1.3 Flashcards
What are the two models of criminal justice?
Crime control model of justice
Due process model of justice
The crime control model (6)
- crime is a threat to people’s freedom. The goal of the crime control model is the suppression of crime and prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and preventing them from committing further crime
- model starts from a presumption of guilt. It trusts the police to identify those who are guilty through investigations and interrogations
- believe police should be free from any legal technicalities that prevent them investigating crime
- once ‘probably guilty’ is identified it favours the conveyor belt system which speedily prosecutes, convicts and punish offenders
- argues if a few are innocent people are convicted by mistake then it is a price worth paying for convicting a large number of guilty people
- emphasises the rights of society and victims to be protected from crime rather than the rights of suspects
The due process model (6)
- power of the state is the greatest to the individuals freedom. Goal of due process model is to protocol the accused from oppression by state and its agents e.g., judges, police and prosecutors
- model starts from a presumption of innocence, the accused is innocent until proven guilty after a fair trial
- has less faith in police to conduct satisfactory investigations. Incompetence, dishonesty etc means that a suspects and defendants rights need to be safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trial must follow. These include rules about arrest, questioning, legal representation, admissibility and disclosure of evidence, cross examination of witness, no secret trials
- rather than a conveyor belt carrying the accused swiftly to punishment, the rules and procedures protect their rights from a necessary obstacle course that prosecutors must overcome in order to secure a conviction
- this means that the guilty goes free sometimes on a technicality (illegal evidence) however model argued this is less evil than convicting an innocent
- model emphasises the rights of the accused individual rather than those of the victim or society
Which 2 theories link to the crime control model theory and explain
Right realism: Crime control is a right wing, conservative approach to justice and it has much in common with right realist theories of crime e.g., zero tolerance policing strategies, it favours giving the police greater powers to investigate and suppress crime
Functionalism: Crime control links with Durkheims functionalist theory that punishment reinforces society’s moral boundaries. As the main function of justice is to punish the guilty, enabling society to express its moral outrage and strengthen social cohesion
Which 2 theories link to the due process model theory and explain
Labelling theory: a liberal approach. It aims to stop state agencies like the police from oppressing people. The police may be tempted to act illegally, harassing groups that they label negatively as ‘typical criminals’. This model offers protection against this because it requires police to follow lawful procedures and not exceed their powers
Left realism: Argues that oppressive ‘militaristic policing’ of poor areas triggers confrontations and makes residents unwilling to assist the police. In left realist view, police must follow due process by acting in a lawful and non-discriminatory way if they want to fight crime effectively since this depends on the cooperation of the community
Rules favouring the due process model
- suspect right to know about their arrest
- right to appeal against conviction or sentence
- right to not be re-tried for same offence once acquitted
- right to not be detained indefinitely without charge
Rules favouring crime model
- evidence of bad character/previous convictions is permitted in certain circumstances
- police right to stop n search without giving a reason in some circumstances
- appeal rights are not always automatic. Some are only allowed on a point of law, not evidence
Miscarriage of justices
- Collin Stagg - victim of attempted entrapment following murder of Rachel Nickell, despite evidence lacking against him the police became convinced he was the killer and tried to use honey trapping to trick him into confessing to crime
- Sally Clark - wrongly jailed for murder of her 2 babies partly because of a result home office pathologist gave and prosecution witness Alan Williams failing to disclose relevant information to her defence lawyers
- West Midlands serious crime squad - responsible for 100 criminal cases involving malpractice by its officers, perjury, assaulting prisoners, fabricating confessions and planting incriminating evidence on suspects
