Chapter 1 - Cengage Learning

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Transcript Chapter 1 - Cengage Learning

Chapter 1 Criminal Justice Today

Learning Outcomes

LO1: Define crime and identify the different types of crime.

LO2: Outline the three levels of law enforcement.

LO3: List the essential elements of the corrections system.

LO4: Explain the difference between the formal and informal criminal justice processes.

LO5: Contrast the crime control and due process models.

Define crime and identify the different types of crime.

Learning Outcome 1

• What is crime?

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“a wrong against society proclaimed by law and, if committed under certain circumstances, punishable by society.” • Different societies can have vastly different ideas of what constitutes a crime.

Learning Outcome 1

• The Consensus Model

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Assumes that a diverse group of people have similar morals and share an ideal of what is “right” and “wrong.”

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Crime are acts that violate this shared value system and are deemed harmful to society.

Learning Outcome 1

• The Conflict Model

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Assumes that society is so diverse that members do not share moral attitudes.

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The most politically powerful members of society have the most influence on criminal law and impose their value system on the rest of the community.

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Crimes are defined by whichever group holds power at a given time.

Learning Outcome 1

• An Integrated Definition of Crime

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Punishable under criminal law, as determined by the majority, or in some cases, by a powerful minority.

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Considered an offense against society as a whole and prosecuted by public officials, not by victims and their relatives or friends.

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Punishable by statutorily determined sanctions that bring about the loss of personal freedom or life.

Learning Outcome 1

• Criminal behavior can be grouped into six categories:

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Violent crime

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Property crime

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Public order crime

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White collar crime

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Organized crime

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High-tech crime

Learning Outcome 1

• Violent Crime

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Crimes against persons.

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D our perspectives on crime.

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Includes: • • • • Murder Sexual assault Assault and battery Robbery

Learning Outcome 1

• Property Crime

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The most common form of criminal activity.

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The goal of the offender is some form of economic gain or to damage property.

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Includes: • • • • Larceny/theft Burglary Motor vehicle theft Arson

Learning Outcome 1

• Public Order Crimes

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Behavior that is outlawed because it violates shared social values.

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Also referred to as

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Includes: • • • • Public drunkenness Prostitution Gambling Illicit drug use victimless crime .

Learning Outcome 1

• White Collar Crime

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Business related offenses.

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Illegal act(s) committed to obtain personal or business advantage.

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White collar crime costs U.S. businesses as much as $994 billion a year.

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Learning Outcome 1

Organized Crime

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Illegal acts by illegal organizations (often violent.

Usually geared toward satisfying a public demand for unlawful goods and services.

Implies a conspiratorial and illegal relationship among a number of people engaged in unlawful acts. Includes: • • • Loan sharking Gambling Prostitution

Learning Outcome 1

• High-Tech Crime

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Also referred to as cyber crimes .

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Includes: • • • Selling pornographic material online Cyberstalking Hacking

Learning Outcome 1

The Criminal Justice System The interlocking network of law enforcement agencies, courts, and corrections institutions designed to enforce criminal laws.

Learning Outcome 1

• The Purpose of the Criminal Justice System

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To control crime

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To prevent crime

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To provide and maintain justice

The Structure of the Criminal Justice System Federalism – government powers are shared by the national government and the states.

Outline the three levels of law enforcement.

Learning Outcome 2

• Local and County

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County sheriff – chief law enforcement officer of most counties.

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Responsible for the “nuts and bolts”: • • • Investigations Patrol activities Keeping the peace

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Learning Outcome 2

State

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State police Highway patrols Fire marshals Fish, game, wildcraft wardens Federal

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Anti-terrorism FBI Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Almost every federal agency has some kind of police power.

Learning Outcome 2

• Courts

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The US has a dual court system – two independent judicial systems, one at federal level and one at state level.

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Criminal court responsible for determining guilt or innocence of suspects.

List the essential elements of the corrections system.

Learning Outcome 3

• The Corrections systems includes:

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Probation

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Jails

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Community-based corrections (halfway houses, residential centers, work release centers).

Learning Outcome 3

• The Corrections systems includes:

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Probation

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Jails

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Community-based corrections (halfway houses, residential centers, work release centers).

Explain the difference between the formal and informal criminal justice processes.

Learning Outcome 4

• The Formal Criminal Justice Process

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Functions as an assembly-line

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“a series of routinized operations whose success is gauged primarily by their tendency to pass the case along to a successful conclusion.”

Learning Outcome 4

• The informal criminal justice process – Based on the use of discretion – the authority to choose between and among alternative courses of action.

The Wedding Cake Model

Contrast the crime control and due process models.

Learning Outcome 5

• The crime control model

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Law enforcement is necessary to control criminal activity.

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Control is difficult and probably impossible.

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The system must be quick and efficient.

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Police are in a better position than courts to determine guilt.

Learning Outcome 5

• The due process model

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Strives to make it difficult to prove guilt.

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Ultimate goal – fairness, not efficiency.

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Rejects idea of a criminal justice system with unlimited powers.

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Criminal justice system should recognize its own fallibility.

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Relies heavily on courts.

Mastering Concepts Crime Control Model versus Due Process Model

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, June 1997), Table 1.1, page 12; and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2008 Correctional Populations in the United States, 1995 (Washington, D.C.; U.S. Department of Justice, 2009), 2.