The Criminal Justice System Chapter 3

Learning Objectives Describe the goals of the criminal justice system Discuss the different responsibilities of federal and state criminal justice operations Analyze criminal justice from a system perspective Identify the authority and relationships of the main criminal justice agencies, and understand the steps in the decision-making process for criminal cases Describe the criminal justice “wedding cake” concept Discuss the theories of racial disparities in criminal justice

Goals of the Criminal Justice System Doing Justice Offenders will be held accountable Rights will be protected “like offenses will be treated alike and officials will take into account relevant differences among offenders” Does this contradict itself? Does it leave too much discretion for abuse or discrimination by officials? Controlling Crime- Arresting, prosecuting, convicting and punishing those who disobey the law Preventing Crime- Deterring crime

Criminal Justice in a Federal System Federalism- Through the U.S. Constitution, powers of the federal government are limited to those powers specifically stated in the constitution, all others are reserved to the states. Two Justice Systems- State-makes up the majority of criminal laws written by state legislatures and violations. Federal- laws enacted by federal Congress of interstate, international and intranational concern. Expansion of Federal Involvement- US President’s commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967)- Emphasizes greater Federal Involvement in Local crime control through grants to states and cities in support of criminal justice initiatives

Criminal Justice as a System The System Perspective- Subsystems, like Police, have their own goals, but all systems are interdependent. Characteristics of the Criminal Justice System Discretion- authority to make decisions without rules and or facts- “opens the door for individual police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges to make decisions based, at least in part, on their on self –interest” Resource Dependence- Agencies are dependent on others for funding; “therefor they must maintain good relations with those who allocate resources” Sequential Tasks- Decisions in the system follow specific sequences; “ thus contributes to strong interdependence within the system” Filtering- screening out of some cases while advancing others

Exchange Relationships between Prosecutors and Others Figure 3.2 Exchange Relationships between Prosecutors and Others The prosecutor’s decisions are influenced by relationships with other agencies and members of the community.

Criminal Justice as a Filtering Process (slide 1 of 2) Figure 3.3 Criminal Justice as a Filtering Process (slide 1 of 2) 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 remains?

Criminal Justice as a Filtering Process (slide 2 of 2) Figure 3.3 Criminal Justice as a Filtering Process (slide 2 of 2) Sources: Estimates calculated from Thomas H. Cohen and Tracey Kyckelhahn, “Felony Defendants in Large Urban Countries, 2006,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, May 2010, Figure 1; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 2009 [Uniform Crime Reports], Tables 25 and 28; Jennifer L. Truman and Michael R. Rand, “Criminal Victimization, 2009,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, October 2010, Tables 1 and 11.

Operations of Criminal Justice Agencies Police Keeping the peace Apprehending violators and combating crime Preventing crime Providing social services Courts Dual court system- Federal Courts and State Courts where differences can exist between Federal and State Courts and between the different State Courts. Corrections Prisons (23 % of convicted offenders) Probation vs. Parole Halfway houses, work release, home confinement, etc

Figure 3.4 The Flow of Decision Making in the Criminal Justice System (slide 1 of 2) Each agency is responsible for a part of the decision-making process. Thus police, prosecution, courts, and corrections are bound together through a series of exchange relationships.

Figure 3.4 The Flow of Decision Making in the Criminal Justice System (slide 2 of 2)

The Criminal Justice Wedding Cake 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, CA: Wadsworth, 1998), 20-37.

Crime and Justice in a Multicultural Society Disparity- a difference between groups that legitimate factors may explain Discrimination- when groups are treated differently and prejudicially without regard to their individual behavior and/or qualifications. Text: “African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities are subjected to the criminal justice system at much higher rates than are the white majority” Text: “A central question is whether racial and ethnic disparities result from discrimination or from some other cause.” Think critically about the above statements.

Textbook Explanation 1: People of Color Commit More Crimes Disparities may be due to legitimate factors: Prosecutors and judges taking into account differences between serious and petty offenses and between repeat and first offenses Link between crime and socioeconomic disadvantage Authors examples in this section of former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney having drunken driving convictions and President Bush indicating he had smoked marijuana. Is there any political disparity or discrimination here? Explain Crime problems and trends change over time demonstrating that criminal behavior is not linked to race. Give recent examples

Textbook Explanation 2: The Criminal Justice System Is Racist Racial Profiling by officers, minority groups stopped, searched and arrested at higher rates than Caucasians. The disparity between crime, arrest and incarceration rates is the cause of belief by some that the criminal justice system is bias “Bureau of Justice statistics; victims of aggravated assault identified assailants as African American 24% of the time yet they comprised 34% of arrests”. Text Arguments presented “African Americans made up 57% of suspects arrested for robbery although robbery victims reported that the robbers were African American in only 42 percent of cases”. Police patrols may put minority groups at disadvantage by “concentrating on areas where nonwhites live, where drug use is more open and more observed by police” “The result of the systems decisions can’t be disputed, African American and Hispanic men end up in prison and jails in higher proportions than their crime and arrest rates can explain” Think critically about the above disparities presented

Textbook Explanation 3: America Is a Racist Society Textbook arguments: “Federal sentencing guidelines still punish crack cocaine users more harshly than users of powder cocaine even though their chemical composition and effect on users is virtually identical” “Primary differences is that whites tend to use powder cocaine and people of color tend to use crack cocaine” “Thus harsher punishments for one form produces racial disparities in imprisonment rates” “Critics argue that these effects are enhanced by police officers’ emphasis on arresting on the streets in poor neighborhoods rather than in more-difficult-to-find areas of powder cocaine” “By contrast, government responses to the meth crisis placed greater emphasis on prevention, such as limiting sales of over-the-counter medications used to manufacture meth. For instance, Iowa’s Drug Control Strategy. Some belief that the less punitive orientation towards meth offenders as well as drunk drivers, who are predominantly white, may reflect race-based attitudes” Think Critically. Are the comparisons factual?