Midterm 1 Flashcards
What are the three main agencies of the criminal justice system?
- the police
- the courts
- the correctional system
what are the three definitions of crime? Compare and contrast them.
- The legal definition
- a crime is said to occur when a law is broken and a crime only takes place when a person has been deemed guilty of a crime and punished accordingly - The social definition
- crime is said to cause social injury and harm, as such, it should be controlled - The constructionist definition
- a crime is the result of social interaction; a negotiated process among the police and crown prosecutors
what are the main purposes of the criminal justice system? cpm
- to control crime
- to prevent crime
- to maintain justice
What is meant by Anatole France?
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to bed in the streets, and to eat bread
Define and describe the differences between public and private law.
public-law - sets the rules for individuals in society, including the criminal law
Private law - or civil law refers to relationships between actors - legal contracts
T or F
Mala Prohibita refers to behaviour that is immoral and evil
F
This refers to Mala in se
List and describe the 3 different types of offences in the criminal justice system.
- Summary Offences - Misdemeanors; prison up to two years and a 5,000 fine
- Indictable Offences - Felonies; can result in life imprisonment
- Hybrid/dual offences - crown prosecutor decides which of the above category they fall under. mostly for youth crime, sexual offences and break and entering
List the 3 levels of police systems and how many sworn police there were in 2015
- municipal
- provincial
- federal
- 70,000 in 2015
how many cases and charges were processed in 2006/07
372,000 cases and over a million charges
what are the four levels of the courts in canada
- the supreme court of Canada
- The court of appeal
- Superior courts
- provincial courts - assembly-line justice
How many people in Canada are incarcerated every day?
37,000 adults and over a 1,000 youth
Due to the criminal justice funnel, how many people are actually incarcerated?
6%
What are the five discretions?
- Victims - 2010 55% of people didn’t report due to them not thinking it was important enough
- Police
- Bail hearings
- Prosecution
- Sentencing
What is the first model of our criminal justice system designed by Herbert Packer?
Crime control model - get tough on the crime model that presumes guilt, and assumed that police only target the guilty
What is Herbert Packers second model for our criminal justice system?
Due process model- prioritizes the rights of the suspect, innocent until proven guilty
What are the statistics for the violent crimes of 2020
total - under 500,000
asault 1 - 180,000
Uttering threats - 85,000
Assault 2 weapon or bodily harm - 65,000
What are the statistics for property crimes in 2020
- Theft under 5,000 - 345,000
- Mischief - 300,000
- Break and entering - 140,000
What is one significant crime in 2020 that is labelled as other?
Administration of justice violations - 200,000
What year was peak crime in Canada and why do researchers think the reason is?
1991, due to the boomer population being old enough to commit crime and be caught for it
What year did Canada start using the UCR or Uniform crime reports?
1962
What are crime statistics based off of?
- Reports to police
- self-reports
- victimization reports
all resulting in triangulation
what is the difference between UCR and UCR2?
UCR2 is an updated version of UCR where more information is taken upon the incident instead of just summary data
What are two types of criticisms against the CUCR
- weighing of crimes - increase in crimes nullifies other crimes
- recording problems
one non-violent incident is counted for each incident
for violent crimes a separate incident is recorded for each victim
What do victimization surveys do?
- help estimate unrecorded crime
- explain why victims do not report crimes to the police
- provide information about the impact of crime on victims
- identify populations at risk of being victimized