Criminology Flashcards
Police
Refers to a particular institution
Policing
Refers to a set of processes with specific social functions
Police culture/ Thin Blue Line
Refers to informal occupational norms and values, accepted practices, rules and principles of behaviour such as a sense of mission and siege mentality
Code of solidarity
Demands loyalty
Discretion
Refers to the decision making power of legal and criminal justice officals to interpret the law and admistrative rules at various stages in the system to determing whether or not to proceed with a given action/option in a particular situation
Excessive Force
Generally refers to the extent that the forces was more than required by operation needs
Pluralisation
Suggests that the responsibility for enforcement is becomng increasingly shared and fluid, where policing is increasingly delivered by non-state personeel via the “rebirth of private policing”, growing plural policing and the more general formalisation of soial control involving the public, private and hybrid forms of policing
Magistates’ Court
Hears the highest number of cases which a primarily summary offences
Victorian County Court
Hears and determines all indictable offences (where defendant has the right to trial by jury), except in the cases of murder , manslaughter and treason. The typically offences that are heard are sexual assault, drug trafficking and serious assault. It also hears appeals from the magistrates court
Victorian Supreme Court
Hears and determines all cases that by law cannot be heard in lower jurisdictions such as manslaughter, murder and treason
High Court of Australia
Is the Highest Court in the Australian justice system which hears cases of Federal significance which includes constitutional challenges and hears appeals from Federal, Territory and States Courts. It also hears indictable offences
A Fair Trial
Is a key due process and requires the defendant to be legally represented meaning the court needs to ensure that the defendant recieves legal representation. This is because unrepresented defendants are at a serious disadvantage.
Pre-trial Roles of the Prosecution
The prosecution must declare the specific charge(s), disclose evidence to the defence and liaise with the victim and the polic informants.
Pre-trial Roles of the Defence
The Defence must instruct the client on how best to construct a defence, identify the facts/issues to be challenged and advise the client on any charge/plea bargin possibilites
What decisions does prosecutorial discretion include
Whether or not to lay charges, oppose bail and to engage in charge or plea bargining
Pre-trial processes of the Committal
The commital is part of the funnelling process and is heard before a Magistrate and is used to test the accuracy and reliability of prosecution witnesses to determine if there is sufficient evidence for the case to be ‘committted’ to trial. It does not focus questions on guilt or innocence. The defence does not present any of their cases but they can test the prosecutions case against their client to establish the strengths and weaknesses of that case
Advantages of Charge & Plea Bargaining
It saves the CJS the costs and time it takes to run a trial
It shortens the prosection and trial process
It leads to a more successful conviction
Disadvantages of Charge & Plea Bargaining
The victim may as feel that the reduced charge does not reflect ‘justice’
It tends to benefit the criminal
The defendent may be coerced into admitting the crime
Juries
Criminal trials typiccaly have 12 jurors but in extra long trials such as the Snowtown trial 15 jurors may be appointed
Advantages of Juries
Juries provide a check against state power
Brings community values and norms to the interpretation of the law
Removes the power from an individual person
Disadvantages of juries
Potential for jurors to be influenced by personal prejudice
Jurors have no legal background
Jurors may not understand the law, or the evidence put before them
Instrumental aims of sentencing
Ensures that individuals that are found guilty of a crime aare punished appropriately and proportionately
Symbolic aims of sentencing
Reaffirms to members of society that boundaries dividing the ‘legal’ and the ‘illegal’ and the ‘normal’ from the ‘deviants’ and the ‘criminal’
Who is responsible for sentencing
Parliament, government and courts
Parliament
Makes the laws.
- Creates offences and decides what the maximum penalties for these offences will be
- Sets up the punishments taht are available to judges to impose law
Government
Puts the laws into operation
- Responsible for putting the law into operation and appointing judges
Courts
Interpret the law
- Apply the law that is set up by parliament
- Set specific sentences for individual offenders
Magistrates
Determine the guit and pass sentence
Juries & judges
decide on the guilt or innocence of an accused, based upon the evidence presented and the judge then passes the sentence and can explain matters of law and provide answer to the juries questions when necessary
Sentencing in Australia
Based on the sentencing act of 1991 and children, youth and families act 2005
Discretion decision making
Discretion is used to allow flexibility to achieve justice, based on the nature of the crime and the individual characteristic of the offender
Both the Crown (prosecutor) and Defence can Appeal the sentence if they believe it is manifestly inadequate or excessive
Sentencing options for an offender
Imprisonment, detention in youth justice centre, drug treatment order, Community Corrections Order, fine, additional order, dismissal, discharge and adjournement
Community Corrections Order
Can include unpaid community work, treatment and rehabilitation orders and place/area exclusion
The Purpose of Sentencing
Just punishment, detterence, rehabilitation, denunciation, community
Just punishment
To punish the offender to an extent and in manner, which is just in all of the circumstances
Detterence (General)
To deter other people from committing offences of the same or similar nature
Detterence (Specific)
To deter the offender from commiting crime of the same or similar nature
Rehabilitation
To establis conditions within which it is considered by the court that the rehabilitation of the offender may be facilitated
Denunciation
To denounce the type of conduct, engage by the offender
Community Protection
To protect the community from the offender
Classical school theory
People make rational choices about crime using the pleasure pain principle
Positivist school
The task was to understand the ‘scientific’ laws that governed human behaviour, and to create conditions which could manipulate that behaviour
Principle of less eligibility
Prisons conditions should be harder than those experienced by the lowest of the labouring class
Overcrowding
Prison numbers have grown significantly in the last few years when crime rates have remained relatively stable or declined in the last decade.
