Crime and Criminal Justice

1. Chapter 1 Crime and Criminal Justice

2. Crime is not a recent phenomenon • Crime has evolved with the nation: • The Civil War produced widespread business crime. • From 1900 to 1935 the nation experienced sustained increases in criminal activity dominated by Depression-era criminals.

3. Government & CrimeThe Crime Commissions • Chicago Crime Commission (1919) • Cleveland Crime Commission (1922) • Missouri Crime Survey (1926) • Illinois Crime Survey (1929) • Wickersham Commission (1931) • The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967)

4. Crime Commission Recommendations • To deal more effectively with crime and criminals, the Criminal Justice system needs more: • Time • Money • People

5. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) • Gave $7.7 billion to states to deal with crime • Contributed to increased numbers of people working in criminal justice • Helped invent what is known as criminal justice

6. The Criminal Justice System: Size and Expense • 55,000 different public agencies • $150 billion annual budget • 2 million employees • 20,000 police agencies • 17,000 courts

7. The Criminal Justice System: Size and Expense • 8,000 prosecutorial agencies • 6,000 correctional institutions • 3,500 probation and parole departments • 15 million arrests per year • Correctional population of more than 5 million

8. Role of the Police • Maintain order • Enforce criminal & traffic law • Provide emergency service • Create a sense of community safety

9. Role of the Courts • To seek truth & obtain justice • To adjudicate & sentence • Consists of • lower courts • superior courts • appellate courts

10. Prosecution and Defense • Opponents in an adversarial system • Prosecutor represents the people • Defense represents the accused

11. The Prosecutor • Represents the government • Usually a local attorney with jurisdiction limited to county or state • Either elected or appointed position • Presents the state’s case from defendant’s arrest through conviction and sentencing • Screens cases to eliminate the obviously innocent or those lacking evidence

12. The Defense Attorney Role involves two major functions: • Protecting the constitutional rights of the accused • Presenting the best possible legal defense for the defendant

13. Role of Corrections • Community supervision • Probation • Confinement • Parole

14. Realities of Crime • All crimes are not treated the same by the criminal justice system. • All criminals are not treated the same by the criminal justice system. • Much of the public has a distorted understanding about criminal justice processes.

15. Perspectives on Justice • A perspective is a “view point” about a given subject. It normally reveals one’s understanding about the relationship among various aspects of a subject, both to each other and to the topic as a whole. A perspective about the causes of crime, the nature of criminals, the functions of government, and the rights of victims is one of the foundations on which public policy is based.

16. Crime Control Perspective • Proper role of criminal justice is to prevent crime through judicious use of sanctions. • If criminal justice operated effectively, criminals would be deterred. • The system could punish in such a way to make all believe that “crime doesn’t pay.” • Focus of justice should be on the victim. • Crime control measures should be sure & swift.

17. Effects of the Crime Control Perspective • Mandatory sentencing • “Three strikes and you’re out” • Preventative detention • Abolition of parole

18. Rehabilitative Perspective • The justice system should be a means of caring for and treating people who cannot manage themselves. • Crime is an expression of frustration and anger created by social inequality. • Crime can be controlled by giving people the means to improve their lives through conventional endeavors.

19. Rehabilitative Perspective • In contrast to the Crime Control Perspective, focus is on the offender. • Societal conditions will breed new criminals. • Pay now by treatment or later by more prisons.

20. Effects of the Due Process Perspective • Exclusionary rule • Right to attorney at all stages of the process • Due process rights given to juveniles • Granting prison inmates fundamental legal entitlements

21. Nonintervention Perspective • Limit the involvement of the criminal justice system with defendants whenever possible. • Long-term effects of involvement are harmful to the individual.

22. Nonintervention Perspective and Net Widening • Nonintervention Strategies: • Decriminalization of “victimless crimes” • Deinstitutionalization of nonviolent offenders • Pretrial Diversion for first time offenders

23. Justice Perspective • Combines: • Liberal Perspective • Fairness, equality, and strict control of discretion • Conservative Perspective • Crime control

24. How Does the Justice Perspective Limit Discretion? • One of the major goals is to reduce sentencing disparity • Advocates determinant sentencing • Advocates use of sentencing guidelines • Advocates abolition of parole

25. Restorative Justice Perspective • The true purpose of the criminal justice system is to promote a peaceful and just society. • The justice system should aim for peacemaking, not punishment.

26. Controlling the Drug Trade • Source Control • Cutting off supplies of drugs by destroying crops and arresting members of drug cartels in drug-producing countries.

27. Law Enforcement and Drugs • Little evidence that law enforcement alone could end drug distribution • Does the lure of drug profits make the effectiveness of law enforcement strategies problematic? • If law enforcement efforts are successful, supplies will be down, and what does become available will be more valuable and profitable, encouraging more people to enter the trade.

28. Rehabilitation Strategies • Based on the belief that it is possible to treat known users, to get them clean and to help them reenter conventional society. Some examples are: • Wilderness training • Peer counseling from groups such as AA and NA • Methadone programs and residential treatment programs • Therapeutic communities within correctional facilities

29. Restorative Justice Strategies • Mediation and conflict resolution • Financial and community restitution programs

30. Nonintervention Strategies – Legalization of Drugs • Arguments for legalization • Prohibition failed • More die from legal drugs • When drugs were legal, many managed to lead normal lives • The Netherlands is relatively crime-free • Arguments against legalization • If it worked, it would only be short-term • Long-term result would be more users • Current users could increase intake • Legalizing won’t stop the problems, e.g., DWI

31. Due Process Perspective • Combines elements of the liberals’ concern for the individual with the concept of legal fairness guaranteed by the Constitution • Provides fair and equitable treatment to those accused of crime • Advocates strict monitoring of discretion by justice officials to ensure no one suffers racial, religious or ethnic discrimination