AC 1.3 Flashcards
What are the two models of criminal justice and who made them
Due Process Model
Crime Control Model
Made by Herbert Packer
Describe the Crime Control Model of criminal justice
- Model see’s Crime as a threat to people’s freedom and so the goal of the crime control model is the suppression of crime. It prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and preventing them for committing further crime.
- The model starts from a presumption of guilt, it trusts the police to be able to correctly identify those who are probably guilty through their investigations and interrogations.
- Police should be free from unnecessary legal technicalities that prevent them from investigating crime e.g warrants.
- Once the probably guilty are identified, it favours a ‘assembly line’ justice system to speedily prosecutes , convicts and punishes them
- It argues that if a few innocent people are occasionally convicted by mistake, its a price worthy paying for convicting large numbers of guilty people.
- It emphasises the rights of society and victims to be protected from crime rather than the rights of suspects.
Describe the Due Process Model of criminal justice
- The power of the state is the greatest threat to the individuals freedom and so the goal of the DP model is to protect the accused from oppression by the state and its agents, these agents include, police prosecutors and judges.
- The model starts from a presumption of innocence - the accused is innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt after a fair trial.
- The model has less faith in the polices ability to conduct satisfactory investigations, incompetence dishonestly etc mean that a suspects and defendants rights need be safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trials must follow - these include rules about arrest, questioning, legal rep, admissibility and disclosure of evidence and cross-examination of witnesses.
- In this model, rather than a ‘assembly line’ approach, the rules and procedures protect the rights of a suspect / defendant meaning the prosecution must prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt with a rigorous and lengthy trial
- This approach means that sometimes the guilty will go free on a technicality such as inadmissible evidence however the model argues this a lesser evil than convicting the innocent
- The model emphasises rights of the accused over rights of the victim or society.
How does the Crime Control model link to theories?
- Right Realism
The crime control model is a right wing, conservative approach to justice and it has much in common with right realist theories of crime, for example, zero tolerance policing strategies, it favours giving the police greater powers to investigate and suppress crime.
- Functionalism
The crime control model also has links with Durkheim’s functionalist theory that punishment reinforces society’s moral boundaries, as the main function of justice is to punish the guilty, this enables society to express their moral outrage and strengthen social cohesion at groups who are prone to committing crime.
How does the Due Process model link to theories?
- Left Realism
Argues that oppressive militaristic policing of poor areas triggers confrontations and makes residents unwilling to assist the police.
In the left realistic view, police must follow the Due Process by acting in a lawful and non-discriminatory way if they want to fight crime effectively as reporting crime relies on the cooperation of the community.
- Labelling Theory
Due process Model is a Liberal Approach, it aims to stop state agencies like the police from oppressing people. As such it has links to labelling theory.
The police may be tempted to act illegally, harassing groups that they label negatively as typical criminals, due process model offers some protection against this as it requires the police to follow lawful procedures and never exceed their powers.
Give three rules actively used in the Criminal Justice system that favour the Crime Control Model
1) Illegally obtained evidence (inadmissible) can be used in some instances where the judge believes it can be used to help establish the truth
2) Double Jeopardy Rule abolished meaning now if new and compelling evidence emerges suspects can be retried
3) Jury trials are only allowed for serious offences held in the crown court - indictable or triable either way.
Most rules in society follow the due process model, however what are some cases where the due process model has not been followed and the correct procedures have not been followed?
Colin Stagg - honey trap method was used to try and trick him into confess to the killing of Rachel Nickell.
Sally Clark - Wrongfully jailed for the murder of her two baby sons as a result of pathologist Alan Williams giving inaccurate information in court
The Birmingham - were wrongly convicted of 21 murders when police fabricated evidence against them and use violence and threats to extract confessions where the judge then deemed these confessions admissible.
