Chapter 1 - Intro

Question 1

What are the main components of the justice system?

Answer 1

Police, courts, and corrections.

Question 2

What are the police responsible for?

Answer 2

Gathering evidence, investigating cases, and testifying in court.

Question 3

What are courts responsible for?

Answer 3

Determining guilt or innocence.

Question 4

What are correctional systems for?

Answer 4

To meet out punishments that are determined by the court.

Question 5

How are corrections primarily imagined?

Answer 5

Prisons and penitentiaries.

Question 6

What is restorative justice?

Answer 6

An approach to justice that focuses on restoring the harm done to the community by the crime.

Question 7

What has happened regarding the relationship between the formal justice system and the community lately?

Answer 7

The justice system has fallen behind and cannot fill their roles, and it is left to the community to pick up the slack.

Question 8

What is the problem with the community’s larger role in the justice system?

Answer 8

They are often not equipped to deal with it.

Question 9

What are the three primary purposes of the justice system?

Answer 9

To control crimes that have already been committed, to prevent future crimes, and to maintain justice.

Question 10

How is control of crime achieved?

Answer 10

By arrest, prosecution, and punishment.

Question 11

How is the prevention of crime achieved?

Answer 11

Often similar means as controlling crime; mechanisms such as punishment to deter offenders.

Question 12

What are the two types of prevention?

Answer 12

General prevention and specific prevention.

Question 13

What is general prevention?

Answer 13

Deterring others from doing the same.

Question 14

What is specific prevention?

Answer 14

Deterring the individual from offending again.

Question 15

Is punishment effective as a deterrent?

Answer 15

No.

Question 16

Why does society so often choose to use punishment as a deterrent?

Answer 16

Because it gives us the illusion that we are in control of the situation.

Question 17

What trap do we often fall into when we are faced with evidence that punishment is not effective?

Answer 17

We think that we just need to enact stricter punishments.

Question 18

What is an example of an informal approach to crime prevention?

Answer 18

The Neighbourhood Watch

Question 19

What is tough justice?

Answer 19

Where criminals are locked up for long periods during the day.

Question 20

What is the argument against tough justice?

Answer 20

It’s bad for everyone; everyone outside suffers when the inmate gets out and is salty and the inmates themselves suffer during their sentence. Also when the inmates are released they have no viable career choices.

Question 21

What organization presides over laws in Canada and when were they established?

Answer 21

The Law Reform Commission of Canada. Est. 1977

Question 22

What is the main tenet of the LRCA?

Answer 22

Guilt, innocence, and any imposed sentence should be determined fairly and in accordance with available evidence.

Question 23

What is due process?

Answer 23

Fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially as a citizen’s entitlement.

Question 24

What elements are taken into account when determining the punishment?

Answer 24

The offenders past criminal record, mental state, as well as if it’s worth imprisoning them.

Question 25

The idea of like cases being treated equally is more of a(n) _______.

Answer 25

Ideal than a reality.

Question 26

How can conflict between various institutions in the justice system be a good thing?

Answer 26

It can lead to much needed changes and improvements.

Question 27

What factors affect the operation of the criminal justice system?

Answer 27

Multiple mandates, obstacles to information sharing, and the diversity and complexity of the system.

Question 28

How do multiple mandates affect the justice system?

Answer 28

The police, courts, and corrections have different goals or mandates, and each has a different view on how to meet them.

Question 29

What do police tend to believe about courts and sentences?

Answer 29

That the sentences given to offenders are too lenient.

Question 30

What are the obstacles to information sharing that affect the justice system?

Answer 30

Various agencies gather and record information in ways that best suit their own needs, and they rarely share information.

Question 31

What about the diversity and complexity of the justice system affects it?

Answer 31

Everything about the system is dynamic and changing, this makes it difficult to keep abreast of new developments.