Attitudes towards the CJS

Question 1

How does the economy suffer because of crime?

Answer 1

Criminal careers earn lots
Victims of crime take sick days
Lots of money goes into preventing and reducing crime
Costs the CJS

Question 2

Are there biases in the CJS?

Answer 2

Black people are more likely to go to prison than white people
Men are more likely to go to prison than women

Question 3

What is the age of criminal responsibility?

Answer 3

In England and Wales this age is 10 years old
Institutions and juvenile courts
Treat young people separately

Question 4

How do police forces vary across countries?

Answer 4

In the UK, we have many smaller police forces that are spread throughout the country, there’s no national police force. These can suffer communication problems however.

Compared to Japan that has 2 layers, 1) is the national police, 2) is the prefecture police

Question 5

What is the CJS (criminal justice system)?

Answer 5

The governmental organisations and practises that serve to both control crime and maintain control on the population

Question 6

What are the priorities of the Ministry of Justice?

Answer 6

Reduce reoffending by using the skills of the public, private, voluntary sectors
Reduce youth crime by focusing on education
Building a prison system that delivers maximum value for money
Reduce the cost of legal aid and ensures that it helps the cases that genuinely need it
Put the needs of the victim first
Improve the way the courts are run

Question 7

Why should the public be heard?

Answer 7

Hearing the public’s voice is important for democracy
Without public involvement, parts of the CJS would be unable to operate: reporting of crimes, witnesses in trails, jury system
Important for policing and sentencing

Question 8

How did the case of James bulger change the CJS system?

Answer 8

Children between 12-14 years could be incarcerated
The doubling of the maximum sentencing in Youth Offenders institutions

Question 9

How did the case of Megan Kanka change the CJS?

Answer 9

state law: required sex offender registration
federal law: required community notification

Question 10

How did the case of Sarah Payne change the CJS?

Answer 10

Child sex offender disclosure scheme
Parents are able to enquire about a named individual
Access to the sex offender registry

Question 11

What influences public opinions on criminal justice issues?

Answer 11

Can be under/misinformed about the CJS
Media reports are often bias and selective
Low levels of confidence in the CJS
More open to change particularly when given the chance to deliberate over a criminal issue

Question 12

What did Van Ness 1960 suggest in promoting justice?

Answer 12

Crime defined as injury to victims
The government should be responsible for preserving order
The community should be responsible for establishing peace

Question 13

In restorative justice when is the community preference important?

Answer 13

Reparation or restitution: for property offenders
Meditation or restitution: for juvenile offenders

Leads to appropriate outcomes
Hold offenders accountable for their actions
Confident that violent offenders don’t pose a threat to safety
Victim is satisfied with the outcome

Question 14

How does the public in England view the CJS? What causes this view to exist?

Answer 14

Public opinion is important for the CJS
Public need to form opinions based on all the facts
In England, 80% of respondents on a poll suggested the CJS is too lenient
This attitude comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding on how the system operates and treats offenders

Question 15

What are the public’s misconceptions of the CJS?

Answer 15

belief crime is increasing
overestimating rate of violent crime
lack of knowledge on sentencing
underestimate the use of prison sentences for serious offences

Question 16

Where do these misconceptions come from?

Answer 16

Direct experiences: jury duty, witnesses, secondary victimisation

Indirect experiences: vicarious victim of crime, media, knowing others who have been victims of crime, ‘common knowledge’

Question 17

What did Matthews et al 2004 study on jury service find? What caused an increase/decrease in confidence among jurors?

Answer 17

Most jurors reported an increased understanding of the CJS. As a result they gave more positive reports about the competence of judges and felt positive about the system

Increased confidence was associated with: jury diversity, adherence to due process, process was fair

Decreased confidence was associated with: poorly prepared cases, poor quality evidence, hearing of cases considered to be minor

Question 18

What caused a witness to feel dissatisfied?

Answer 18

75% of witnesses report being satisfied with their experiences of CJS
Dissatisfaction was related to feelings that were taken for granted, intimidation by the process or the environment
The way they were treated during trial

Question 19

What is secondary victimisation? What is an example of this?

Answer 19

Actions of the police, courts and other aspects of the CJS can have the effect of further victimising the victim by acting unsympathetic, careless and hostile

Rates of victims reporting rape is around 15-20% as they have a fear of not being believed, fear of an intimidating trial process, 5.3% of cases result in conviction

Question 20

What is the main source of public knowledge

Answer 20

Only reports what is newsworthy
Much of the public cite media outlets as their main source of information regarding children sex offenders
If an individual has limited knowledge/little opportunities to interact with a stereotyped group then the individual will rely on the media portrayal of that group to learn more

Question 20

How does the media portray sex offenders to the public?

Answer 20

Media interest regarding crime, and its particular sexual offending, has grown dramatically
This doesn’t reflect the rate of reported sexual offences

A small number of high profile crimes account for a significant proportion of media reporting.
The media also focus on extreme incidents of sexual offending that are rare and stereotypical in nature

Question 21

How can crime TV shows influence a public’s opinion on crime?

Answer 21

Individuals who watch a large amount of Tv are likely to feel a greater threat from crime, believe crime is more prevalent than what statistics indicate, take more precautions against crime

Regular viewers of crime drama are also more likely to fear crime
Frequent viewing and enjoyment of reality-based crime shows are related to holding punitive attitudes

Question 22

How can we improve public knowledge about the CJS?

Answer 22

Those who viewed a video about the CJS showed an increase in knowledge
They become more knowledgeable about crime trends, prison place costs, sentence length and the supervision of long term prisoners on release

Question 23

What are the sociodemographic factors of those who are punitive?

Answer 23

Older people are more punitive than younger people
Men are more punitive and express less confidence in the CJS than women
People who have low education attainment have poor knowledge of CJS
Black Americans find the CJS more discriminatory than white Americans
Muslims and Hindus are more likely than Christians and Buddhists to believe the police do a good job
Manual workers and people with low educational attainment are more punitive

Question 24

What ideologies produce more punitive attitudes?

Answer 24

People with high conservative beliefs favour punitive sentences
Highly religious people are more likely to be punitive
People who believe in a just world are more likely to endorse punitive punishments

Question 25

What are the publics reaction to some specific offences?

Answer 25

Americans don’t favour the death penalty for juvenile offenders
People favour prison sentences for violent or sex offenders, not for petty theft
Members of the public support the early release of non-violent offenders
Repeat offenders elicit little sympathy from members of the public
In Britain, people feel sentencing for burglary and rape are too lenient

Question 26

What is the public’s confidence and trust in the CJS and police force?

Answer 26

CJS fairness VS CJS effectiveness
Over 75% of the public have confidence in the CJS respect for rights, fair treatment and accused persons
Less than 25% of the public have confidence in CJS effectiveness for reducing crime

Negative contact with CJS damages trust, with no effect for positive contact
Positive contact improve trust with the police force specifically

Question 27

What are the 6 elements of vigilantism?

Answer 27

Planning and premeditation
Voluntary private agents
Threats or use of force
Response to crime and social deviance
Personal and collective security
Not supported or authorised by state

Question 28

Is vigilante behaviour endorsed? What are the police forces opinions on vigilante behaviour?

Answer 28

An assessment of police contact
Satisfaction with police response: 15% satisfied, 40% unsatisfied, 45% neither satisfied nor unsatisfied

Endorsement of vigilante behaviour: higher trait anger, poorer attitudes towards police ability, increased tendency to employ moral disagreement strategies