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CRIMINAL JUSTICE MIDTERM

Terms in this set (55)

What is Justice?
The process or result of using laws to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals
What is Criminal Justice?
The system of law enforcement, involving police, lawyers, courts, and corrections, used for all stages of criminal proceedings and punishment.
How may the two main goals of the American Criminal Justice System to maintain public order and to protect individual rights sometimes cause a challenge for the system?
The law must allow the reasonable exercise of freedoms when those actions do not cause harm to others.
What do the three symbols depicted in the lady justice statue mean?
Blindfold: The blindfold represents objectivity, in that justice is or should be meted out objectively.

Scale: represent the weighing of evidence.

Sword: represents punishment.
What are laws?
A system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior.
What is social control?
People's relationships, commitments, values, norms, and beliefs encourage them not to break the law.
What are the functions of the three parts or components of the Criminal Justice System?
Police
Enforce laws and arrest those who do not follow them.
Courts: to determine guilt or innocence and then the sanction imposed on the accused must have to be just and fair.
Corrections: serves out that sentence in court ex: parole officer, counselors
What is the difference between the "Consensus Model" and the "Conflict Model" of the Criminal Justice System?
Consensus: consensus opinion that the three parts work well together with the goal of insuring justice
Conflict: problem with all three parts of the system that they do not work well with insuring justice
What is the difference between an "Individual Rights Advocate" and a "Public Order Advocate"?
Individual Rights Advocate: One who seeks to protect personal freedoms within the process of criminal justice.
Public Order Advocate: One who believes that under certain circumstances involving a criminal threat to public safety, the interests of society should take precedence over individual rights.
What is the difference between a "Crime Control Model" and a "Due Process Model" of Justice?
Crime Control Model: A criminal justice perspective that emphasizes the efficient arrest and conviction of criminal offenders.
Due Process Model: A criminal justice perspective that emphasizes individual rights at all stages of the justice system processing
1st Amendment
Freedom of Speech, Press Religion, Assembly and Petition
2nd Amendment
Right to bear arms
3rd Amendment
Quartering: No soldier in time of peace be quartered in any house without consent of owner nor in time of war, but in manner to be prescribed by law
4th Amendment
Search and seizure with probable cause
5th Amendment
Right to remain silent
6th Amendment
Right to speedy public trial
8th Amendment
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
10th Amendment
States Rights
14th Amendment
Citizens rights
Due process at state level
Equal Protection
Simply puts holds that any right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution can not be removed by the state.
What does "Due Process" of law mean?
The principle that an individual cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards.
What is the Uniform Crime Report/National Incident Based Reporting System?
An incident-based reporting system used by law enforcement agencies in the
United States for collecting and reporting data on crimes. Local, state and federal
agencies generate NIBRS data from their records management systems
What is the National Crime Victimization Survey?
Administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is a national survey of
approximately 49,000 to 77,400 households twice a year in the United States, on the
frequency of crime victimization, as well as characteristics and consequences of
victimization.
Be familiar with the 3 periods of crime rate change Schmalleger talked about and why they occurred.
1933 -1959: Crime rate declined as young males entered military
service related to WW II and Korean War.
2. 1960 - 1989: increase in crime rate due to returning males, post war baby boom,
boomers coming of age, improved reporting systems, increased drug issues.
3. Early 1990's-2012: decline in crime rates due to strict laws, improved programs,
sentencing reform, war on drugs, advances in enforcement strategies & technology,
economic expansion and aging population.
Be familiar with the causes offered by Schmalleger for the potential 4th period of crime change.
2013-Present: Jobless rates increased, growing number of ex-convicts back on the streets, increase in teen population and gang activity.
Be familiar with some crime stat facts like age group with highest rate of victimization, perpetrators, most common weapon, etc.
Highest victimization rate for violent crimes: 20-24
City residents more likely to experience violent crimes than rural residents
Blacks are more likely members of other racial groups to be victims of violent crimes
Lower income families have highest victimization rate
What are Criminal Laws?
A system of laws concerned with punishment of individuals who commit crimes
What is the "Rule of Law"?
An orderly society must be governed by established principles and known codes that
are applied uniformly and fairly to all its members.
What are the three levels of criminal offenses?
Felonies: Murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, and arson
Misdemeanors: An offense punishable by incarceration usually in a local
confinement facility for a period of one year or less
Offenses: violation of criminal law taken care of by issuing a ticket
What are the three elements of a crime?
1. Mens rea or intent- There must be a certain mental state for there to be a crime.
Generally those states are knowingly, willfully, or recklessly.
2. Actus reus- That is, a criminal act or an unlawful omission of an act, must have
occurred.
Concurrence: The intent must precede or happen at the same time as the criminal
act.
3. Causation- Generally harm must be suffered by the criminal act
What are the levels of criminal mind or culpable mental states?
Intent: This is the explicit and conscious desire to commit a dangerous or illegal act.

Knowledge: This term applies if a person is aware that his or her actions will have certain results, but does not seem to care.

Recklessness: Recklessness is the decision to commit a certain action despite knowing about associated risks.

