Topic 2: Models of Criminal Justice

The Two main models of criminal justice: 1.Crime Control Model 2. Due Process Model

The Crime Control media is considered to be a conservative approach to crime that follows on protecting society from criminals by regulating criminal conduct and justice. The goal is suppression of crime and it prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and preventing them from committing further crimes. It starts with presumption of guilt- trust in the police to identify the guilty through their investigations. Police should be free from unnecessary legal technicalities that prevent them from investigating crimes. Links to zero tolerance approach found in right realism.

Allowing the introduction of 'bad character' evidence and previous convictions information for the courts to consider when deliberating a verdict. The removal of the 'double jeopardy' rule for murder and other serious offences. The extended pre-charge detention time for terrorist offences. Increased stop and searches in England and Wales 2020. No automatic appeals in crown court cases.

Case studies that illustrate Crime Control model.

Murder of Rachell Nickell- Officers were under pressure to find the perpetrator so they quickly targeted Colin Stagg- who was an unemployed man from Roehamption who was known to walk his dog on the common. As there was no forensic evidence linking Stagg to the scene, the police asked Paul Britton, a criminal psychologist, to create an offender profile of the killer. They decided that Stagg fitted the profile and asked the psychologist to assist with designing a covert operation, code-named Operation Ezdell, to see whether Stagg would eliminate or implicate himself. This operation was later criticised by the media and Stagg's trial judge, as in effect a "honeytrap". They wanted to prosecute someone quickly so there was a miscarriage of justice

Central Park 5- The Central Park jogger case (events also referenced as the Central Park Five case) was a criminal case in the United States over the aggravated assault and rape of a white woman in Manhattan's Central Park on April 19, 1989, occurring during a string of other attacks in the park the same night. Five black and Latino youths were falsely convicted of assaulting the woman, and served sentences ranging from six to twelve years. All were later exonerated after a prison inmate confessed to the crime in 2002.

Death of Damilola Taylor- On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers – who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing – were convicted of manslaughter in 2006. Despite the setback, police vowed to keep the investigation open. New DNA techniques identified Taylor's blood on the trainers of another boy (not one of the first four suspects) Daniel Preddie. and on the sweatshirt cuff of his brother Richard Preddie.This led to a re-examination of the evidence obtained at the time of Taylor's death. In 2005, fresh arrests were made, this time on charges of manslaughter. The arrested were Hassan Jihad, 19, and the two Preddie brothers, aged 16 and 17 – who could not be named at the time due to their age.

Mass Incarceration in US-In 2018 in the US, there were 698 people incarcerated per 100,000; this includes the incarceration rate for adults or people tried as adults. In 2016, 2.2 million Americans have been incarcerated, which means for every 100,000 there are 655 who are currently inmates. Shows that they want to imprison as many people as possible to deter crime which doesn't necessarily work.

The Due Process Model is considered to be a liberal approach to criminal justice that favours criminal rights. The power of state is the greatest threat to be individuals freedom. The aim is to protect the accused from oppression by the state. Includes police, prosecutors and judges. Starts with presumption of innocence- accused until proven guilty. Defendants legal rights are protected ensuring fairness. Police should be limited to prevent official oppression of the individual. Safeguard all the rights of an individual to protect against a wrongful conviction.

The acknowledgement of he need for police procedural safeguards by the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. All interviews are now recorded and suspects have the right to legal representation. The legal rights act 1998 allows for criminal justice practices to be thoroughly looked at from human rights perspective. Disclosure rules. Unethical evidence being deemed inadmissible in court.

Case studies that illustrate due process model

Murder of Stephen Lawrence- Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993. The case became a cause célèbre: its fallout included cultural changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder in 2012.

Hillsborough Disaster- The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens in the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Shortly before kick-off, in an attempt to ease overcrowding outside the entrance turnstiles, the police match commander David Duckenfield ordered exit gate C opened, leading to an influx of even more supporters to the pens. This led to a crowding in the pens and the crush.

