Criminal Justice: A Brief
Introduction
Thirteenth Edition
Chapter 1
What Is Criminal Justice?
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Introduction
• Crime
– Conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the
federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which
there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse
• Procedural fairness
– The process by which decisions that feel fair to those
involved are made
• Procedural justice
– The application of procedural fairness to the criminal
justice system
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A Brief History of Crime in America
(1 of 3)
• 1850-1880
– Civil War; widespread immigration; crime epidemic
• 1920-1933
– Prohibition; organized crime
• 1940s-1960
– Crime rates remained stable after WWII
• 1960-1970
– Civil rights movement; increase in reported crime
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A Brief History of Crime in America
(2 of 3)
• 1980s
– Increase in sale and use of illicit drugs; President
Reagan declared a “war on drugs”
• 1990s
– “Get tough on crime” era
• 2001
– September 11 attacks
– USA PATRIOT Act increases investigatory authority of
federal, state, and local police agencies
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A Brief History of Crime in America
(3 of 3)
• Early 2000s
– Focus on corporate and white-collar crime;
Sarbanes–Oxley Act; Madoff’s Ponzi scheme
• 2012–2018
– Declining rates of “traditional crimes; epidemic of
mass shootings; inner-city murders; random violence
sweeps public venues across the United States
• 2019–Present
– Cybercrimes threaten national security
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Figure 1.2 The Theme of This Book
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Individual Rights vs. Public Order
(1 of 2)
• 1960s and 1970s
– Civil rights era—strong emphasis on individual rights
– Focus on guaranteeing the rights of defendants,
attempting to understand root causes of crime and
violence
• Twenty-first century
– Shift away from seeing offenders as victims toward
viewing offenders as dangerous social predators
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Individual Rights vs. Public Order
(2 of 2)
• Individual-Rights Advocates
– Seek to protect personal freedoms within society and
the criminal justice process
• Public-Order Advocates
– Believe that under certain circumstances involving a
criminal threat to public safety, the interests of society
should take precedence over individual rights
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Criminal Justice and Basic Fairness
(1 of 2)
• Justice
– The principle of fairness; the ideal of moral equity
• Social justice
– An ideal that embraces all aspects of civilized life
– Linked to fundamental notions of fairness and to
cultural beliefs about right and wrong
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Criminal Justice and Basic Fairness
(2 of 2)
• Civil justice
– A component of social justice concerned with fairness
in relationships between citizens, government
agencies, and businesses in private matters
• Criminal justice
– The aspects of social justice that concern violations of
the criminal law
• Administration of justice
– The performance of basic activities within the criminal
justice system
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Figure 1.3 The Core Components of the American
Criminal Justice System and Their Functions
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Models of Criminal Justice
• Consensus Model
– Assumes justice system components work together to
achieve justice
– Criticized for implying more organization and
cooperation than actually exists
• Conflict Model
– Assumes justice system components function to
serve their own interests
– Justice results from conflict rather than cooperation
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(1 of 6)
• Investigation
– Evidence collected, reconstruction of criminal event,
attempts to identify suspects
• Arrest warrant
– Issued by judge, provides legal basis for
apprehension of suspects by police
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(2 of 6)
• Arrest
– Act of taking a person into custody
– Arrestee’s freedom is limited
• Booking
– Taking pictures, fingerprints, personal information
from suspect
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(3 of 6)
• First Appearance
– Suspects brought before a magistrate
– Suspects are notified of the charges, advised of their
rights, may have opportunity for bail
• Preliminary Hearing
– Establishes whether there is sufficient evidence to
continue the justice process; gives prosecutor the
opportunity to test the strength of the evidence
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(4 of 6)
• Information or Indictment
– Information—filed by prosecutor seeking to continue
the case
– Indictment—returned by grand jury
• Arraignment
– Defendant hears information or indictment, is advised
of rights, and is asked to enter a plea
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(5 of 6)
• Adjudication
– Trial is an adversarial process before a judge and/or
jury to decide guilty or innocence
– Not held if defendant decides to enter a guilty plea
• Sentencing
– Punishment determined by judge
– Sentencing hearing may be held to allow both sides
to present information to influence the judge’s
decision
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
American Criminal Justice Process
(6 of 6)
• Corrections
– Period following sentencing, involves imposition of
sentence imposed on the defendant
• Reentry
– Following corrections, an offender may be returned to
the community
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Due Process and Individual Rights
• Due process is procedural fairness
– Recognizes individual rights of defendants facing
prosecution
– Underlies the Bill of Rights
– Specifically guaranteed by the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th
Amendments
– Due process standard was set in the 1960s by the
Warren Court
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Role of the Courts in Defining
Rights
• Rights are open to interpretation.
• Modern rights would not exist in practice if Supreme
Court had not recognized them in cases
• Supreme Court decisions have far-reaching
consequences
– Become, in effect, the law of the land
– May carry as much weight as legislative action
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Ultimate Goal: Crime Control
through Due Process (1 of 2)
• Crime-control model
– Emphasizes the efficient arrest and convictions of
offenders
• Due process model
– Emphasizes individual rights at all stages of the
justice system processing
• These are often assumed to be opposing goals
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Ultimate Goal: Crime Control
through Due Process (2 of 2)
• American system of justice should be representative of
crime control through due process
– A system of social control that is fair to those it
processes
– Law enforcement infused with the recognition of
individual rights
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Evidence-Based Practice in Criminal
Justice
• Evidence-based practice
– Crime-fighting strategies that have been scientifically
tested and are based on social science research
– A major element in the increasing professionalization
of criminal justice
• Increasing demand for the application of evidence-based
practices throughout criminal justice
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Start of Academic Criminal
Justice
• Began in the late 1920s
– Early criminal justice education was practice oriented
– Focused on applying general management principles
to police administration
– Organizational effectiveness
• By 1960s, criminal justice began to apply social science
research techniques
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Multiculturalism and Diversity in
Criminal Justice (1 of 2)
• Multiculturalism
– Society containing diverse groups that maintain
unique cultural identities while accepting and
participating in the larger society’s legal and political
systems
– American society is truly multicultural
• Social diversity
– Differences between individuals and groups in the
same society
– Characterizes immigrant and U.S.-born individuals
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Multiculturalism and Diversity in
Criminal Justice (2 of 2)
• Multiculturalism is one form of diversity
• Diverse values, perspectives, and behaviors
characteristic of various groups in society affect the
justice system
• Cultural competence
– Ability to interact effectively with people of different
cultures
– Helps ensure the needs of all community members
are addressed
– Necessary for anyone working in the justice system
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright