Criminal Procedure
Chapter 21 includes cases that have helped to define basic principles of criminal procedure. The cases do not all involve individuals with mental illness, but the opinions significantly affect how those individuals are processed in the criminal justice system. Robinson v. California and Powell v. Texas were critical in establishing the scope of prosecution permitted against individual with substance use disorders. The other cases in the chapter are Miranda v. Arizona, North Carolina v. Alford and Colorado v. Connelly. The newest case (Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Eldred) about an alleged violation of probation for recurrent drug use, revisits the Robinson and Powell issue of potentially punishing a person for the symptoms of her addiction (i.e. using drugs).