Sally Clarke- Sally Clark (August 1964 – 15 March 2007) was an English solicitor who, in November 1999, became the victim of a miscarriage of justice when she was found guilty of the murder of her two infant sons. Clark's first son died in December 1996 within a few weeks of his birth, and her second son died in similar circumstances in January 1998. A month later, Clark was arrested and tried for both deaths. The defence argued that the children had died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The prosecution case relied on flawed statistical evidence presented by paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow, who testified that the chance of two children from an affluent family suffering SIDS was 1 in 73 million. He had arrived at this figure by squaring his estimate of a chance of 1 in 8500 of an individual SIDS death in similar circumstances. The Royal Statistical Society later issued a statement arguing that there was no statistical basis for Meadow's claim, and expressed concern at the "misuse of statistics in the courts".

Problems with the crime control model:

  1. Too eager to convict - can cause unsafe verdict, unjust verdicts, miscarriages of justice.
  1. Can lead to over-policing of certain communities eg. increase in stop and search, mass incarceration in US
  1. Can lead to certain deviant behaviours being criminalised - treating drug abuse as a crime issue as opposed to a health issue

Limitations with Due Process

Certain evidence can't be used for ethical reasons meaning there could be a miscarriage of justice.

Harder to convict criminals.

Theories

Interactionalism (labelling)

Labeling theory states that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them. This theory is most commonly associated with the sociology of crime since labeling someone unlawfully deviant can lead to poor conduct. It gives an insight on what could make an individual be attracted to criminal behavior as opposed to morally desirable behavior. For example, when you label someone as a criminal they are more likely to identify with that label and carry on with their deviant behaviour because that’s how society sees them.
Labelling someone could potentially lead to self fulfilling prophecy. This is when someone is labelled and therefore may commit a certain deviant or criminal act. Then this act gets linked to their ‘label’ leading to the person believing that they are what they have been labelled. Consequently the person does eventually become this label and commits more deviant and criminal acts.

I would say this theory is more linked to the crime control model because if your labelled as a criminal then they are much more likely to commit crimes. If you are labelled as someone who could become a criminal because of your background, race, gender by the people around you then you are more likely to go down the path of committing crime. This may also lead to the judge labelling you as a bad character in court which may lead to you being prosecuted. When you are in court being labelled as a criminal then even if you are innocent and you get out of court you could start committing crime because of how the judge prosecution and jury labelled you.

Right Realism

Right realism takes a more realistic approach to the causes of crime and deviance. Uses and creates moral panic as a way to control the public and our thoughts about certain crime and behaviour. Considers crime as a social problem. This is a biosocial theory that believes that crime is caused by biological and social factors. Right realism was created by James Q Wilson.t Right Realists Reject the idea put forward by Marxists that deeper structural or economic factors such as poverty are the causes of crime – they mainly hold that the individual is responsible for crime – although they do accept that high levels of ‘social disorder’ and low levels of ‘social control’ are associated with higher crime rates.

Connection to model of justice-- Links to the crime control model as right realists believe in harsh punishments.

Functionalism

Functionalism is a theory of society that focuses on the structures that create the society and on how the society is able to remain stable. Functionalist believe that crime is actually beneficial for society – for example it can improve social integration and social regulation. The Functionalist analysis of crime starts with society as a whole. It seeks to explain crime by looking at the nature of society, rather than at individuals. Systems of recognizing and punishing deviance create norms and tell members of a given society how to behave by laying out patterns of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

Left realism

Left realism is just one political ideology that focuses on the causes of crime and deviance. Left realists believe that living in a capitalistic society, a society where private entities control trade and industry instead of the state, is the main cause for crime. Left realists believe the main causes of crime are marginalisation, relative deprivation and subcultures, and emphasise community oriented programmes for controlling and reducing crime. Left Realism is related to Marxism and the New Criminology, but tries to focus on finding practical ways of solving crime, as it claims that these two theories are too idealistic and have unrealistic ideas about how to solve crime.

Linked to the due process model