Crime and Justice in the United StatesChapter One

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:•Describe how the type of crime routinely presented by the media compares with crime routinely committed.•Identify institutions of social control and explain what makes criminal justice an institution of social control.•Summarize how the criminal justice system responds to crime.•Explain why criminal justice in the United States is sometimes considered a non-system.•Point out major differences between Packer’s crime control and due process models.•Describe the cost of criminal justice in the United States and compare those cost among federal, state, and local governments.

Crime in the United StatesEveryday we are confronted with

reports ofcrime …

In newspapers, magazines, radio and TV news. We also see crime in popular fictional and reality based TV shows. Crime is also a favorite subject of movies and novels.

“If it bleeds, it leads.”We should keep in mind, however, that thecrimes presented by the media are usually moresensational than the crimes routinelycommitted.

A study by researchers at 8 universities found that crime stories dominate local news shows, particularly those involving blood and mayhem which accounted for 30% of the broadcast.

One researcher speculated that excessive mediacoverage of crime “has a numbing effect on the

public.” Doyou agree?

Sensational versus RealitySensational crime news stories so not provide a very accurate image of the types of crime by which the average citizen is victimized. Nor do such stories accurately depict the kinds of crime to which the police respond on a daily basis.

What do you think are the typical types of crimethat Wake County police officers respond to on adaily basis.

Criticisms of the MediaCritics argue that news media have a

dualobligation to(1)Present news that reflects a more

balanced picture of the overall crime problem and

(2)Reduce their presentation of sensational crimes.

How much do you think the public conception ofcrime is influenced by the media?

Institutions of Social ControlIn the United States, there are a variety of responses tocrime. What are some of the various responses you canthink of when a teen is caught breaking into school?

Like the family, schools, organized religion, the media,and the law, criminal justice is an institution of socialcontrol.

An organization that persuades people, through subtle and not-so-subtle means, to abide by the dominant values of society.

How does the criminal justice system differ?

As an institution of social control, criminaljustice differs from the others in two importantways.• The role of criminal justice is restricted officially

to persuading people to abide by a limited range of values [those whose violation constitutes a crime].

• Criminal Justice is generally society’s “last line of defense” against people who refuse to abide by the dominant social values and commit crimes.

Criminal Justice: The SystemCriminal Justice in the United States is administered by a loose confederation of more than 50,000 agencies at the state, local, and federal level.

Those agencies consist of police, courts, and corrections.

Example: Holly Springs PD Highway Patrol FBI

Criminal Justice – The Process

Although there are differences in the ways the criminal justice system operates in different jurisdictions (politically defined geographic area), there are also similarities.

The criminal justice response to crime begins when a crime is reported.

Does the criminal justice system “work” in the United States? Why or why not?What improvements can be made to the criminal justice system?

Criminal Justice Non-SystemThe depiction of the criminal justice as a systemmay be inappropriate and misleading for tworeasons:(1) There is no single criminal justice system in the United States.

There is a loose confederation of many independent criminal justice agencies at all levels of government.

(2) Because there is considerable conflict and confusion between agencies of criminal justice, a more accurate description may be a non-system.

In other words – rather than operating as a system, agenciesof criminal justice in the United States generally operateindependently of each other; each agency causing problemsfor the others.

Criminal Justice ModelsHerbert Packer, a Stanford University law professor, constructed two models, the crime control model and the due process model, to represent the two competing systems of values operating within criminal justice. The tension between the two accounts for the conflict and disharmony that now is observable in the criminal justice system.

Crime Control ModelThe following assertions are the key concerns of the crime control model: • The repression of crime should be the most important function of criminal justice

because order is a necessary condition for a free society.• Criminal justice should concentrate on vindicating victims' rights rather than on

protecting defendants' rights.• Police powers should be expanded to make it easier to investigate, arrest, search, seize,

and convict.• Legal technicalities that handcuff the police should be eliminated.• The criminal justice process should operate like an assembly-line conveyor belt, moving

cases swiftly along toward their disposition.• If the police make an arrest and a prosecutor files criminal charges, the accused should

be presumed guilty because the fact-finding of police and prosecutors is highly reliable.• The main objective of the criminal justice process should be to discover the truth or to

establish the factual guilt of the accused.

Control of criminal behavior is the most important function of criminal justice.

Due Process ModelPacker's due process model is a counterproposal to the crime control model. Itconsists of these arguments: • The most important function of criminal justice should be to provide due process, or

fundamental fairness under the law.• Criminal justice should concentrate on defendants' rights, not victims' rights, because the

Bill of Rights expressly provides for the protection of defendants' rights.• Police powers should be limited to prevent official oppression of the individual.• Constitutional rights aren't mere technicalities; criminal justice authorities should be held

accountable to rules, procedures, and guidelines to ensure fairness and consistency in the justice process.

• The criminal justice process should look like an obstacle course, consisting of a series of impediments that take the form of procedural safeguards that serve as much to protect the factually innocent as to convict the factually guilty.

• The government shouldn't hold a person guilty solely on the basis of the facts; a person should be found guilty only if the government follows legal procedures in its fact-finding.

Principal goal of criminal justice is at least as much to protect the innocent as it is toconvict the guilty.

Evaluating the Models

To declare that one of these models is superior to the other requires one to make a value judgment. The crime control model reflects conservative values, while the due process model reflects liberal values. Political climate determines which model shapes criminal justice policy at a specific time. During the politically liberal 1960s, the principles and policies of due process predominated in criminal justice. From the mid 1970s to the early twenty-first century, conservatism has held sway as the dominant political philosophy, and conservatives have formulated criminal justice policies in the image of the crime control model.

Cost of the Criminal Justice System

• Each year in the United States an enormous amount of money is spent on criminal justice.

• In 2002, local, state, and federal governments spent a total of $180 billion on civil and criminal justice.– About $600 for every resident of the United

States.

Criminal Justice is primarily a state and local function, but the federal government uses its expenditures strategically to influence criminal justice

policy at the other levels of government.

Despite the billions of dollars spent on criminal justice, as a percentage of all government expenditures, the amount spent on criminal justice represents only a tiny fraction.

The general trend in public opinion polls have shown that more than half of all Americans believe that too little money is spent on crime control. Very few people think that too much is being spent.