CJE3110 - Law EnforcementCh. 1Main Points and TopicsIntroductionPolice institution did not exist in early times, instead people handled their issues and what wasconsidered deviant behavior informally. When society became more complex and people becamestrangers to one another, the need for formal social control became necessary. This chapter coversimportant developments to early policing, how law enforcement grew in England, since much of theAmerican criminal justice system evolved from their system. It was not until beginning of 20th centurythat law enforcement became a formalized entity.Maintaining Social OrderTwo major competing explanations over the debate on how social order is possible, they are theconsensus viewpoint, and the conflict perspective. Consensus view emphasizes the degree to whichpeople agree about what is right and what is wrong, that widely held beliefs or community standardsguide the way people behave. Conflict perspective say that a small minority of powerful peoplemanipulate the legal system in order to preserve their advantage, and that special interests control thetypes of activities the law prohibits and how the law is upheld.Standards of behaviorCulture has a set of rules that governs how people act. Norms are these standards for howpeople should behave. Norms make interactions routine and predictable. Two major types, folkwaysand mores. Folkways are behavioral expectations that deal with minor norms, violation results in minorsanction. Examples of breaking folkways would be not hold the door open for people. Breaking afolkway would hardly result in the need to call the police. Mores are normative standards that evokestrong reactions if violated, a violator would receive harsh treatment for breaking these. Examples in thebook include cannibalism, murder, incest, and infanticide. These sometimes change overtime, forexample witches used to be put to death, now obviously that doesn’t happen. Putting differences asideand determining what people generally agree upon allows you to see the common value system inwhich people believe. This is the consensus about what actions constitute conformity and what peopleconsider deviant behavior. Controlling Social BehaviorThe response to deviant behavior and the resulting punishments or sanctions are called socialcontrol. Social control takes two forms, formal and informal. Informal Social Control are actions takenby people to sanction behavior, gossip and ostracism are forms of trying to informally control someone’sactions because they influence how other people react to an individual. Vigilantism is another form ofthis, in which people band together to provide greater security than the police can, i.e. Guardian Angels,patrolled NY subways to keep thugs from victimizing people. Formal Social Control tends to be the lawand criminal justice system. Types of SocietyTwo main types, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. Ferdinand Toennies used these words todescribe two polar types of societies. Gemeinschaft is a small network of people who interact with eachother in primary relationships. Gesellschaft is a large network of people who mostly interact with eachother through secondary relationships. Primary relationships are relationships in which people behavewith each other in a close or intimate way. Secondary relationships describe social discourse betweenstrangers or people who do not have a very close bonds. Informal social control will work just fine in aGemeinschaft society, where formal social control will be a necessity for Gesellschaft society.Societal DevelopmentHow did society go from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft style society? Durkheim links it topopulation size and density. Larger population, limited area, equals more complexity. The lack ofattachment to society can lead people to anomie, or no longer feeling attached to others. Oneconsequence of this is a greater amount of crime and deviant behavior. Durkheim’s thought process ledothers to conclude that city life and urbanization would deteriorate primary relationships, encouragedeviance, and lead to higher crime rates.**Early English Law Enforcement**In early England the law enforcement burden fell on the people. The Mutual Pledge Systemcame into effect under Alfred the Great (870-901 A.D.) This system worked by everyone being part of asystem to keep crime under control. Everyone lived in Tuns or little villages. Each tun was subdividedinto tithings, or units of ten families. Every male over 12 was part of the tithing. The tithing wasresponsible for the behavior of all its members. Tithings elected one member to be the head of thegroup. This person became known as Chief Tithingman. If a member committed deviant behavior thatneeded to be punished, Chief Tithingman would raise a Hue and Cry, or a posse, to search, locate, andeither punish or detain the criminal. As villages and tuns grew larger, greater need for structure resultedin the creation of a hundred. A Hundred is a grouping of ten tithings, the leader of this grouping wascalled a Reeve. The reeve conducted meetings where he acted as a mediator, he also appointed aconstable. The constable was responsible for the hundred’s weapons, equipment, and belongings. Witheven more growth, reeves became grouped together and called a Shire. The person in charge of all thereeves in the shire, was given the title Shire-Reeve. This term and it’s duties are the forerunner fortoday’s Sheriff. Even today the Sheriff remains the highest ranking law enforcement officer in thecountry. Pre-industrial city life was cramped and very condensed inside the city walls, roofs were oftenmade of thatch, and heating, lighting, and cooking were done by fire. As a result the fear of fire wasgreat as one fire and a gusty wind could create a huge catastrophe. This concern led to the developmentof the night watch system. This was a system that established voluntary surveillance of the city as wellas watching the gates to the city. If something happened an alarm would be sounded to wake up thecitizens.The statute of Winchester in 1285, formalized this arrangement, and established the office ofthe parish constable, which was a voluntary position that would coordinate the night watch system forthe year. This statute also led to
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