1.3- Describe models of criminal justice Flashcards
what are the two models of criminal justice?
the crime control model and the due process model
what does the crime control model stand for?
1)crime is a threat to people’s freedom so the goal of the model is suppression- prioritizes catching and punishing offenders and deterring them from committing any further crime
2) starts from presumption of guilt. Trust police to identify the guilty through processes such as investigations
3) police should be free from unnecessary legal activities thst prevent them investigating time
4) favors conveyer belt justice system that speedily prosecuted, convicts and punishes.
5) argues that when few innocent people are convicted by mistake, it’s a price worth paying for convicting the guilty
6) emphasizes right to society and victims to be protected from crime, rather than rights of suspect
what does the due process model stand for?
1)power of the state is the greatest threat to individuals freedom and so the goal is to protect the accused from oppression by the state and its agents e.g police
2)presumption of innocence- innocent till proven guilty
3) less faith in police’s ability to conduct good investigations. Dishonesty etc means the suspects and defendants rights need to be safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trials must follow. Include rules about arrest, legal rep. etc.
4) rather than conveyor belt, the rules and procedures protecting their rights for an obstacle course prosecutors must overcome before they can secure a convictions
5) means guilty sometimes go free, however the model argues this is a lesser evil than convicting the innocent
6) emphasizes rights of accused individual rather than those of the victim or society
what theories does the crime control model follow?
right realism : E.g zero tolerance policing strategies, favours giving the police better power to investigating crime
Functionalism: Punishment reinforces societies moral boundaries, main function of justice is to punish the guilty, allowing the public to express its moral outrage and strengthen social cohesion
What theories does the due process model follow?
labelling theory: Liberal and aims to stop police etc from oppressing people therefore links to labelling theory. due process offers some protection against police treating ‘typical criminals’ a certain way as it requires the police to follow procedures
Left realism: Argues oppressive policing of poor areas triggers confrontations and makes residents unwilling to assist 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
Two ways in how we can observe how far the two models describe the England and Wales justice system:
1 rules governing the working of the justice system- do they protect the rights of the accused or favour the prosecution?
2 the way the system works in practice- do the police judges etc follow the rules they should?
Name 5 rules that favor the due process model
-the suspects right to know why they are being arrested
-Right to legal representation when questioned by police in court
-Right to remain silent when questioned by police in court- so it is prosecutions job to prove guilt not accused to prove innocence
-Right to appeal against conviction or sentence
Right to not be detained indefinitely without charge
Name five rules that favors the crime control model
-Police right to stop question search and arrest, right to stop and search without giving reason for circumstances
-Extended police detention is allowed for questioning on suspicion of indictable offenses 36+96 hours and terrorists 14 days
-Juryless trials are allowed if jury tampering is suspected
-Court may draw negative inferances if the defender remains silent when questioned by police or fails to turn up to court without good reason
-Restrictions on the availability of legal aid
Due process and crime control in practice opening
In most cases people such as police are able to respect due process rights of accused. e.g only small proportion of offenders who are convicted seek to appeal suggesting that most are satisfied the way their case was handled by the justice system.
however there have also been miscarriges of justice due to failure to follow correct procedures.
CASES where law or procedures of the models were not followed or broken- showing they don’t work or are applied in practice all the time:
Colin Stagg: Victim of attempted entrapment following murder of Rachel Nickell, Despite lack of evidence police were convinced and used a honey trap to trick him into confessing the crime
Sally Clark: home office pathologist and prosecution witness failure to disclose relevant information to defence lawyers lead to her being wrongfully jailed for the murder of her two baby sons
Birmingham six: Wrongfully convicted of 21 murders after police fabricated evidence against them, deprived them of sleep and food, used violence and threats to extract confessions. Judge wrongfully deemed these as evidence while excluding defence evidence and prosecution presented unreliable evidence against the six
