This course provides a comprehensive overview of criminal litigation with an emphasis on Florida law and procedure. Students examine each stage of the criminal litigation process—from investigation and arrest to trial, sentencing, appeal, and post-conviction review—while studying major criminal offenses, constitutional protections, evidentiary issues, and statutory interpretation. Students will learn foundational principles of substantive criminal law and criminal procedure. Instruction focuses on the practical litigation tasks performed by paralegals and legal assistants, including case organization, legal research, drafting legal documents, analyzing evidence, preparing discovery materials, and supporting counsel during hearings and trial. Contemporary issues such as forensic evidence, technology, evolving statutory definitions, and criminal justice reform are integrated throughout. This course prepares students to assist attorneys in all phases of Florida criminal litigation.
Terms Typically Offered:Spring
Credits:3.00
Textbook information will be available online for each term's courses 45 days prior to the first day of classes
for the term.
The courses in this catalog are identified by prefixes and numbers that were assigned by Florida's Statewide
Course Numbering System, a system used by all public postsecondary institutions in Florida and 32 non-public
institutions. Seminole State controls the description, credit and content of its own courses.
