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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Rights, Liberties, & Criminal Law

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign via Coursera

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Overview

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This course examines the constitutional rights that protect individuals and the criminal law that defines and punishes wrongdoing. You will learn how the Constitution safeguards religious freedom, speech, assembly, privacy, and the rights of the accused, and how civil rights law developed to secure equal treatment. You will also learn how criminal law defines offenses against persons, property, and public order, from assault and homicide to white-collar crime and RICO. Finally, you will explore elements of criminal liability, defenses to criminal charges, and theories of punishment, with attention throughout to how these rules affect businesses and organizations.

Syllabus

  • Module 1: The Constitution of 1787 & Religious Freedom
    • You will learn the individual protections built into the original Constitution, including habeas corpus, the ban on religious tests, prohibitions on ex post facto laws and bills of attainder, and the right to a jury trial. You will also learn how the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses have been interpreted, and how cases such as Hobby Lobby, Groff v. DeJoy, and Kennedy v. Bremerton affect employers, businesses, and organizations that work with government.
  • Module 2: Freedom of Speech and of the Press
    • You will learn how First Amendment free speech doctrine developed, from the clear and present danger test to the Brandenburg standard, and how strict scrutiny applies to content-based regulations. You will also learn the categories of unprotected or less protected speech, including incitement, true threats, obscenity, defamation, and commercial speech, and how free speech rights apply to corporations, compelled speech, public employees, government forums, and online platforms.
  • Module 3: Freedom of Assembly and Association; Other Constitutional Rights
    • You will learn how the First Amendment protects peaceable assembly and expressive association, how those rights vary across public and non-public forums, and how the Second Amendment has developed from Heller to Bruin. You will also learn the constitutional protections that govern criminal procedure, including due process, search and seizure, self-incrimination, the right to counsel, and the Eighth Amendment, as well as how the right to privacy has evolved from Griswold to Dobbs and into digital surveillance and data collection.
  • Module 4: Civil Rights
    • You will learn how civil rights law developed from the Civil War Amendments through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the landmark decisions and statutes of the civil rights era, including Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You will also learn how protections expanded to cover sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, and age, how the Constitution applies to immigrants, and how these obligations shape hiring, workplace policy, and emerging issues such as algorithmic bias.
  • Module 5: Elements of Crimes, Parties to Crimes, and Inchoate Offenses
    • You will learn the core elements of criminal liability, including the prohibited act (actus reus), the culpable mental state (mens rea), the Model Penal Code's four levels of culpability, strict liability offenses, and causation. You will also learn how the law classifies parties to a crime, including principals, accessories, and aiding and abetting, and how the inchoate offenses of attempt, solicitation, and conspiracy create criminal exposure for planned or incomplete conduct, especially in business settings.
  • Module 6: Offenses Against Persons and Property
    • You will learn how criminal law defines offenses against persons, including assault, battery, homicide, sexual offenses, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and abuse of children, intimate partners, and the elderly. You will also learn how property offenses such as larceny, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, identity theft, burglary, malicious mischief, and extortion are defined, and how they create risk for businesses and shape internal controls.
  • Module 7: White Collar Crime, Organized Crime, Vice Crime, and Other Offenses
    • You will learn how white-collar offenses such as fraud, price-fixing, money laundering, insider trading, and tax fraud arise from the abuse of professional roles, and how RICO targets patterns of organized criminal activity. You will also learn how the law addresses offenses against public order, weapons offenses shaped by the Second Amendment, environmental crimes, and military offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
  • Module 8: Defenses to Criminal Charges and Punishment of Offenders
    • You will learn how negative and affirmative defenses work, including defenses based on lack of capacity such as infancy, intoxication, and insanity, excuse defenses such as duress, necessity, and mistake, and justification defenses such as self-defense and defense of others. You will also learn how statutes of limitation, entrapment, double jeopardy, and immunity limit the state's power to prosecute, and how theories of punishment and constitutional limits on the death penalty shape sentencing.

Taught by

Jennie Pahre

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