Criminology Terms #2 Flashcards
1
Q
Problem-solving Courts
A
Specialized courts that are designed to divert offenders with special needs from the criminal justice system.
2
Q
Therapeutic justice
A
The use of the law and the authority of the court as change agents in promoting the health and well-being of offenders while ensuring that their legal rights are protected and that justice is done.
3
Q
Courtroom workgroup
A
The criminal justice professionals, including the judge, Crown counsel, and defence lawyer, who are present in the criminal courtroom.
4
Q
Hybrid (elective) offences
A
Offences that can be proceeded summarily or by indictment, a decision that is always made by the Crown.
5
Q
Preliminary Hearing
A
A hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal trial.
6
Q
Judicial independence
A
The notion that “judges are not subject to pressure and influence, and are free to make impartial decisions based solely on fact and law.”
7
Q
Circuit courts
A
Composed of a judge, a court clerk, a defence lawyer, a Crown counsel, and perhaps a translator, travel to communities (usually by air) to hold court.
8
Q
Superior Courts
A
The highest level of courts in a province or territory and are administered by the provincial and territorial government.
9
Q
What is the role of the trial-level superior court?
A
It hears cases involving serious criminal offences, and can be known as the Supreme Court or the Court of Queen’s Bench.
10
Q
What is the role of the appeal-level superior court?
A
It hears criminal appeals (as well as civil appeals) and is usually called the Court of Appeals.
11
Q
Dissent
A
Does not agree with the majority.
12
Q
The Supreme Court of Canada
A
- hears cases from all provinces and territories
- established under the Constitution Act 1867
- three of the judges on court must be from Québec.
- the governor in council appoints the nine judges.
- they must be superior court judges or lawyers with at least ten years’ standing at the bar in a province or territory.
- decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
13
Q
Federal Court
A
- hears all cases that concern matters of federal law.
- inc. copyright law, maritime law, the Human Rights Act, the Immigration Act, and appeals from the Parole Board of Canada.
14
Q
What is the difference between provincial/territorial judges and superior court judges?
A
Provincial/territorial judges are appointed by the provincial/territorial government, and superior court judges are appointed by the federal government.
-appointments are for life; judges don’t have to consider career implications over making controversial decisions.
15
Q
Supreme Court Act (1985)
A
Requires the potential appointee be a judge in a provincial or territorial superior court or have at least ten years experience as a lawyer.
16
Q
The three categories of a Hybrid (elective) Offence
A
- Offences under the absolute jurisdiction of provincial or territorial courts.
- Offences under the absolute jurisdiction of superior courts.
- Electable offences.
17
Q
Prima Facie Case
A
If the Crown has evidence that could be used to prove guilt.
18
Q
‘Preferring the Indictment’
A
In rare cases, the provincial or territorial Attorney Generally can skip the preliminary hearing and go straight to trial.
19
Q
Three modes of trial for an electable offence
A
- Trial by a provincial or territorial judge.
- Trial by a superior court judge sitting along.
- Trial by a superior court judge and a jury.
20
Q
Ethical principles of federally appointed judges
A
judicial independence, integrity, impartiality, and diligence and equality.
21
Q
Judicial Interim Release (or bail)
A
The release by a judge or JP of a person who has been charged with a criminal offence pending a court appearance.
22
Q
Remand
A
The status of accused persons in custody awaiting trial or sentencing.
23
Q
Security Certificates
A
A process whereby non-Canadian citizens who are deemed to be a threat to the security of the country can be held without charge for an indefinite time.
24
Q
Plea Bargaining
A
An agreement whereby an accused pleads guilty in exchange for the promise of a benefit.
25
Stay of proceedings
An act by the Crown to terminate or suspend court proceedings after they have commenced.
26
Not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder (NCRMD)
A defence that the accused person is not responsible for an act because of his or her mental state at the time.
27
Procedural defences
- challenging the validity of the applicable law.
- challenging the validity of prosecution (accusing the police or prosecutors acted unfairly in the investigation or charging of the accused).
- contesting the admissibility of evidence gathered by the police.
- seeking a remedy for violation of a Charter right.
28
Utilitarian Goals
- general deterrence (discouraging potential people from crime)
- specific deterrence (discouraging the people from doing it again)
- rehabilitation (curing the people of what made them do the crime)
- incapacitation (keeping the people in jail to protect society)
29
Retributive Goals
- denunciation (expressing society's disapproval of the behaviour of the offenders)
- retribution (making the offenders 'pay' for their offences, based on the philosophy "an eye for an eye")
Key concept: proportionality
30
Suspended sentence
A sentencing option whereby the judge convicts the accused but places the offender on probation; successful completion results in no sentence being given.
31
Conditional sentence of imprisonment
Offenders who receive a sentence or sentences totalling less than two years serve their time in the community under the supervision of a probation officer.
