Chapter 1 The Criminal Justice System The Goals of Criminal Justice Society uses it to enforce the standards of conduct necessary to protect individuals and the community Doing Justice o Fairness is essential and Americans want to have fair laws o Its principle is what separates America from authoritarian countries o Upholding the rights of individuals and punishing those who violate laws o Offenders will be held accountable for their actions o The rights of the person will be protected Like offenses will be treated alike Controlling crime the law Preventing Crime o Arresting prosecuting convicting and punishing those who disobey o Criminal law defines what is illegal outlines citizens rights and shows the procedures that officials use to achieve the systems goals o The actions of the police courts and corrections o Enforce the law and give examples of what is wrong to prevent others from committing wrongful acts Citizens must rely on police to enforce the laws but can be active in preventing crime Criminal Justice in a Federal System Federalism the power divided between the central government and the regional government o Criminal justice isn t in the constitution but the federal government Both state and federal have the same purpose in preventing crime but their has ways to prevent crime such as the FBI Most criminal justice is done at the state level Two Justice Systems actions differ in scope and purpose o Federal espionage federal drug offenses State assault most drug battery Expansion of Federal Involvement Expanded since 1960 Congress has allocated billions of dollars for crime control efforts and passed legislation to deal with all crimes Expanded FBI legislation because crime has expanded past state level o Can also intervene if they would be more effective than the police in investigating a situation o Leads to jurisdiction problems between police and FBI Ex 9 11 Expansion of Homeland Security o Border security intelligence and emergency response from other government departments o Now under homeland security legislation Criminal Justice as a Social System Comprises of several parts or subsystems Subsystems police court corrections have their own goals but are also interdependent Every person s role in the system is important Exchange the mutual transfer of resources among individual actors each of whom he or she cannot accomplish alone o Plea bargaining where the defense attorney and the prosecutor reach an agreement Can lead to less time conviction and less time in corrections Characteristics of the Criminal Justice System Discretion An official s freedom to act according to their own judgment and conscience Resource dependence o Need to exercise options in order to serve justice and prevent crime o Depend on other agencies for funding o Legislators mayors city council members o Gain revenue through traffic fines o Budget decision are made by city officials and police rely on them for funding Sequential tasks o Rely on media in order to keep a good standing b t agencies and public Specific sequence in the system o Arrest prosecute court o Key element in exchange relationships Filtering Each stage some defendants are sent on to the next stage while others are released and processed under changed conditions o Dismissal bail acquitted etc o Few result conviction and punishment Operations of Criminal Justice Agencies 167 billions annual budget 2 3 million employees 60 000 agencies Police o Front line of controlling crime o Over 17 thousand police forces compared to 50 federal o Keeping the Peace o Protection of rights and persons in any situation o Apprehending violators and combating crime o Fighting crime o Preventing crime o Educating the public about the threat of crime and reducing crime situations Courts o Dual court systems state court and federal court Supreme court is responsible for correcting certain errors made in all other court systems o Law interpreted in different states o Adjudication determining whether a or not a defendant is guilty o 7 million people are under federal or state supervision o less than 30 percent of convicted offenders are in prison supervised in community o probation and parole halfway houses work release programs Corrections The Flow of Decision Making in the Criminal Justice System Investigation They believe a crime has been committed and rely on citizens to report the offense Arrest physically taking a person into custody pending on a court proceeding first step towards prosecution o Can be made on the basis of a warrant a court order issued by a judge authorizing police officers to take certain actions Booking a record made of the arrest need to be fingerprintes photographed questioned and put in a lineup o Miranda laws are put in use Charging attorneys are the key link between police and courts o Sets in motion the adjudication of the case Initial Appearance suspect must be brought before a judge and given notice on what they are being held for and whether to post bail o Judge then decides whether prosecution will be produced Preliminary Hearing Grand Jury decision must be made whether to proceed and the hearing allows for the judge to believe that a crime has been commit case could be dismissed o Enough evidence such as an arraignment over information physical o Decide whether to file an indictment charging the suspect with a evidence specific crime Indictment Information if lead to this the prosecutor prepares formal charges and presents it at court Arraignment appears in court to hear the indictment and to enter a plea the suspect and either plead guilty or go onto trial Trial right to a trial 6th amendment given a jury and needs to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty Sentencing suitable to the offender based on the crime or can give him probation community service fines etc Appeal guilty defendants can appeal their case to higher courts Corrections probation allows service within the community but if incarcerated will go to prison Release occur when the offender has served the full sentence or let go by a parole officer The Criminal Justice Wedding Cake Not all cases are treated equally due to severity if the case the importance of the case and the defendants resources o Top of the cake is the celebrated major cases With high notoriety trial and normally drag on because of the stiff sentence and strong defendant lawyers celebrities murder rape o Second layer is serious felonies crimes that could end up as
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