Goal of prisons
Reform or ‘casting out’ (i.e. social control)
Australia prison pricing
Approximately $14 billion annually
Restorative justice
Is one form of informal justice which gives a more central role to citizens not just legal professionas and methods of resolving disputes and responding to crime are more directly engaged with the victims, the offender and the community.
It promotes heal (restoration) and not jut punishment bringing together all peope affected by the criminal offender
Philosophy of Restorative Justice
Is about thinking about crime and criminality in a different way in order to provide different ways of doing ‘justice’
Benefits of restorative justice for the victim
It repairs the harm caused by the offender
They have actively participate in the process
There is a quicker outcome
Limitations of restorative justice for the victitm
The victim will have to face the offender
The apology might not be genuine
There is risk of second victimisation or further trauma
Benefits of restorative justice for the offender
They can avoid a criminal record and recieve a lesser penalty
Opportunity to be involved in determining the outcome
Hear from the victim and gain an understanding of the harm caused
Limitations of restorative justice for the offender
Benefits offenders who are more articulate
Offender must plead guilty to be eligible which can cause false confessions
It is dependent on the victims agreement so it is less consistent
Benefits of restorative justice for the community
Opportunity to participate
Costs and resources benefits
Development of shared perspectives in the community
Limitation of resorative justice in the community
Not as open as court proceedings as not publicly accessible
May be perceived as too lenient or ‘soft’ on offenders
Concerns regarding consistency of penalties
Resorative Justice conferencing
It is the most used form of restorative justice and it promotes communication between offenders. It leads to the creation of an Outcome plan or conference agreement. If the offender fails to undertake punishment then the original sentence applies
Justice Reinvestment
It is a relatively new philosophy based on redirecting funds away from more prisons into community-based initiatives. It is prentative not just reactive. It aims at increasing income equality, providing stable housing and employement opportunities
Routine Activity Theory
Prevention adresses a capapble (motivated) offender, a target (victim) and the absence of effective guardianship compared to law and order which only works on the offender. It can focus on opportunity reduction or environmental approaches (‘target’ or ‘guardianship’ or social prevention (reduce pool of ‘motivated offenders’)
Typology of Crime Prevention
Social prevention and environmental prevention
Social prevention
Focus on processes of socialisation that result in some people including offending as a part of their range of behaviours
Environmental prevention
Focusing on physical environments in which offences can occur
Primary prevention
Before the problems begins
Secondary prevention
When symptoms of ‘risk’ are apparent
Tertiary prevention
After a criminal event, to prevent ‘relapse’ or repeated victimisation
The funnelling effect
At each stage of the criminal procession there is a significant reduction where the number of cases that progress through the CJS become much smaller and smaller.
Rule of law
No one is above the law and it sould be appropriately scruntised, independent from the government and fairly applied
Due Processes
Refers to the rights of people who come before the law
What are examples of due processes
The right to silence, Trial by jury Burden of proof Access to legal representation Avenues for appeal
Accountability
Relates to the capacity to be held responsilbe for one’s actions or statements by some form of (ideally independent) oversight and or/review
Double jeopardy
Prevents an accused person of being tried again on the same charges following a valid conviction
Crime control model
Theory of criminal justice which places the emphasis on reducing crime through increased policy and prosecutial powers
The adversarial system
Two advocated represent their parties case or position before and impartial person or group of people usually a jury or judge, who attempt to determin the truth and pass judgement accordingly
Situational crime prevention
Focuses on the more immediate opportunities for offending. It seeks to reduce the harms caused by crime through altering immediate or situational factors in the environments where crime reguarly occurs
Tunnel vision
Police offer a detailed narrative of the crime and focuses on one option rather than a range of alternatives
Eyewitness testimony
Refers to the account given by a bystander “witness” to help or as evidence in trial
CSI effect or CSI myth
Refers to the argumet that jurors expectations are influenced by the processes and results depicted in TV shows
Failure of justice
In general terms refers to any failure to achieve justice, including wrongful convictions, acquitals, the failre to prosecute those responsible for crimes and unjust laws and punishments
Factual guilt
Whether or not someone actually committed a crime
Legal guilt
Is whether or not they can provide enough evidence to prove that they actually committed the crime
Forensic sicence
The application of science to those criminal and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice system
Issue with eyewitness
The question of the validity of memory recall has been a point of significant debate in particular when it derives from a stressful situation such as witnessing the crime take place. As well as the fact that memory can be easily manipulated, altered and reflect a person’s bias
What causes a wrongful charge or conviction
DNA error
Flawed Expert testimony
Media pressure
Inappropriate sentencing
It can either be too harsh or too lenient
Failure to charge or convict
Dubious police decision making, police misconduct
Flawed investigation
Information overload
Incorrect assumptions
What are failures of jsutice
Wrongful charge or conviction
Inappropriate sentencing
Failure to charge or convict
Flawed investigation
