Criminal justice
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (December 2010) |
Criminology and penology |
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Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and the prisons system.
Criminal justice system
Definition
The criminal justice system consists of three main parts:
- Law enforcement agencies, usually the police
- Courts and accompanying prosecution and defence lawyers
- Agencies for detaining and supervising offenders, such as prisons and probation agencies.
In the criminal justice system, these distinct agencies operate together as the principal means of maintaining the rule of law within society.[1]
Law enforcement
The first contact a defendant has with the criminal justice system is usually with the
Police are primarily concerned with keeping the peace and enforcing
Courts
The courts serve as the venue where disputes are settled and justice is then administered. With regard to criminal justice, there are a number of critical people in any court setting. These critical people are referred to as the courtroom work group and include both professional and non professional individuals. These include the
In the U.S. and in a growing number of nations, guilt or innocence (although in the U.S. a jury can never find a defendant "innocent" but rather "not guilty") is decided through the adversarial system. In this system, two parties will both offer their version of events and argue their case before the court (sometimes before a judge or panel of judges, sometimes before a jury). The case should be decided in favor of the party who offers the most sound and compelling arguments based on the law as applied to the facts of the case.
The prosecutor, or district attorney, is a lawyer who brings charges against a person, persons or corporate entity. It is the prosecutor's duty to explain to the court what crime was committed and to detail what evidence has been found which incriminates the accused. The prosecutor should not be confused with a plaintiff or plaintiff's counsel. Although both serve the function of bringing a complaint before the court, the prosecutor is a servant of the state who makes accusations on behalf of the state in criminal proceedings, while the plaintiff is the complaining party in civil proceedings.
A defense attorney counsels the accused on the a legal process, likely outcomes for the accused and suggests strategies. The accused, not the lawyer, has the right to make final decisions regarding a number of fundamental points, including whether to testify, and to accept a plea offer or demand a jury trial in appropriate cases. It is the defense attorney's duty to represent the interests of the client, raise procedural and evidentiary issues, and hold the prosecution to its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Defense counsel may challenge evidence presented by the prosecution or present exculpatory evidence and argue on behalf of their client. At trial, the defense attorney may attempt to offer a rebuttal to the prosecutor's accusations.
In the U.S., accused people are entitled to a government-paid defense attorney if the individual is in jeopardy of losing life and/or liberty. Those who cannot afford a private attorney may be provided one by the state. Historically, however, the right to a defense attorney has not always been universal. For example, in Tudor England criminals accused of treason were not permitted to offer arguments in their defense. In many jurisdictions, there is no right to an appointed attorney, if the accused is not in jeopardy of losing his or her liberty.
The final determination of guilt or innocence is typically made by a third party, who is supposed to be disinterested. This function may be performed by a judge, a panel of judges, or a
Some cases can be disposed of without the need for a trial. In fact, the vast majority are. If the accused confesses his or her guilt, a shorter process may be employed and a judgment may be rendered more quickly. Some nations, such as America, allow
The entire trial process, whatever the country, is fraught with problems and subject to criticism. Bias and discrimination form an ever-present threat to an objective decision. Any prejudice on the part of the lawyers, the judge, or jury members threatens to destroy the court's credibility. Some people argue that the often Byzantine rules governing courtroom conduct and processes restrict a layman's ability to participate, essentially reducing the legal process to a battle between the lawyers. In this case, the criticism is that the decision is based less on sound justice and more on the lawyer's eloquence and charisma. This is a particular problem when the lawyer performs in a substandard manner. The jury process is another area of frequent criticism, as there are few mechanisms to guard against poor judgment or incompetence on the part of the layman jurors. Judges themselves are very subject to bias subject to things as ordinary as the length of time since their last break.[11]
Manipulations of the court system by defense and prosecution attorneys, law enforcement as well as the defendants have occurred and there have been cases where justice was denied.[12][13]
Corrections and rehabilitation
Offenders are then turned over to the correctional authorities, from the court system after the accused has been found guilty. Like all other aspects of criminal justice, the administration of
have also been used as forms of censure.The most publicly visible form of punishment in the modern era is the
Punishment (in the form of prison time) may serve a variety of purposes. First, and most obviously, the incarceration of criminals removes them from the general population and inhibits their ability to perpetrate further crimes. A new goal of prison punishments is to offer criminals a chance to be rehabilitated. Many modern prisons offer schooling or job training to prisoners as a chance to learn a vocation and thereby earn a legitimate living when they are returned to society. Religious institutions also have a presence in many prisons, with the goal of teaching ethics and instilling a sense of morality in the prisoners. If a prisoner is released before his time is served, he is released as a parole. This means that they are released, but the restrictions are greater than that of someone on probation.
