Chapter 1

Criminal Justice
Today
L.01
What is a
crime?
What is a crime?
An act that violates criminal law and is
punishable by criminal sanctions.

The Consensus Model
1. *Assumption that as people gather
together to form a society, its members
will naturally come to a basic agreement
with regard to shared norms and values

2. The consensus model, to a certain
extent, assumes that a diverse group of
people can have similar morals.

The Conflict model
1. *According to the conflict model, the
most politically powerful segments of
society-based on class, income, age, and
race-have the most influence on criminal
laws and are therefore able to impose
their values on the rest of the community.
2. What is deemed criminal activity is
determined by whichever group happens
to be holding power at any given time

L.02

An integrated
definition of
crime
An integrated definition of crime

Constructs a definition of crime in that it is any
action or activity that includes the following:

1. Is punishable under criminal law, as
determined by the majority of society, or in
some cases, a powerful minority
2. Is considered an offense against society as a
whole and prosecuted by public officials
3. Is punishable by statutorily defined sanctions
that bring about a loss of freedom

Types of crimes
Crimes are classified according to their
seriousness

In general there are six categories of
criminal behavior
Types of crimes
1. Violent crime

Crimes against persons, which dominate our
perspectives about crime

Four general categories
1. Murder
2. Sexual assault
3. Assault and battery
4. Robbery


These acts are further classified by
degree, depending on the circumstances
surrounding the criminal act

Types of crimes
2. Property crime

Most common form of criminal activity during
which the goal of the offender is some form of
economic gain or damaging of the property

Four general categories

1. Larceny / Theft
2. Burglary
3. Motor vehicle theft
4. Arson

Types of crimes
3. Public order crime

Linked to the consensus model

Outlaws activities that are considered contrary to
public values and morals

*Most common include public drunkenness,
prostitution, gambling, and illicit drug use

*Often referred to as victimless crimes as they only
harm the offender

Types of crimes
4. White-collar crime

Business-related crimes



Describes illegal acts or series of acts committed
by an individual or business entity using some
nonviolent means to obtain a personal or business
advantage

Types of crimes
5. Organized crime

1. Describes illegal acts by illegal organizations,
usually geared toward satisfying the publics
demand for unlawful goods and services

2. Implies a conspiratorial and illegal relationship
among any number of persons engaged in
unlawful acts

Types of crimes
3. Employs criminal tactics
a. Violence
b. Corruption
C. Intimidation for economic gain

Types of crimes
6. High-tech crime
Newest typology of crime, directly related to
increased use of computers in everyday life

Internet has become the site of cyber crime
1. Cyber crimes against persons and property
2. Cyber crimes in the business world
3. Cyber crimes against the community
4. Cyber crimes against stalking

L.03
The Criminal
Justice System

The purpose of the criminal
justice system
Presidents Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of
Justice, in 1967, stated that the system is
obliged to enforce accepted standards
of conduct to protect individuals and
the community
The purpose of the criminal
justice system
Three goals of the modern criminal justice
system
1. To control crime
2. To prevent crime
3. To provide and maintain justice

Law enforcement
1. Local law enforcement
a. *On the local level, the duties are split
between counties and municipalities
b. Chief law enforcement officer of the
county is the sheriff
i. Elected post
ii. Two or four-year term

Law enforcement
c. Bulk of local police officers are
employed by municipalities
1. Investigate crimes
2. Attempt to deter crime
3. Apprehend criminals
4. Participate in trial proceedings
5. Charged with keeping the peace
6. In some areas, provide social services

State law enforcement
Two general types of state law
enforcement agencies

1. State police
2. Highway patrols

Other state law enforcers include fire
marshals and fish, game, and watercraft
wardens

Federal law enforcement
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) combines 24 federal agencies
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA)
U. S. Secret Service
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF)

Federal law enforcement
*The enactment of new national anti-
terrorism, gun, drug, and violent crime
laws over the past forty years has let to an
expansion in the size and scope of the
federal governments participation in the
criminal justice system
L.04
The Courts
The Courts
Dual court system with two independent
judicial systems
1. *Federal level
2. *State level
A dual court system, which means that
we have two independent judicial
systems Federal Level and State Levels
Jury trials
Public fascination with celebrity cases
obscures a truth of the informal criminal
justice process:
Trial by jury is relatively rare only about 5% of
those arrested for felonies go to trial.
Corrections
1. Offenders may be placed on
probation, incarcerated, or transferred to
community-based corrections facilities
once they have been delegated to the
corrections system
2. *Probation is the most common
correctional treatment allowing the
offender to return to the community
under supervision
Incarceration may include jails
or prisons

*Jails house those convicted of
minor crimes with relatively short
sentences in the county jail



*Prisons house those convicted
of more serious crimes with longer
sentences in Lowell Prison

L.05
Discretion
Discretion and discretionary
basics
Using authority to choose between and
among alternative courses of action
Criminal justice system uses discretion to
alleviate pressures
Discretion is closely related to questions of
ethics

L.06
The wedding cake
model of criminal
justice
The first layers of the cake
Top layer consists only of a handful of
celebrity cases




The Second layers of the cake
Second layer consists of high profile
felonies

The third layers of the cake
Third layer consists of ordinary felonies

The fourth layers of the cake
*Fourth layer consists of misdemeanors
(largest layer)

Public fascination with celebrity cases
obscures a truth of the informal criminal
justice process

*Trial by jury is relatively rare only about 5%
of those arrested for felonies go to trial
L.07
Values of the
Criminal Justice
System
Crime control model
1. The most important function of the
criminal justice system is to punish and
repress criminal conduct
2. The criminal justice system should
function quickly and efficiently, as an
assembly line
3. Police are in a better position than the
courts to determine guilt, and therefore as
few restrictions as possible should be
place on them
4. The crime control model relies on the
informality in the justice system

Due process model
1. Focuses on protecting the rights of the
accused through legal constraints on police,
courts, and corrections
2. Fairness, not efficiency, is the goal of the
due process model
3. The due process model relies on the courts
to uphold the legal procedures of establishing
guilt
4. *The due process model rejects the idea of
a criminal justice system with unlimited power

L.08
Criminal
Justice Today
Crime: the bottom line
2/3 of citizens feel crime is on the rise
In fact, in 2010 violent crime and property
crime rates are declining and are at near
record lows
Still, the weak economy could lead to
eventual increases

Gun Sales and Gun Control
30,000 people are killed by gunfire each
year
Illegally obtained firearms pose a series
concern for law enforcement
1/3 of American households legally
possess at least one gun
The debate over gun control continues as
the Second Amendment is analyzed

Illegal Drugs
*Crack cocaine blamed for explosion of
violent crime in 1980s and 1990s
Intense wave of violent crime related to
wars between Mexican drug cartels
U.S. government estimates that Mexican
drug cartels supply drugs to 230 American
cities
War on drugs refers primarily to
psychoactive drugs, which a significant
number of Americans regularly use

Law Enforcement in the United
States: Traditions and Technology
Using DNA profiling to fight crime
The Homeland Security and the Patriot
Act
1. The ultimate goal is to protect American
from terrorism
2. This has led to politicians and police officers
to favor the crime control model
3. The Patriot Act was passed six weeks after
the 9/11 attacks