or art? Find out here.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Continuing with the case of George Zimmerman, explore the intricate nature of trial strategy that takes place away from the jury's eyes. Learn how lawyers operate before a trial, and how a jury is selected. Also, examine how media coverage impacts what happens inside (and outside) the courtroom.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
How does one tell whether a particular rule of state law is procedural or, instead, substantive? Which law applies - and when? Here, a famous case between two taxicab transfer companies offers an extreme and fascinating illustration of the procedural problems that can arise between federal and state courts.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
How do police use motive to track down kidnappers? What happens when kidnappings go wrong? Get the answers with historical examples including the Black September kidnapping of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics and recent cases that illustrate how today's technology is helping thwart infant abductions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Professor Smith discusses jurisdiction: the power of the courts to hear a case and to render a judgment. As you'll discover, there are really two different types of jurisdiction, one of which is subject matter jurisdiction, which refers to the court's authority to hear cases concerning a particular subject matter.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Pore over the "cruel and unusual punishments" clause of the Eighth Amendment in search of why the Supreme Court has had so much trouble applying this provision to real-world criminal cases. By the end, you'll realize why the Eighth Amendment is considered by some legal experts to be a constitutional enigma.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
According to the Fifth Amendment, "no person...shall be compelled to be a witness against himself." Examine the history of this core aspect of the Bill of Rights. Learn how the amendment works in and out of court, how the privilege has become subject to compromises over time, and what "pleading the fifth" actually requires.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
The motives behind crimes haven't changed, but the methods and technologies used to solve them have. Conclude the course with a look at the history of three essential tools of forensic science that have revolutionized our ability to analyze and compare evidence and help bring criminals to well-deserved justice.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Tort law isn't fixed in stone but instead evolves to meet a changing society. Case in point: the development of modern products liability law. In the first a two-part look at the subject, walk through some elegant cases in torts to determine why products liability has promoted litigation on a massive scale.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Get the same foundational knowledge as lawyers - without law school. In the 48 lectures of Law School for Everyone, four exceptional law professors recreate key parts of the first-year law student experience, introducing you to the areas of law most every beginning student studies: litigation and legal practice, criminal law and procedure, civil procedure, and torts.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Direct examination has been popularized by countless TV crime dramas. But how does it work in a real courtroom? Learn how lawyers figure out whom to put on the witness stand, what questions they should ask, and how to prepare witnesses for their day in court.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Why are innocent people sometimes convicted of crimes they didn't commit? Often, it's because a jury is persuaded by problematic evidence. How do lawyers navigate these troubled legal waters? Investigate three of the most important kinds of flawed evidence: false confessions, mistaken eyewitness identification, and flawed "expert" evidence.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
This isn't about getting a case right - it's about getting a case over with. Consider the rules that prevent parties from relitigating matters that courts have already decided. What's the difference between prior litigation and subsequent litigation? Several important cases offer illuminating insights.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
When people criticize the United States as an overly litigious society, they're often referring to its system of appellate review. How, exactly, do appellate courts operate? How do lawyers file appellate briefs or make oral arguments for an appeal? Professor Shadel helps you make sense of the appellate process.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Follow the stories of three legendary 19th-century outlaws from the golden age of the American West: Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, and Alfred Packer. It's a lecture packed with prospectors, cowboys, bad boys, lawmen, and impostors - all of whom help shed light on the past (and present) of forensic science.
Didn't find it?
Didn't find it in the Minuteman Library Network? Request it from other Massachusetts library systems.
Can't find what you are looking for? Recommend it to your local library as a future purchase. Suggest a Purchase