Chapter 3The Criminal Justice System

The Goals of Criminal Justice

Doing justice

Controlling Crime

Preventing Crime

Two Justice Systems

The activities of national and state systems of criminal justice differ

in scope and purpose

State systems handle alleged violations of state law

The federal system handles alleged violations of federal law

Expansion of Federal Involvement

Federal involvement in the criminal justice system has slowly

expanded

The geographical area of many crimes spans the jurisdictions of

many governments

Disputes over jurisdiction, fragmentation, and duplication of services

sometimes result

Many argue that the federal government has improperly inserted

itself in matters that should be dealt with at the state level

Criminal Justice as a System

Criminal justice in the United States is a system

The main subsystems are:

Police

Courts

Corrections

Between the subsystems exists exchange.

Characteristics of the Criminal Justice System

Discretion

Resource dependence

Sequential tasks

Filtering

Figure 3.3 Criminal Justice As a Filtering Process

Decisions at each point in the system result in some cases being dropped while others are passed to the next point. Are you surprised by the small portion of cases that remain?Sources: Data from this figure have been drawn from many sources including Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1998 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999) and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bulletin, February 1988.

Police

Four major duties of the police:

Keeping the peace

Apprehending violators and combating crime

Preventing crime

Providing social services

Courts

Major responsibilities of courts:

Adjudication

Disposition

Post-conviction remedies

Corrections

Major responsibilities of corrections:

Provide custodial services for sentenced individuals

Provide a range of community-based correctional programs

Steps in the Decision-Making Process

• The CJS consists of 13 steps:

Investigation

Arrest

Booking

Charging

Initial Appearance

Preliminary Hearing/

Grand Jury

Indictment/Information

Arraignment

Trial

Sentencing

Appeal

Corrections

Release

Figure 3.4 The Flow of Decision Makingin the Criminal Justice Process

Each agency is responsible for a part of the decision-making process. Thus the police, prosecution, courts, and corrections are bound together through a series of exchange relationships.

Figure 3.5 The Criminal Justice Wedding Cake

This figure shows that different cases are treated in different ways. Only a very few cases are played out as “high drama”; most are handled through plea bargaining and dismissals.Source: Drawn from Samuel Walker, Sense and Nonsense about Crime and Drugs, 4th ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1998), 30–37.

Multicultural Concerns

Many racial and ethnic minorities are subjected to the criminal justice

system more often than their white counterparts. Possible

explanations include:

Minorities commit more crimes

The criminal justice system is racist

American society is racist

The experiences of minority group members with the criminal justice

system may contribute to their views of the system’s fulfillment of the

goal of equal treatment

The Differences Between Disparity and Discrimination

Disparity is a difference between groups that can be explained by

legitimate factors

Discrimination occurs when groups are differentially treated without

regard to their behavior or qualifications