Negligence: This is the mildest form of criminal culpability. A person commits negligence when she fails to meet a reasonable standard of behavior for her circumstances.
What is motive?
The cause that moves people to induce a certain action.
What is corpus delicti?
The facts and circumstances constituting a breach of a law. Concrete evidence of a crime, such as a corpse.
What are criminal defense to the law?
Since an arrest is usually made by law enforcement, the arrest often is for a criminal
charge that has not been levied or verified by an attorney or judge. Criminal defense
lawyers also deal with the substantive issues of the crimes with which his or her
clients are charged.
What are the three levels of American Policing
Federal: A U.S. government agency or office whose primary
functional responsibility is to enforce federal criminal laws. It includes the FBI,
DEA and 12 other federal law enforcement agencies. They are authorized to
perform any of four
specific functions: 1) conduct criminal investigations, 2) execute search warrants, 3)
make arrests, or 4) carry firearms.
State Agencies: Local Police, State Police/Highway Patrol, Deputy Sheriffs
Local Agencies
What is Jurisdiction
The official power to make legal decisions and judgments.
What is police discretion
The decision-making power afforded to police officers that allows them to decide if
they want to pursue police procedure or simply let someone off with a warning.
What did Wilson state where the 3 functions of local policing and what did he say was
the most important.
l. Neighborhood disorder creates fear. Areas with street people, youth gangs,
prostitution, and drunks are high-crime areas.
2. Just as broken windows are a signal that nobody cares and can lead to worse
vandalism, untended disorderly behavior is a signal that the community does not
care. This also leads to worse disorder and crime.
3. If the police are to deal with disorder and thus reduce fear and crime, they must
rely on citizens for assistance.
What did Wilson state where the three styles of local policing
Watchman style, legalistic style, and service style.

Watchman Style: distinguishes between two mandates of policing: order
maintenance and law enforcement.

Legalistic Style: exercises little discretion and enforces the law by writing more
tickets, making more arrests, and encouraging victims to sign complaints.

Service Style: shares characteristics with the other two styles but focuses primarily
on service to the community and the citizens.
What was the main premise of the article by Wilson & Kelling "Broken Windows"
Used broken windows as a metaphor for disorder within neighborhoods.
Their theory links disorder and incivility within a community to subsequent
occurrences of serious crime.
What is the different between Proactive and Reactive strategies of policing and be
familiar with examples of different strategies.
Proactive policing involves the ""police, acting on their own initiative, [to] develop
information about crime and strategies for its suppression""

Reactive policing can be defined as the police responding to specific requests from
individuals or groups in the community which encompasses "immediate response to
calls" and "follow-up investigations
What is the proactive policing strategy S.A.R.A.
S: scanning: identifying recurring problems and prioritizing them to select one
problem to address.
A: analysis: identified problem's causes, scope, and effects, includes determining
how often then problem offers and how long it has been occurring, as well as
condition that appear to create the problem.

: response: acting to alleviate the problem, that is, selecting the alternative solution or solutions.
A: assessment: evaluating how effective the intervention was: was the problem solved
The era's of American policing and the main characteristics of each
Political Era: police jobs are favors, non existent supervision, high turnover
technology were foot beats and call boxes, hostility and physical force against public

Professional Era: Reaction to political corruption Technology: two way radio patrol cars and telephones, Racial Ethnic Tension

Community Era: Police work with the public, decentralization, zero tolerance, community policing, crime mapping hot spots, problem orientated policing,

Homeland Security: Post 9/11, modeled after home office in Britain focus on threats, shared intelligence: talk to different countries talk and terrorism fusion center
Be familiar with the 4th, 5th, 6th, 14th Amendments.
4th Amendment: Search and Seizure WITH probable cause
5th Amendment: Right to Remain Silent
Protection against self incrimination, double jeopardy, due process, grand jury
6th Amendment: Right to speedy public trial
14th Amendment: States Rights
What are the three levels of suspicion and what can the police do at each level?
Level 1 deals with a police officer who has an objective credible reason to approach someone Level 2 involves a founded suspicion regarding a person.Level 3 deals with a police officer who has a reasonable suspicion regarding an individual.
What are the three main areas due process concerns for policing
1) evidence and investigation (often called search and seizure), 2) arrest, and 3) interrogation.
Be familiar with search warrant rules included what is needed and what are some exigent and emergency circumstances that create exceptions to the rule.
Probable Cause
Consent of party involved
Search incident to a lawful arrest
Plain view
Exigent circumstances: Prevent escape, prevent harm to officers, prevent destruction of evidence, hot pursuit, render immediate aide.
Be familiar with the main significance of the following cases to policing:
Weeks vs. US (1914) Exclusionary Rule
Silverthrone Lumber Co. v. U.S. (1926) Fruits of the Poisonous Tree
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) Exclusionary Rule to the States
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) Right to Counsel
Miranda v. Arizona (1965) Police Custodial Interrogation Voluntarily, Knowingly, Intelligently, Spontaneous utterances are ok.
Terry v. Ohio (1968)- Stop and Frisk, Simple Pat Down
Chimel v. California (1969)- Lunge Rule- over extension of their area of their immediate control
What is the police working personality?
Being suspicious of other people, officers may seek isolation from others and group together. Isolation is also stimulated by the authoritarian element of the police personality.
What are some common stress factors that have an impact on the police personality and create organizational concerns?
Enduring stress for a long period of time can lead to anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder
Unable to share experiences with non-police because it is either too unpleasant or they wouldn't understand.
Psychological survival, P.O. will harden themselves up to suffering
Sometimes appearing calloused, cold, inhuman.
Joking with each other tends to be an outlet
What are some present policing issues that have an impact on the job of policing and the community?
Racial Profiling
What is police corruption?
Misconduct can be an act of omission or commission
What was the Knapp Commission?
Was a five-member panel initially formed in April 1970 by Mayor John V. Lindsay to investigate corruption within the New York City Police Department.
What is the difference between ethics and integrity?
The difference between integrity and ethics is that integrity is steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code while ethics is (philosophy) the study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct.
What is terrorism?
Organized use of violence to promote political, religious or social change
Are the police authorized to use physical force and if so what would be considered excessive use of force?
First polite requests, then demands, then chemical sprays, then physical force (ranging from grabbing, punching and kicking to the use of batons), then lethal force. Officers should only use the level of force that's being used (or is threatened to be used) by suspects against the officers.
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