Chapter 1
 

Summary:
It is important to know the foundations of the criminal justice system to give a better understanding of where we stand as a system.  The consensus versus conflict debate discusses group structures and how group dynamics can affect society.  The primary difference between the consensus and conflict theorists with respect to their view of gov­ernment vis-à-vis the governed concerns their evaluation of the legitimacy of the actions of ruling groups in contemporary societies. The crime control and due process models are also important structures within the criminal justice system because they discuss whether the ends justify the means.  An overview of the flow and functions of the criminal justice system is provided with a flowchart.  The wedding cake model of criminal justice is a model of the criminal justice process whereby a four-tiered hierarchy exists, with a few celebrated cases at the top, and lower tiers increasing in size as the severity of cases become less (serious felonies, felonies, and misdemeanors).  Discretion and ethics are important parts of the criminal justice system with discretion being authority to make decisions in enforcing the law based on one’s observations and judgment (“spirit of the law”) rather than the letter of the law and ethics being a set of rules or values that spell out appropriate human conduct.

Objectives:

• Explain the importance of studying and understanding our criminal justice system
   
• Describe the foundations of our criminal justice system, including its legal and historical bases
   
• Define the crime control and due process models of criminal justice
   
• Review the influence of politics on our criminal justice system, as well as what can constitute “good politics” and “bad politics”
   
• Relate the importance of citizen responses to crime and willingness to become involved in the criminal justice process
   
• Describe the fundamentals of the criminal justice process—the offender’s flow through the police, courts, and corrections components, and the functions of each component
   
• Explain the “wedding cake” model of criminal justice
   
• Describe the importance of discretion and ethics throughout the justice system

Outline:

• Foundations of Criminal Justice: Legal and Historical Bases
   
  • The Consensus-versus-Conflict Debate
     
• Crime Control and Due Process: Do Ends Justify Means?
   
  • Due Process
     
  • Crime Control
     
  • Stress the difference between these models of criminal justice processes
     
• Politics and Criminal Justice
   
  • Permeating the Field
     
  • Good Politics, Bad Politics
     
• Citizens’ Responses to Crime
   
  • In order for the Criminal Justice system to function, it needs citizens willing to get involved
     
• The Criminal Justice Process: An Overview of Flow and Functions
   
  • The Offender’s Pathways Through the Process
     
  • Law Enforcement: Entry Into the System
     
  • Prosecution and Pretrial Services
     
  • Adjudication
     
  • Sentencing and Sanctions, Generally
     
  • Appellate Review
     
  • Corrections
     
  • The Juvenile Justice System
     
• The Wedding Cake Model of Criminal Justice
   
  • a model of the criminal justice process whereby a four-tiered hierarchy exists, with a few celebrated cases at the top, and lower tiers increasing in size as the severity of cases become less (serious felonies, felonies, and misdemeanors)
     
  • Layer 1: Celebrated cases- command great deal of media attention because crimes are unusual or defendants are celebrities or high-ranking officials
     
  • Layer 2: Serious felonies-violent crimes committed by people with lengthy criminal records and who often prey on people they do not know
     
  • Layer 3: Lesser felonies- nonviolent and typically viewed as less important than the felonies in Layer 2, offender may have no criminal record, have a prior relationship with victim, and may be charges with drug-related, financial, or other such crimes
     
  • Layer 4: Misdemeanors- Include the so-called “junk” crimes: public drunken­ness, minor theft, disturbing the peace, and so on
     
• Discretion and Ethics Throughout the Criminal Justice System
   
  • Applying the Law on the Streets
     
  • Ethics and Character: Constant Dilemmas