There are numerous other forms of punishment which are commonly used in conjunction with or in place of prison terms. Monetary fines are one of the oldest forms of punishment still used today. These fines may be paid to the state or to the victims as a form of reparation. Probation and house arrest are also sanctions which seek to limit a person's mobility and his or her opportunities to commit crimes without actually placing them in a prison setting. Furthermore, many jurisdictions may require some form of public or community service as a form of reparations for lesser offenses. In Corrections, the department ensures court-ordered, pre-sentence chemical dependency assessments, related Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative specific examinations and treatment will occur for offenders sentenced to Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative in compliance with RCW 9.94A.660.
Execution or capital punishment is still used around the world. Its use is one of the most heavily debated aspects of the criminal justice system. Some societies are willing to use executions as a form of political control, or for relatively minor misdeeds. Other societies reserve execution for only the most sinister and brutal offenses. Others still have discontinued the practice entirely, accepting the use of execution to be excessively cruel and/or irreversible in case of an erroneous conviction.[14]
Academic discipline
The functional study of criminal justice is at times distinct from
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, crime rates soared and social issues took center stage in the public eye. A number of new laws and studies focused federal resources on researching new approaches to crime control. The Warren Court (the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren), issued a series of rulings which redefined citizen's rights and substantially altered the powers and responsibilities of police and the courts. The Civil Rights Era offered significant legal and ethical challenges to the status quo.
In the late 1960s, with the establishment of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) and associated policy changes that resulted with the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The LEAA provided grants for criminology research, focusing on social aspects of crime. By the 1970s, there were 729 academic programs in criminology and criminal justice in the United States.[16] Largely thanks to the Law Enforcement Education Program, criminal justice students numbered over 100,000 by 1975. Over time, scholars of criminal justice began to include criminology, sociology, and psychology, among others, to provide a more comprehensive view of the criminal justice system and the root causes of crime. Criminal justice studies now combine the practical and technical policing skills with a study of social deviance as a whole.
Criminal justice degrees are offered at both the two-year community college and four-year university level. Community college criminal justice programs include the Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Science (AS), and the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees. Criminal justice degree programs at four-year institutions typically include coursework in statistics, methods of research, criminal justice, policing, U.S. court systems, criminal courts, corrections, community corrections, criminal procedure, criminal law, victimology, juvenile justice, and a variety of special topics. A number of universities offer, bachelor's, academic minors, graduate certificates, master's, and doctoral degrees in Criminal Justice; Criminology, Law and Society; Administration of Justice; or a specially designated Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree.
History
The modern criminal justice system has evolved since
Though a prison,
The development of a modern criminal justice system was contemporary to the formation of the concept of a nation-state, later defined by German sociologist Max Weber as establishing a "monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force", which was exercised in the criminal justice case by the police.[19][20][21][22]
Modern police
The first modern police force is commonly said to be the Metropolitan Police in London, established in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel.[23][24] Based on the Peelian principles, it promoted the preventive role of police as a deterrent to urban crime and disorder.[25][26] In the United States, police departments were first established in Boston in 1838, and New York City in 1844. Early on, police were not respected by the community, as corruption was rampant.
In the 1920s, led by
In the 1990s,
By country
France
Courts involved in adjudicating questions of French criminal law are organized in three tiers.
In the
See also
- Outline of criminal justice – structured list of topics related to criminal justice, organized by subject area
- Criminal justice ethics
- Criminal justice reform
- Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
- Criminal responsibility in French law
- American Society of Criminology
- Prison reform
- Public criminology
- Recidivism
- Restorative justice
References
- ^ "U.S. Criminal Justice System Overview - CorrectionalOfficer.org". www.correctionalofficer.org.
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "police". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
- ^ Dinsmor, Alastair (Winter 2003). "Glasgow Police Pioneers". The Scotia News. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
- ^ "History". Marine Support Unit. Metropolitan Police. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
- ^ "La Lieutenance Générale de Police". La Préfecture de Police fête ses 200 ans Juillet 1800 – Juillet 2000 (in French). La Préfecture de Police au service des Parisiens. Archived from the original on 22 November 2001.
