Crime and Criminal Justice Key Terms

Question 1

Courtroom Work Group

Answer 1

Used to imply that all parties in the justice process work together in a cooperative effort to settle cases efficiently rather than to engage in a true adversarial procedure

Question 2

Criminal Justice System

Answer 2

The system of law enforcement, adjudication, and correction that is directly involved in the apprehension, prosecution, and control of those charges with criminal offenses

Question 3

Crime Control Perspective

Answer 3

A model of criminal justice that emphasizes the control of dangerous offenders and the protection of society through harsh punishment as a deterrent to a crime

Question 4

Decriminalization

Answer 4

Reducing the penalty for a criminal act without legalizing it

Question 5

Deinstitutionalization

Answer 5

The policy of removing from secure confinement as many offenders of minor, nonviolent crimes as possible and treating them in the community

Question 6

Equal Justice Perspective

Answer 6

A perspective on criminal justice based on the idea that all people should receive the same treatment under the law and should be evaluated on the basis of their current behavior, not on what they have done in the past

Question 7

Evidence- Based justice

Answer 7

Determining through the use of the scientific method whether criminal justice programs actually reduce crime rates and recidivism

Question 8

Due Process Perspective

Answer 8

A perspective of criminal justice that emphasizes individual rights and constitutional safeguards against arbitrary of unfair judicial or administrative proceedings

Question 9

Grand Jury

Answer 9

A type of jury responsible for investigating alleged crime, examining evidence and issuing indictments

Question 10

In Presence Requirment

Answer 10

The principle that in order to make an arrest for a misdemeanor, the arresting officer must have personally witnessed the crime

Question 11

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)

Answer 11

Federal agency that provided technical assistance and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to state and local justice agencies between 1969 and 1982

Question 12

Miranda Warning

Answer 12

Miranda v Arizona, US supreme court case established that suspects under arrest must be advised that they have no obligation to answer questions and that they are entitles to have a lawyer present

Question 13

Nolle Prosequi

Answer 13

The term used when a prosecutor decides to drop a case after a complaint has been formally made

Question 14

Nonintervention Prospective

Answer 14

A perspective of criminal justice that favors the least intrusive treatment possible

Question 15

Racial Animus Model

Answer 15

The view that white America has developed a mental image of the typical offender as young, inner-city black male who offends with little remorse

Question 16

Rehabilitation Perspective

Answer 16

Model of criminal justice that sees crime as an expression of frustration and anger created by social inequality, and can be controlled by giving people the means to improve their lifestyle conventionally

Question 17

Restorative Justice Perspective

Answer 17

Sees the main goal of the criminal justice system as making a systematic response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing victims, offenders, and communities wounded by crime

Question 18

Social Control

Answer 18

A society’s ability to control individual behavior in order to serve the best interests and welfare of the society as a whole

Question 19

True Bill of Indictment

Answer 19

A written statement charging a defendant with the commission of a crime, drawn up by a prosecuting attorney and considered by a grand jury