CCJS 100 Exam 1 Study Guide Characteristics of police subculture Clearance rate The percentage of crimes known to the police that they believe they have solved through an arrest a statistic used to measure a police department s productivity Which type of police officers accounts for the majority of all sworn officers Big city departments hire 19 of all police employees Police discretion the ability to make decisions without reference to specific rules or facts using instead one s own judgment allows for individualization and informality in the administration of justice Police officers decide how to handle a crime or situation Two arguments are made for discretion 1 Discretion is needed because the system lacks the resources to treat every case the same way 2 Many officials believe discretion permits them to achieve greater justice than rigid rules would produce o Police must often decide whether to enforce specific laws investigate specific crimes search people vicinities buildings and arrest or detain people o Five factors The nature of the crime The less serious a crime is to the public the more freedom officers have to ignore it The relationship between the alleged criminal and the victim closer the relationship between the police and the alleged criminal or victim The closer the personal relationship the more variable the use of discretion The relationship between the police and the criminal and the victim Suspect who shows respect is less likely to be arrested Race ethnicity age gender class officers are more likely to enforce law against young minority poor men while being more lenient on elderly whites women Departmental policy The policies of the police chief and city officials Police providing social services promote more or less discretion o Police officers recover stolen property direct traffic give emergency medical aid help people who have locked themselves out of their home etc o Other major duties of the police keeping the peace apprehending violators and combating crime preventing crime Types of crime o Vice offense immoral offense o Hate crime targets a certain group o Cyber crime offenses that involve the use of one or multiple computers Include child pornography to advertise sexual services hackers to steal information o Visible crime An offense against persons or property committed primarily by members of the lower class Often referred to as street crime or ordinary crime this type of offense is the most upsetting to the public Ranges from shoplifting to homicide What the public regards as criminal because they are visible they are the hardest to hide Majority of law enforcement resources are employed to deal with them Violent Crimes acts against people in which death or physical injury result Include assault rape robbery etc Property Crimes threaten property held by individuals or state Include theft embezzlement burglary Public Order Crimes threaten general well being of society and challenge accepted moral principles Include public drunkenness vandalism disorderly conduct etc o Occupational crime Criminal offenses committed through opportunities created in a legal business or occupation If done right are never discovered Committed by respectable well to do people o Victimless crime offenses involving a illing and private exchange of illegal goods or services that are in strong demand Participants do not feel they are being harmed but these crimes are prosecuted on the ground that society as a while is being injured Include prostitution gambling and drug use The war on drugs is the most obvious example of policies against one type of victimless crime Who operates and administers prisons jails and other correctional facilities and programs and on what levels A variety of private and public organizations including federal state and local governments and carried out in many different community and closed settings Less than 30 percent of convicted offenders are in prisons and jails the rest are being supervised in the community o Sheriffs How is crime defined Criminal law is defined by elected representatives in state legislatures and Congress who make choices about the behaviors that the government will punish How is law institutionally defined Law tells citizens what they can and cannot do Laws also tell government officials when they can seek to punish citizens for violations and how they must go about it o Civil law law regulating the relationships between or among individuals usually involving property contracts or business disputes o Substantive criminal law law that defines acts that are subject to punishment and specifies the punishments for such offenses o Procedural criminal law Law defining the procedures that criminal justice officials must follow in enforcement adjudication and corrections Law as ideology Warrant A court order authorizing police officers to take certain actions for example to arrest suspects or to search premises Federalism a system of government in which power is divided between a central national government and regional state government Exchange A mutual transfer of resources a balance of benefits and deficits that flow from behavior based on decisions about the values and costs of alternatives This happens when each party has goals that they cannot accomplish alone Each needs to gain the cooperation and assistance of other individuals by helping them achieve their own goals I e plea bargaining Judges are responsible for imposing sentences Deterrence The term is also used more casually to suspect a party in any field of potential conflict of being prepared to inflict unacceptable damage on an aggressor and making sure the potential aggressor is aware of the risk so that they may refrain from aggression Establishing a credible and known deterrence is at the opposite end of the spectrum from a policy of appeasement Arrest The physical taking of a person into custody on the grounds that there is reason to believe that he or she has committed a criminal offense Police may use only reasonable physical force in making an arrest The purpose of the arrest is to hold the accused for a court proceeding Mala in se offenses that are wrong by there very nature Ex Rape and murder Mala prohibita offense prohibited by law but not wrong in themselves Ex Gambling Criminal justice wedding cake purpose of cake is to show that not all cases are treated prostitution and drug use equally o Different cases are treated in different ways Only a very few
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