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Understanding the Criminal Justice System: Origins, Components, and Models

Learn about the origins, components, and models of the criminal justice system, including its agencies, processes, critical stages, rule of law, and diverse justice concepts influencing modern practices. Explore the impact of celebrity cases, integration of the rule of law, and various justice models shaping today’s criminal justice system.

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Understanding the Criminal Justice System: Origins, Components, and Models

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  1. Chapter 14 The Criminal Justice System

  2. Origins of the Criminal Justice System • Wickersham Commission • President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, 1967 • Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

  3. Origins of the Criminal Justice System • Weblink www.abf-sociolegal.org/

  4. What is the Criminal Justice System? • Definition: refers to the agencies of government charged with enforcing law, adjudicating crime, and correcting criminal conduct. • More than 55,000 public agencies employ 2 million people • 17,000 law enforcement agencies and nearly 17,000 courts • More than 8,000 prosecutorial agencies and about 6,000 correctional institutions • More than 3,500 probation and parole departments • Almost 7 million are under the control of the correctional system with 2 million people in jails and prisons

  5. Figure 14.1 Components of the Criminal Justice System

  6. Figure 14.2 Direct Expenditure by Level of Government

  7. Figure 14.3 Direct Expenditure by Criminal Justice Function

  8. Table 14.1 Number of People Under Correctional Supervision 1990-2003

  9. Figure 14.4 Adult Correctional Populations 1980-2003

  10. The Process of Justice • Assembly line process (Herbert Packer) • Initial contact (with police) • Investigation (to identify the perpetrator) • Arrest (taken into custody) • Custody (booking and interrogation) • Complaint/Charging (prosecutor) • Preliminary hearing/Grand jury (determine probable cause/indictment) • Arraignment (reading of charges/bail and trial date set) • Bail or detention (money or recognizance bonds) • Plea bargaining (deal struck to avoid trial) • Adjudication (trial) • Disposition (sentencing) • Postconviction remedies (appeals) • Correctional treatment (probation/incarceration) • Release (parole/end of sentence) • Postrelease/Aftercare (return to community)

  11. CNN Clip - Robert Durst Found Not Guilty

  12. Figure 14.5 The Critical Stages of the Justice Process

  13. The Process of Justice • The criminal justice system acts like a funnel • Cases are dismissed at various stages • Relatively few cases make it through the funnel • Impact of celebrity cases • Bargain justice is estimated to occur in 90 percent of all criminal cases

  14. Figure 14.6 The Criminal Justice Funnel

  15. Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law • State and federal courts are supervised by the law of criminal procedure • Procedural laws define rights of criminal defendants and control the actions of agencies • Bill of Rights (applied at both state and federal levels) • Exclusionary rule protects defendants from illegal searches and seizures (not admitting illegally seized evidence)

  16. Concepts of Justice • Crime Control Model • Protect the public and deter criminal behavior • Punishment designed to fit the crime • Building more prisons and using the death penalty • Rooted in choice theory • Became a dominant force in American justice in the 1960s and 1970s

  17. Concepts of Justice • Justice Model • Futile to rehabilitate criminals because treatment programs are ineffective • Determinate sentencing is needed for fairness • Parole should be abolished

  18. Concepts of Justice • Due Process Model • Individualized justice, treatment, and rehabilitation of offenders • Civil rights of accused should be protected • Competent defense counsel, jury trials, and procedural safeguards • The desire to protect the public has overshadowed concerns for the rights of criminal defendants

  19. Concepts of Justice • Rehabilitation Model • Criminals can change into productive citizens with the right care and treatment • Criminals are victims of social injustice, poverty, and racism • Dealing effectively with crime requires attacking its root causes • Programs that teach interpersonal skills and behavior modification techniques have produced positive results

  20. Concepts of Justice • Nonintervention Model • Limiting government intrusion into lives of minor offenders • Deinstitutionalize nonserious offenders • Diverting law violators out of the formal justice system • Critics charge there is little evidence that diverting offenders reduces recidivism

  21. Concepts of Justice • Restorative Justice Model • Promotes a peaceful and just society • Religious influences of Quakers and Zen • Guided by: 1) community ownership of conflict, material, 2) symbolic reparation for crime victims, and 3) social reintegration of the offender • Mediation and conflict resolution programs

  22. Figure 14.7 Perspectives on Justice: Key Concerns and Concepts

  23. Concepts of Justice Today • Crime control and justice models have captured the support of legislators and the public • Elliot Currie claims the punitive incarceration-based models are doomed to fail • The cost of justice skyrockets and the criminal justice system becomes overcrowded

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