- ISBN 978-0-16-080954-5.
- ISBN 978-0-669-01292-7.
- ^ Neocleous, Mark (2004). Fabricating Social Order: A Critical History of Police Power. London: Pluto Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN.
- ISBN 978-1466556232.
- ^ Rios, Victor (2011). Punished. p. 108.
- PMID 21482790.
- ^ Perri, Frank S.; Lichtenwald, Terrance G. (2009). "When Worlds Collide: Criminal Investigative Analysis, Forensic Psychology And the Timothy Masters Case" (PDF). Forensic Examiner. 18 (2): 226972.
- ^ Perri, Frank S.; Lichtenwald, Terrance G. (2010). "The Last Frontier: Myths & The Female Psychopathic Killer" (PDF). Forensic Examiner. 19 (2): 50–67.
- ^ (ACJS) 1963 Justice Sciences 25 April 2015. 2015-05-07 ACJS History 243–252 Criminal Justice. 4: 243-2546790
- ^ "Finest of the Finest". Time. 18 February 1966. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008.
- ^ S2CID 145220713.
- JSTOR 1143848.
- ^ Garland, David (2002). "Of Crimes and Criminals". In Maguire, Mike; Rod Morgan; Robert Reiner (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 3rd edition. Oxford University Press. p. 20.
- ^ Max Weber, Weber's Rationalism and Modern Society, translated and edited by Tony Waters and Dagmar Waters. New York: Palgrave Books, 2015, pp. 129–198.
- ^ Max Weber in Weber's Rationalism and Modern Society, translated and edited by Tony Waters and Dagmar Waters. Palgrave Books 2015, p. 136
- S2CID 14970734.
- S2CID 145312307.
- ISBN 978-1317228820.
- ISBN 978-1305544680.
- JSTOR 800268. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
- ^ "Policing by consent". UK Government. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- ^ a b Bell 2008, p. 129.
- ^ Donnelly 2013, p. 37.
- ^ Chambers 1896, p. 286.
- ^ Legifrance, Criminal procedure code, 14.
- ^ Terrill 2009, p. 158.
- ^ Terrill 2009, pp. 157–158.
- ^ a b Terrill 2009, p. 157.
- ^ a b Bermann & Picard 2008, p. 128.
Works cited
- John Bell; Sophie Boyron; Simon Whittaker (27 March 2008). Principles of French Law (2 ed.). OUP Oxford. pp. 129–. OCLC 865331945.
- Bermann, George A.; Picard, Etienne, eds. (1 January 2008). Introduction to French Law. Kluwer Law. OCLC 219574344.
- Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, Volume 8. W. & R. Chambers, Limited. 1896. pp. 286–. OCLC 235817290.
- Donnelly, Daniel (21 January 2013). Municipal Policing in the European Union: Comparative Perspectives. Springer. pp. 37–. OCLC 1005811336.
- République française; Secrétariat général du gouvernement (19 October 2022). "Légifrance Le service public de la diffusion du droit" [The public service for dissemination of the law]. Légifrance. Direction de l'information légale et administrative. OCLC 867599055.
- Terrill, Richard J. (2009). World Criminal Justice Systems: A Survey (7 ed.). ISBN 978-1-59345-612-2.
Further reading
- Dale, Elizabeth. Criminal Justice in the United States, 1789–1939 (Cambridge University Press, 2011)184 pp
- Fuller, John Randolph. Criminal Justice: Mainstream and Crosscurrents 2005. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
- Serge Guinchard and Jacques Buisson. Criminal procedural law in France Lexinexis editor, 7th edition, September 2011, 1584 pages.
- Hanes, Richard C. and Sharon M. Hanes. Crime and Punishment in America. Volume 1. 2005. Thomas Gale. Farmington Hills, MI
- Friedman, Lawrence M. Crime and Punishment in American History. 1993. Basic Books. New York, NY.
- Sunga, Lyal S. The Emerging System of International Criminal Law: Developments in Codification and Implementation. 1997. Kluwer Law International. The Hague, The Netherlands.
- Walker, Samuel Popular Justice: A History of American Criminal Justice. 1980. Oxford University Press, Inc. New York
External links
- Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
- The International Center for Transitional Justice's (ICTJ) Criminal Justice Page
- Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, a well-respected academic research centre focusing on crime and justice issues.