Lecture - 1.2 - Intro to Crime and Justice Flashcards
What is criminology?
The empirical study of crime, influenced by sociology, psychology, and other disciplines.
What does criminology explore?
Why individuals engage in criminal behaviour and how laws interact with society.
What is criminal justice?
The applied study of law enforcement systems, focusing on procedures, policies, and interactions among police, lawyers, courts, and corrections.
What makes a criminal?
Damaging behaviours, violating the rights of others, doing illegal and illicit activities, violating societal norms, morally unjust.
How is a crime defined?
A behaviour that has been defined by the state and is subject to some sort of sanction.
What factors can influence the definition of a crime?
Time, different perceptions, geographical location.
What is the Criminal Justice System (CJS)?
A loosely coupled collection of interdependent agencies with conflicting interests and functions, subject to legal regulations.
How many legal systems does Australia have?
9 legal systems: 6 states, 2 territories, 1 federal.
What is the purpose of the CJS Cake Model?
To maintain peace and order, reduce/prevent crime, ensure just treatment of accused persons, convict the guilty, acquit the innocent, punish the guilty, discourage reoffending, and engage in economical processes.
What are the layers of legal systems in the CJS?
Local/Municipal, State/Provincial, Federal, International.
What are the types of offending?
- Serious offences
- Less serious offences
- Minor offences
Who are the people and organizations involved in the CJS?
- Police
- Corrections
- Courts
- Victims
- Witnesses
- Defendants
- Jurors
- Media/press
- General public
- Charity groups
- Private sector
- Other governments
What are the stages of mapping layers in the CJS?
- Entry into the system
- Investigation and charging
- Presentation and pre-trial
- Adjudication and sentencing
- Managing offenders
What is the outcome of the criminal justice system statistics for 1000 crimes? Funnel process
The funnel shows the decrease in the number of cases progressing onward from the time of report to police
- 500 reports
- 100 arrests
- 50 charges
- 45 guilty pleas
- 3 guilty at trial
- 2 acquittals
- 32 community corrections
- 16 prison
What are the aims/purposes of the CJS?
- To maintain peace and order
- To reduce/prevent crime
- To ensure just treatment of accused persons
- To convict the guilty and acquit the innocent
- To punish the guilty and discourage reoffending
- To engage in economical and efficient processes
What are Herbert Packer’s two models from his seminal text?
- The Crime Control Model
- The Due Process Model
He views them essentially as representing two ends of a plottable continuum.
What does the Crime Control Model prioritize?
Repression of criminal conduct and efficiency in processing cases. Speed and timely convictions are key in the Crime Control Model.
What is the underlying logic of the Crime Control Model?
To protect the public from social chaos and the breakdown of law and order.
What is emphasized in the Due Process Model?
Individual liberty, fair treatment, certainty, and procedural fairness. Less trust in police and more in judiciary
What does the Due Process Model prioritize over speed?
The primary function of the Due Process model is to ensure the primacy of the citizen is accomplished through fair treatment and equity, and a restraint on official power. Emphasises certainty (not speed), formality (over informality), and the presumption of bureaucratic error (rather than trust in competent agencies).
What are the characteristics of the Due Process Model?
- Presumption of innocence
- Burden of proof on the prosecution
- Procedural rules to prevent errors
How does the Due Process Model affect efficiency?
It leads to reduced efficiency and increased costs.
How can the criminal justice system be summarized?
A loosely coupled collection of interdependent agencies, each with bureaucratic interests and core functions that can conflict, subject to legal regulations.
What are the two main purposes of the criminal justice system?
- Instrumental / Utilitarian
- Symbolic / Non-Utilitarian
Instrumental focuses on crime prevention; symbolic seeks to address moral imbalances caused by crime.
