Georgetown "Criminal Justice" Question Forum

[njlaw]

Why doesn't Georgetown Law teach Criminal Law to 1L's like normal law schools? Why do they have this ridiculous class called "Criminal Justice" where you spend the entire semester studying the Fourth Amendment, and it ends up being like another Con. Law. class?

We don't learn any model penal code stuff, anything about statutory/substantive criminal law. You instead spend the entire semester dissecting SCOTUS jurisprudence on whether opening the trunk of a car is a search? WHY? What's wrong with this school?

[The Duck]

That's better than what you'd learn in most 1L criminal law classes. You learn little substantive criminal law. Its more broad concepts. Most of the things you'd want to learn are in an upper-level crim pro class. Yours sounds more like a hybrid where you may actually learn enough to not get yourself arrested or how to respond when dealing with a cop.

[robin600]

Why doesn't Georgetown Law teach Criminal Law to 1L's like normal law schools? Why do they have this ridiculous class called "Criminal Justice" where you spend the entire semester studying the Fourth Amendment, and it ends up being like another Con. Law. class?

We don't learn any model penal code stuff, anything about statutory/substantive criminal law. You instead spend the entire semester dissecting SCOTUS jurisprudence on whether opening the trunk of a car is a search? WHY? What's wrong with this school?

I would so geek out in this class, I LOVE the 4th amendment. Sounds like basic Crim Pro to me.

[Tanicius]

Curriculum B?

[FlanAl]

Yeah I'd be really interested to know if this is just a curriculum B thing.

[Unitas]

Yeah I'd be really interested to know if this is just a curriculum B thing.

I don't know what curriculum B does, but curriculum A has Criminal Justice as OP described. I liked the class for what it's worth. It also didn't hurt me when I worked on criminal matters during the summer.

In fact, I often cited numerous cases that I learned about in that class. While it may not teach you the elements of various crimes, it does teach you a lot of the fundamentals for practicing in the criminal arena. The stuff every lawyer in the field needs to know.

[Tanicius]

Yeah I'd be really interested to know if this is just a curriculum B thing.

I don't know what curriculum B does, but curriculum A has Criminal Justice as OP described. I liked the class for what it's worth. It also didn't hurt me when I worked on criminal matters during the summer.

In fact, I often cited numerous cases that I learned about in that class. While it may not teach you the elements it teaches you a lot of the fundamentals for practicing in the criminal arena. The stuff every lawyer in the field needs to know.

FWIW I think learning elements to crimes/torts in a class is generally worthless. Learning elements is as simple as looking a statute or jury instructions for the particular case in the particular jurisdiction.

[Always Credited]

Because Crim Law is worthless while Crim Pro 4th Amendment teaches you information that is extremely valuable, both in and out of the actual practice of criminal law.

[njlaw]

I definitely agree that it's much more worthwhile than substantive classes, in terms of the actual value you'd get from it in practice (and it isn't only Curriculum B kids, it's everyone). That said, it's essentially another Exclusively Supreme Court Class. The only difference is that in Con Law/Civpro we read probably about 30 cases in the semester, whereas in "Criminal Justice" we read about 80. 80 arcane 5-part opinions that always have 2 dissents and three concurrences, in addition to having regular Con Law reading, or Civ Pro depending on your section.

[njlaw]

Yeah I'd be really interested to know if this is just a curriculum B thing.

You'll also find that you can't necessarily avoid all that goes with "Curriculum B" just by not signing up for it. If you get a professor that prefers teaching Section 3 (The Curiculum B Section), you can end up getting a Section 3 "spin" on the material.