american cj chapter 3_the criminal justice system bb
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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
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