CRJU Exam Chapter 1 Crime and Problem of Social Control rules habits customs if society to enforce conformity the legal controls imposed by the law and carried out by official Social control Society has 2 broad ways of controlling crime Formal crime control and informal Formal crime control organizations Informal crime control by unofficial groups ex family religions peer groups norms values behavior and social skills appropriate to their society This is an imperfect process Individual rights are protected as an integral part of the functioning of law enforcement The criminal justice system balances between imposing order and preserving individual a process by which individuals acquire a personal identity and learn the the moral rules and norms patterns of social behavior prescribed Socialization an action taken by a person or a group of people that violates the rules of society rights Crime to the point that someone is harmed or society s interests are harmed detecting detaining adjudicating and punishing and or rehabilitating people who break the law a social institution that has the mission of controlling crime by Criminal Justice C Wright Mills Sociological Imagination the idea that we must look beyond the obvious to evaluate how our social location influences how we perceive society Dark crime Making broad general statements about crime is difficult because so many behaviors are offenses that go undetected Street crime considered criminal offenses assault burglary and vandalism small scale person offenses such as single victim homicide rape robbery The criminal justice system spans the range from local governments to the federal Prison state or federal institution that confines people convicted of crime who are Probation suspension of all or part of a sentence subject to certain conditions and government serving sentences for longer than a year supervision in the community or intermediate level appellate court Appeal written request to higher court to modify or reverse the judgment of a trial court Law enforcement courts and corrections tasks are divided differently across the local state and federal branches of gov t Local level Criminal Justice Most of authority for law enforcement lies at the local level Sheriff official of a county or parish who primarily carries out judicial duties Provides law enforcement to unincorporated areas of the county or parish Bailiff court officer responsible for executing writs and processes making arrests and City and county law enforcement functions are combined to save the cost of duplicate keeping order in the court services Some court functions are vested at the local level and vary widely according to how each state organizes its governmental functions Felony offense punishable by a sentence of more than a year in state or federal prison and sometimes by death year Misdemeanor Minor criminal offense punishable by a fine and or jail time for up to one County jails hold 2 basic types of inmates 1 those who are awaiting trial and unable to make bond or get released on their own recognizance 2 those who have been sentenced to a year or less of incarceration Sentence punishment that a person convicted of a criminal offense is ordered by a judge to receive state law Because of the overcrowding in many state prison systems the flow of inmates backs up into the local jails where inmates must serve their time while waiting for bed space in a state prison State Level Criminal Justice Usually confined to specialized missions Most of the court action is at state level Most states divide their courts into multicounty judicial districts or circuits that rule on Circuit district established within a state judicial system or the federal judicial system Patrol units responsible for maintaining safety on state roads Most states have investigative agencies and crime labs States are responsible for most prison inmates States have extensive probation and parole agencies to deal with many thousands more offenders Federal Level Criminal Justice and local government federal laws Law enforcement functions include several agencies that enforce federal laws assist state The federal court system parallels the state system and processes offenders who break The federal government has it s own correctional system for those convicted Best known federal agency is the FBI and then the secret service Much of the work of federal law enforcement is concerned with white collar crime White collar crime nonviolent criminal offense committed during the course of business for financial gain In the past federal prisons were safer than many state systems because they housed mainly white collar offenders War on drugs governmental policy aimed at reducing the sale and use of illegal drugs Bc of the war on drugs the federal prison system now receives many inmates with extensive histories of drug related offenses The federal government also has probation and parole agencies that supervise federal offenders in the community Criminal Justice Process Only a small percentage of offenses result in someone going to prison Police officers prosecutors judges and corrections officers use discretion to decide Funnel effect which cases are pushed further into the system known to the police arrests prosecutors trial sentencing probation prison parole pattern of how cases move through the system Offenses offenses On average only 80 cases make it to the supreme court in a year Many offenses that enter the system are systematically excluded for several reasons 1 Cost The criminal justice system could bankrupt the nation if funded for all its legitimate needs 2 Discretion a good amount of personal philosophy and judgment goes into deciding what happens to cases Mandatory minimum statutes and three strikes laws greatly limit the discretion judges have in sentencing offenders Retribution Rehabilitation Goals of the criminal justice system deterrence incapacitation retribution rehabilitation crime is less likely to happen if cops are present taking people out of the situation ex Prostitutes can be incapacitated so 3 Errors some cases fall through the cracks restoration Deterrence Incapacitation that they can t do it all weekend when punishment is deserved wanting the person to pay if they key your car used for drug alcohol abuse and different crimes heroin s a problem in Delaware This is controversial because it s expensive to do rehab but more expensive to arrest domestic abuse case helping them so