Chapter 1 Flashcards
Why study criminal justice?
- It is a critical part of our democratic society, it defines our culture and influences our interaction with the rest of the world.
- It affects us during our lifetime.
- Understand how your tax dollars support criminal justice in federal, state, and local governments.
Criminal Law
Laws that define criminal acts and how such acts will be punished.
Enactment of new criminal laws is the result of changes triggered by social, political, and economic changes. Examples include marijuana, same-sex marriage, and alcohol laws.
Three strikes law and its concsequences
A crime control strategy whereby an offender who commits three or more violent offenses will be sentenced to a lengthy term in prison, usually 25 years.
Many negative and unanticipated repercussions:
1. According to the New York Times, the law was unfairly punitive and created a cruel and unfair criminal justice system that lost all sense of proportion, doling out life sentences disproportionately to black defendants.
2. Under the statute, the third offense that could result in a life sentence could be any number of low-level felony convictions.
3. Other studies of the California law found that it would cost a lot of money because of increased prison numbers.
4. It sentenced for nonviolent offenses would serve 143,439 more years behind bars than if they had been convicted prior to the law’s passage.
5. A nationwide study of three-strikes laws conducted about a decade after many states had adopted the law found no credible evidence to suggest that the law reduced crime.
Political influence
Adoption of laws and processing of cases heavily influenced by politics: Many lawmakers and other politicians want to do what is right for society, but their decisions can also be influenced by their desire to be re-elected, made with limited or inaccurate information, or prompted by a “knee-jerk” response to a high-profile event.
The Consensus-Versus-Conflict Debate
Is order preserved through consensus agreement of those being governed? or,
Is order preserved through conflict and the will of the powerful?
Consensus theory of justice: Assumes most people in a society share common values and beliefs. They share a common belief in what is “right” and what is “wrong.” They come together as a society and create laws that reflect their common interests and values. This theory acknowledges that perspectives and values can change over time, and so laws and even Constitutions can change time. John Locke and Thomas Hobbes are the fathers of this theory. People chose to govern themselves and their governments reflect that in their laws and constitutions.
Conflict theory of justice: Jean-Jacques Rousseau disagreed. He believed that man’s loss of freedom in the State of Nature is due to the creation of private property and the unequal distribution of resources. This results in conflicts between those who own property and have more resources against those who do not own property and have fewer resources. This theory holds that powerful groups create laws to protect their values and interests in diverse societies from those who don’t share their interest and values. Assumption: There will always be competing interests and viewpoints among members of society. The most powerful create the laws. Characteristics of certain groups make them more or less likely to be subjected to laws and criminal sanctions: Age, class, race, and gender. For example, difference in laws governing crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
John Locke’s vs. Thomas Hobbes’ theories
John Locke’s social contract theory:
In the state of nature, people were created by God to be free, equal, and independent, with inalienable right to life, liberty, and property. Each person has right to self protection. Though most people are good, some will prey on others. So people join together to form society to protect themselves and their property. Landowners join together to form commonwealths, by their express consent, and join themselves and their property to it. People give up their right to protect themselves and receive protection in return from the government they form. Governments give protection and receive loyalty and obedience in return.
Thomas Hobbes’ theory: The State of Nature is where life is survival of the fittest, people are essentially irrational and selfish. State of Nature is where life is “nasty, brutish, and short.”
People have just enough rationality to recognize their situation and to come together to form governments for self-protection, agreeing “amongst themselves to submit to some Man, or assembly of men, voluntarily, on confidence to be protected by him against all others.” People exist in a state of consensus with their governments.
Crime control vs. Due process model
Herbert Packer described the two now-classic models of the criminal justice process in terms of two competing value systems (controlling crime and protecting the rights of accused):
Crime control model: Emphasizes law and order and argues that every effort must be made to suppress crime, and to try, convict, and incarcerate offenders. Primary goal of criminal law is to deter criminal conduct and protect society.
The accused is presumed guilty, police and prosecutors should have extensive discretion, and offenders punished swiftly and strictly.
Due process model: Emphasizes fairness as its primary goal. Police, prosecutors, and judges must operate under specific checks and rules to preserve the freedoms and civil liberties of the accused, as a means of preserving those rights for all Americans. It emphasizes personal rights.
Defendants have the presumption of innocence,
Protection of suspects’ legal and civil rights, and limits are placed on police powers to avoid convicting innocent persons.
Discretion
Authority to make decisions in enforcing the law based on one’s observations and judgment rather than the letter of the law.
Examples:
1. Police officers exercise extensive discretion in deciding whether to stop, search, or arrest someone.
2. Prosecuting attorneys decide whether to bring criminal charges against an arrestee, thus making one of the most important judgment calls in the system.
3. Judges exercise discretion in setting or denying bail, and in imposing sentences.
Simplified flow and process of justice system
Discovery of crime, arrest, prosecution, preliminary hearing or grand jury, arraignment, trial, results (acquittal or conviction).
Aggravating and mitigating circumstances
Aggravating circumstances: Elements of a crime that enhance its seriousness: infliction of torture, killing of a police or corrections officer, and so on.
Mitigating circumstances: Circumstances that would tend to lessen the severity of the sentence: one’s youthfulness, mental instability, not having a prior criminal record, and so on.
Indeterminate and determinate sentences
Indeterminate sentence: Scheme whereby one is sentenced for a flexible time period (e.g., 5–10 years) to be released at end of sentence or when rehabilitated or when the opportunity for rehabilitation is presented.
Determinate sentence: A specific, fixed-period sentence ordered by a court. Less any earned “good time credits”: A reduction in the time served in jail or prison due to good behavior, participation in programs, and other activities.
Wedding Cake Model of Criminal Justice
A model of the criminal justice process whereby a four-tiered hierarchy exists, with a few celebrated cases at the top, and lower tiers increasing in size as seriousness of cases decline and informal processes (use of discretion) become more likely to occur.
Layer 1: Celebrated Cases.
Layer 2: Serious Felonies.
Layer 3: Lesser Felonies.
Layer 4: Misdemeanors.