32
Concurrent sentences
Sentences that are amalgamated and served simultaneously.
33
Consecutive sentences
Sentences that run separately and are completed one after the other.
34
Intermittent sentences
A sentence that is served on a part-time basis, generally on weekends.
35
Judicial determination
An order by the sentencing judge that the offender serve one-half of the sentence before being eligible to apply for parole.
36
Dangerous offender
A designation made by the judge after conviction that results in an indeterminate term of imprisonment in a federal correctional institution.
37
Long-term offender
A designation under section 752 or 753 of the Criminal Code that requires the offender to spend up to 10 years under supervision following the expiry of his or her sentence.
38
Collateral consequences (of sentencing)
The sanctions and prohibitions that are placed on persons convicted of criminal offences (and their families), particularly those offenders who have been incarcerated.
39
The Gladue decision
A decision by the SCC that held that when a term of incarceration would normally be imposed, judges must consider the unique circumstances of Aboriginal people.
40
Victim impact statements (VIS)
A submission to a sentencing court explaining the emotional, physical, and financial impact of the crime.
41
Corrections
Structures, policies, and programs to sanction, punish, treat, and supervise, in the community and in correctional institutions, persons convicted of criminal offences.
42
Non-carceral corrections
That portion of systems of correction relating to offenders in non-institutional settings.
43
Diversion
Programs that are designed to keep offenders from being processed further into the formal criminal justice system.
44
Net-widening
A potential, unanticipated consequence of diversion programs in which persons who would otherwise have been released outright by the police or not charged by Crown counsel are involved in the justice system.
45
Intermediate sanctions
A term used to describe a wide range of correctional programs that generally fall between probation and incarceration, although specific initiatives may include either of these penalties as well.
46
Conditional sentence
A sentence of offenders receiving a sentence or sentences totalling less than two years whereby the time is served in the community (generally under house arrest) under the supervision of of a probation officer.
47
Probation
A sentence imposed on an offender by a criminal court judge that provides for the supervision of the offender in the community by a probation officer, either as an alternative to custody or in conjunction with a period of incarceration.
48
Risk principle
Correctional interventions are most effective when matched with the offender's level of risk and higher-risk offenders benefit from interventions more than medium- and low-risk offenders.
49
Need principle
To be effective, correctional interventions must address the criminogenic needs of offenders.
50
Responsivity principle
Correctional interventions should be matched to the learning styles of individual offenders.
51
Intensive supervision probation (ISP)
An intermediate sanction (between the minimal supervision of traditional probation and incarceration) that generally includes reduced caseloads for probation officers, increased surveillance, treatment interventions, and efforts to ensure that probationers are employed.
52
Pains of probation
The emotional and economic challenges that probationers my experience while under probation supervision in the community.
53
Electric monitoring
A correctional strategy that involves placing an offender under house arrest and then using electronic equipment to ensure that the conditions of supervision are fulfilled.
54
Pennsylvania model (for prisons)
A separate and silent system in which the prisoners were completely isolated from one another; eating, working and sleeping in separate cells.
55
Auburn model (for prisons)
A system that allowed prisoners to work and eat together during the day and housed them in individual cells at night.
56
Moral architecture
The term used to describe the design of the first penitentiary in Canada, the intent of which was to reflect themes of order and morality.
57
Brown Commission
An investigation into the operation of the Kingston Penitentiary that condemned the use of corporal punishment against inmates and emphasized the need for rehabilitation.
58
Minimum-security institutions
Federal correctional facilities that generally have no perimeter fencing and allow unrestricted inmate movement.
59
Medium-security institutions
Federal correctional facilities that have a less highly controlled institutional environment than maximum-security institutions and in which the inmates have more freedom of movement.
60
Maximum-security institutions
Federal correctional institutions with a highly controlled institutional environment and high-security fencing. Inmates' movements are strictly controlled and monitored.
61
Static security
Fixed security apparatus in a correctional institution, including fixed security posts wherein correctional officers are assigned to and remain in a specific area, such as a control room.
62
Dynamic security
A variety of ongoing, meaningful interactions between staff and inmates.
63
Total institutions
Correctional institutions, psychiatric hospitals, and other facilities characterized by a highly structured environment in which all movements of inmates or patients are are controlled 24 hours a day by staff.
64
Continuum of correctional institutions
The differences in institutional environments among correctional institutions located at either end of the security spectrum- max to min
65
Self-injurious behaviour (SIB)
Deliberate self-inflicted bodily harm or disfigurement.
66
Arbour Report
The report of an inquiry into events at the Kingston Prison for Women in April 1994, which documented violations of policy, the rule of law, and institutional regulations and had significant impact on the development of women's corrections.
