Case Briefing Assignment Rubric

CrJ 121, Chapter 9, p. 340

Read New York v. Quarles in The Constitution and Criminal Judicial Process). You should NOT read the full text opinion, you should read the edited version provided in the text book. Prepare a typed case brief utilizing the 'Case Briefing Worksheet' provided below. You may use the worksheet as a template (type directly into it) or copy the headings into your own Word document for submission.

Your case brief will be evaluated using the following rubric:

Needs Improvement (1)

Developing (2)

Sufficient (3)

Above Average (4)

Accuracy

Correctly identifies information for only a few of the elements of the case brief; specifically lacks a correct statement of the legal rule and the Court's analysis of the rules

Correctly identifies less than half of the information contained in the Court's opinion for each section of the case brief

Correctly identifies the majority of the information contained in the Court's opinion for each section of the case brief

Correctly identifies the information contained in the Court's opinion for each section of the case brief

Organization

Correctly places the appropriate information in each section of the case brief

Correctly places less than half of the appropriate information in each section of the case brief

Correctly places the majority of the appropriate information in each section of the case brief

Correctly places nearly all of the appropriate information in each section of the case brief

Mechanics

Correctly employs very few standard English Grammar and legal writing techniques throughout the brief

Correctly employs only some standard English Grammar and legal writing techniques throughout the brief

Correctly employs standard English Grammar and legal writing techniques through most of the brief

Correctly employs standard English Grammar and legal writing techniques throughout the brief

Case Briefing Worksheet

I. Heading - identify the case by party names and citation (include the date).

II. Facts - include only those facts that are significant to the specific legal issue being decided by the court.

III. Procedural History - explain how the case made its way to the current level of review.

IV. Issue - the legal question the court is faced with answering that has been raised in the case.

V. Rule - what law (statutes, constitutional provisions, prior cases or administrative rules) did this court apply to enable them to solve the legal question(s) raised in this case?

VI. Analysis - explain how the court applied the legal rule(s) to the facts in deciding the answer to the question posed by the issue in this case.

VII. Conclusion - did the court affirm, reverse, remand? This should be a very short statement of the outcome.