Criminal Justice System
Structure
Overview
Decentralized
High volume of cases
Chronic Shortage of resources and personnel
Selection process (which crime to target, which people to arrest) operates through the exercise of broad discretion
The Police
Crimes often defined by officers “on the beat”
They can’t arrest all offenders they encounter
Decide which ones warrant an arrest
Prosecutors
Make decision whether there is sufficient evidence to send a case to trial
Enormous power – decide when to press or drop a case, whether to file highest possible charge or something lower, and whether to reduce charges after they are filed
Defense Counsel
Nonindigent defendants
A defendant of substantial means retains a highly experienced atty paid at an hourly rate or by an upfront retainer
A person w/ limited financial resources retains an atty by paying in advance a modest fee that constitutes atty’s sole compensation
Indigent defendants
Appointed counsel system – a judge or court official selects defense counsel from a list of attys in private practice
Usu. compensated at a fixed hourly rate up to a predetermined max.
Contract system – a lawyer or group of lawyers in private practice agree in one yr, for a substantial retainer paid by the gov’t, they will represent a specified # of indigent defendants along w/ their own paying clients
Defender system – an agency funded by the city, county or state represents most or all criminal defendants in the jurisdiction
Staff attys paid an annual salary and serve full-time
Judges
Corrections
Incarceration no longer aims primarily to “correct” or rehabilitate offenders
Punishment itself and incapacitation have become the primary purposes
Procedures
Initial stages of a case
Investigation
Dismissal and diversion
Can be dismissed by police, prosecutor, or magistrate
Dismissed b/c not guilty, can’t be proved guilty, or police or prosecutors too busy to pursue case
Pretrial diversion – release program that requires defendant to meet certain conditions and to avoid rearrest for a designated period, usu. one yr.
Defendants who successfully complete program qualify to have all charges formally dismissed;
Those who fail have cases reopened.
Pretrial release
Money bail – ct fixes the amt. of a bond to be posted in cash or by a secured pledge
Defendants who can pay are released and recover the sum upon appearance for trial
Defendants unable to post required amt. may use a bail-bond agency, which posts the bond in return for a fixed fee (usu. 10% of the total bail)
Bondsman’s obligations are satisfied upon defendant’s appearance but fee is paid regardless
The Guilty Plea – more than 90% of convictions are not the result of adjudications at trial but of guilty pleas
The Trial
Sentencing
The flow of cases through the system – See chart on p. 11 in CB
What is a crime?
Offense against the state
Elements
Mens Rea – Guilty Mind
Actus Reus – Guilty Act
Concurrence – Guilty Act is the result of the guilty mind
Not impulse
Causation – concurrence of act & mind related to harm
Intent determines punishment
CL – intent = desire to cause social harm or knowledge that social harm is certain to occur as a result of the conduct
Classifications – As offense against the social order
Malum in se – wrong in itself
Malum prohibitum – prohibit
cusably inflicts or threatens substantial harms to individuals or public interests
To subject to public control persons whose conduct indicates they are disposed to committing crimes
To differentiate on reasonable grounds between serious and minor offenses
To prevent the commission of offenses
To promote the correction and rehabilitation of offenders
To safeguard offenders against excessive, disproportionate or arbitrary punishment
Retributive Theory
Punishment b/c it is deserved (morally culpable)
It is deserved when the wrongdoer freely chooses to violate society’s rules
Punishment must in some way match, or be equivalent to, the wickedness of the offense
Forms
Assaultive Retribution
Aka Public Vengeance or Social Retaliation
“It is morally right to hate criminals.”
B/c criminal has harmed society, it is right for society to “hurt him back”
Protective Retribution
Punishment is a means of securing a moral balance in the society
Criminal owes a debt to society and it is fair to require pmt. (i.e., punishment) equal or proportional to the debt owed (i.e., the crime committed)
Victim Vindication
Punishment is a way to “right a wrong”
By committing crime, criminal elevates himself (w/ respect to rights, etc.) above his victim. Punishment reaffirms the victim’s worth as a human being in face of the criminal’s challenge.
Represents a “defeat of the wrongdoer”