67
Status degradation ceremonies
The processing of offenders into correctional institutions whereby the offender is psychologically and materially stripped of possessions that identify him or her as a member of the free society.
68
Pains of imprisonment
The deprivations experienced by inmates confined in correctional institutions, including the loss of autonomy, privacy, security, and freedom of movement and association.
69
Inmate subculture
The patterns of interaction and the relationships that exist among inmates confined in correctional institutions.
70
Prisonization
The process by which inmates become socialized into the norms, values, and culture of the prison.
71
Institutionalized
Inmates who have become prisonized to such a degree that they are unable to function in the outside free community.
72
State-raised offenders
Inmates who have spent the majority of their adult (and perhaps young adult) lives confined in correctional institutions and, as a consequence, may have neither the skills nor the ability to function in the outside free community; for these offenders, prison is home.
73
Inmate code
A set of behavioural rules that govern interactions among inmates and with institutional staff.
74
Social (or argot) roles
Roles that inmates assume based on their friendship networks, sentence length, and other factors related to their criminal history and activities in the institution.
75
Classification
The process by which inmates are categorized through the use of various assessment instruments to determine the appropriate security level of the inmate and program placement.
76
Static risk factors
Attributes of the offender that predict the likelihood of recidivism but are not amenable to change, including criminal history, prior convictions, the seriousness of prior offences, and performance on previous conditional releases.
77
Dynamic risk factors
Attributes of the offender that can be altered through intervention, including level of education, employment skills, addiction issues, and cognitive thinking abilities, among others.
78
Case management
The process by which the needs and abilities of offenders are matched with correctional programs and services.
79
Correctional plan
A key component of the case management process that determines the offender's initial institution placement, specific training or work opportunities, and preparation for release.
80
Recidivism rates
The number of offenders released from confinement who are subsequently returned to prison.
81
Throughcare
The notion that there should be continuity between institutional treatment and programs and community-based services for offenders.
82
Conditional release
A generic term for the various means of leaving a correctional institution before warrant expiry whereby an offender is subject to conditions that, if breached, could trigger revocation of the release and return to prison; parole is one type of conditional release.
83
Cold turkey release
Discharge of an offender at the end of the sentence when no conditional release or supervision is possible, such as when federal or provincial or territorial offenders serve their entire sentence in custody or provincial or territorial offenders are released at the two-thirds point of their sentence.
84
Warrant expiry date
The end of an offender's sentence.
85
One-chance statutory release
A release option whereby offenders who violate the conditions of statutory release are required to serve the remainder of their sentence in confinement.
86
Release plan
A plan setting out the residential, educational, and treatment arrangements made for an inmate who is applying for conditional release.
87
Community assessment
An evaluation of the feasibility of the release plan, the level of supervision required, and the availability of community resources.
88
Temporary absence
A type of conditional release that allows an inmate to participate in community activities, including employment and education, wile residing in a minimum-security facility or halfway house.
89
Day parole
The authority granted by a parole board that provides an opportunity for inmates to be at large to prepare for full release (e.g., for job search) while returning at night to an institution or, more typically, to a community residential facility.
90
Full parole
The authority granted by a parole board for an inmate to be at large under supervision in the community for the remainder of his or her sentence.
91
Statutory release
A type of conditional release (made by the CSC not the PBC) that allows incarcerated federal offenders to be released at the two-thirds point in their sentence and to serve the remaining one-third of their sentence under supervision in the community.
92
Detention during the period of statutory release
A decision by the PBC (after an application by the CSC) that a federal inmate be denied statutory release and be detained in the institution until warrant expiry date.
93
Reintegration
The process whereby an inmate is prepared for and released into the community after serving time in prison.
94
Remission or discharge
Available to provincial or territorial inmates who have served two-thirds of their sentence (often referred to as cold turkey release as there is no supervision by a parole officer).
95
Pains of reentry
The difficulties that inmates released from prison encounter as they try to adjust to life in the community.
96
Post-incarceration syndrome (PICS)
A condition of offenders in custody and in the community that is caused by prolonged exposure to the dynamics of life inside correctional institutions.
97
Reentry court
A problem-solving court that assists offenders in managing the challenge of reentry.
98
Community notification
The practice, usually carried out by police agencies, of making a public announcement that a high-risk offender has taken up residence in an area.
99
Suspension of conditional release
A process initiated by the supervising parole officer (or in some instances by the parole board) in cases where the parolee has allegedly failed to abide by the conditions of release.
100
Revocation of conditional release
A decision by a releasing authority, such as a parole board, made in connection with an offender whose release has been suspended.
101
Smart on crime
An alternative approach to criminal justice reform.
102
Over-criminalization
The imposition of penalties, often to address social problems, "that have no relation to the gravity of the offence committed" and are therefore excessive and without jurisdiction.
