Unit 4 Topic 2 - Models of Criminal Justice

Question 1

What are the two types of models?

Answer 1

1968 Herbert Packer described two contrasting sets of values which shape the way criminal justice systems work:

• Crime Control Model
• Due Process Model

Question 2

What is the Crime control model?

Answer 2

• Views crime as a threat to people’s freedom and starts with the presumption of guilt
• Once the ‘probably guilty’ are identified, it favors a ‘conveyor belt’ justice system as it speedily prosecutes, convicts and punishes them
• Emphasizes the rights of society and victims, rather than the rights of suspects

Question 3

Provide examples that illustrate the Crime control model

Answer 3

• The partial abolishment of ‘double jeopardy’ rule for serious offences in Criminal Justice Act 2003
• The extended pre-charge detention time up to 28 days for terrorist offences in Terrorism Act 2006

Question 4

State a case example using the crime control model

Answer 4

Central Park 5

• Questioned without legal aid
• No parents present
• Too eager to convict - can cause unsafe verdicts, (rights of suspects not respected)

Question 5

What is the Due process model?

Answer 5

• Aim is to protect the accused from oppression by the state and starts from a presumption of innocence:
• The rules and procedures protecting rights form a necessary ‘obstacle course’ that prosecutors need to overcome to secure a conviction
• Emphasizes the rights of the accused individual rather than those of the victim or society

Question 6

Provide examples that illustrate the Due process model

Answer 6

• Police procedural safeguards introduced in Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984
• The Human Rights Act 1998 allows for criminal justice practices to be thoroughly looked at from a human rights perspective

Question 7

Which model is most dominant?

Answer 7

Due process model

Question 8

State a case example of the due process model

Answer 8

The Birmingham Six

• Police fabricated evidence and denied them their rights
• Judge wrongly deemed the confessions admissible and not defence evidence
• Prosecution presented dubious and unreliable forensic evidence

Question 9

What is the sociological theory for the crime control model?

Answer 9

Functionalism by Emile Durkheim

Crime control model - is needed to reinforce social boundaries and act as a deterrent

Question 10

What is the sociological theory for the Due process model?

Answer 10

Interactionism by Jock Young

Dual process model - rehabilitation to avoid negatively labelling individuals
rules and regulations needed to prevent bias in CJS