just 328

procedural justice

procedural justice

the quality of interaction determines peoples’ sense of criminal justice systems legitimacy

procedural justice tenets

voice, neutrality, respect, trust

voice

people want to have an opportunity to share their side of the story in their own words and be heard

neutrality

people want decisions based on facts and rules not personal opinions

• applies rules consistently across people and over cases

respect

people want to be treated with respect and have their concerns taken seriously

trust

people focus on whether they think the authorities are:

• listening to and considering their views

• taking their case seriously

• trying to do what is right

• acting in their interests

community jusice

can be thought of as a philosophy of justice, a strategy of justice, and a series of justice programs

• risen as a result of local desires to develop more proactive responses to crime

philosophy of justice

based on pursuit of justice that goes beyond the traditional 3 tasks of criminal justice-- the apprehension, conviction, and punishment of offenders

collective efficacy

refers to mutual trust among neighbors, combined with willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good, especially to supervise children and maintain public order

a strategy of justice

the strategy of the community justice approach combines 3 contemporary justice innovations

• community policing

• environmental crime prevention

  • restorative justice

justice programs

programs of community justice include a varied package of methods

• citizen advisory groups help identify & prioritize local crime problems

• citizens & victims are involved in sentencing decisions to increase their confidence in the wisdom of their sanctions

• offender community service gives sanctions to offenders and restores victims and their communities

community justice vs criminal justice

1. it is based on the neighborhood rather than on the legal jurisdiction

2. uses problems- solving rather than adversarial strategies

3. it is restorative rather than retributive

4. strives to improve the community through a strategy called ‘justice reinvestment’

true

violent and property crime has been on the decline since 1990s

wedding cake model

developed by Samuel Walker, it refers to the hierarchy of cases

bottom layer

cases so common newspapers will rarely report on them/ the bulk of cases (misdemeanors) that move through system quickly and with little fanfare

• Ex. traffic violations

second tier

lower-level felonies that may be violent or non-violent (ex. Motor vehicle theft)

third tier

serious felonies that tend to be violent and involve offenders with significant criminal histories (ex. Arson or kidnapping)

top tier

often called celebrated cases, high profile cases that tend to be profiled by the media  (ex. Serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, or O.J. Simpson)

What types of crimes are reported in news media?

• Murder, rape, aggravated assault, armed robbery [violent crimes]

  • Less common to report on but more common to occur: white-collar crime

penal populism

politicians promote and support policies that they feel will appeal to the public

• More willing to support harsh crime control measures

folk devils

a group whose common interest or activity has become stigmatized by society and becomes the target for adverse comments and behavior.

moral panic

a situation in which media reporting has created a folk devil of a particular social group, and the public demand of the authorities that something is done about it.

3 stages that set up and establish moral panic

• Distortion of events & the labeling by the media of a group of youth as troublemakers (folk devils)

• created stereotyped image held by police officers and the public

• which led them to respond forcibly against the perceived threat (moral panic)

cohens study

• Mods- distinguished by their love for parkas, soul music, and scooters

  • Rockers- original ‘bikers’ wore leather and listened to rock music

gangs

• Gangs in the united states began just after the revolutionary war (1783)

• While some groups are predominately African American or Latinx, the earliest gangs in the NorthEast region were white reflecting major waves of European immigration

• Although many gangs are located in urban areas, gangs are increasingly found in suburban and rural communities and on Native American reservations

Gangs developed for various reasons:

• The growth of the underclass

• Disintegration of the African American and Latinx family

• Poverty

• Difficulty assimilating into U.S. for political and religious reasons

• General rebellion against adults and conventional society

drug use across racial groups

• Trend arrest data for non-alcoholic drug abuse violations reflect an overrepresentation of African American

• Black and white Americans sell and use drugs at similar rates but black Americans are 2.7 times more likely to be arrested for drug related offenses

alternatives to bail

release on recognizance, pretrial diversion, CA SB10

release on recognizance/ ROR

pretrial release because the judge believes that defendants ties in the community (residence, family, employment) are sufficient to guarantee their appearance in court

• Increase in appearance rates, decrease in rearrest rates, and increased rates of sentences to probation vs prison

• Who benefits from this?

  • Women > men and white people> African Americans

pretrial diversion

defendant agrees to conditions set by the prosecutor in exchange for withdrawal of charges

CA SB10

end the use of cash bail and replaced it with risk assessments to determine whether a detained suspect should be granted pretrial release and under what conditions

jury

serves as the criminal defendants fundamental protection of life and  liberty against race or color prejudice

jury selection process

• Selection of the jury pool (venire)

  • Selection of jurors who will decide the case

peremptory challenge

the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doing so

challenge for cause

objection to juror alleging juror incapable or unfit to serve on jury (has to be approved by a judge and unlimited number)

reasons for wrongful convictions

• Mistaken eyewitnesses (most common) leading factor in wrongful convictions

• False confessions

• Perjury

• False forensic evidence

• Official misconduct (least common)

credible eyewitnesses

They are likable, speak with powerful language, and are confident

long-term memory

acquisition, retention, retrieval

acquisition

perception of original event

retention

period of time that passes between the event; during this time memory may change because of new information coming in from media, conversations that may alter or original vision

retrieval

recalls stored information

scottsboro boys

9 Black teenagers, 2 white women (victoria price and ruby bates) yell rape, 1 day trial, all white jury, ruby bates recants testimony, dr. said no evidence of rape, had incompetent council, 3 trials, convicted– 8 sentenced to death, youngest got life in prison in Alabama, SCOTUS overturned convictions

14th amendment

equal protection clause

Powell v. Alabama (1932)

Ruled that due process of law required the appointment of counsel for young, inexperienced, illiterate, & indigent defendants in capital cases

Strauder v. West Virginia (1879)

Court ruled that that a west virginia statute limiting jury service to white males violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional

Neal v. Delaware (1880)

Court ruled that the practice had systematically excluded african american from jury service and was therefore a case of purposeful and unconstitutional racial discrimination

Lugo v. Texas (1939)

• Court ruled that just because only two Mexican Americans had been summoned for jury duty hat didnt constitute grounds for racial discrimination

• Texas court insisted that Mexican Americans were not a racial group but a nationality group and thus the equal protection clause does not apply to them

Batson v. Kentucky (1986)

Landmark decision ruling that a prosecutors use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race

history of policing

• Roots in slavery: slave patrols were a policing group that originated in 1704 in south carolina and consisted of a group of 3-6 men who regulated the behavior of slaves and hunted down and punished escaped slaves

  • Slave patrols eventually became a national law: fugitive slave law of 1850

legal factors

include those set forth explicitly in written law for making arrests as well as strategic considerations such as victims preference for legal action, seriousness of offense and strength of evidence

extralegal factors

influence arrests decisions and are determined by victim characteristics (ie race, wealth, and social status) and suspect characteristics (race, wealth, age, gender, and reputation with officer)

EF: social class

• past research from 60s-70s noted that police officers were more likely to invoke their authority against lower class suspects and more generally treat lower-class parties in a coercive fashion

  • More recent studies have yielded mixed findings on the effect of social class on policing outcomes

EF: race

• some of the earliest studies reported disparities in the treatment of white and black suspects

  • Police more likely to comply with the preference of white victim for arrest

    • Black women are more likely to be arrested than white women

EF: sex

• Chivalry hypothesis: female offenders recieve preferential treatment from the police

• Old results were consistent (women less likely to be arrested than men) newer research produced mixed results

• Leniency hypothesis: police less likely to invoke their authority on behalf of female victims

EF: mental illness

• police may arrest & jail mentally challenged ppl because:

  • They have violated the law

  • No suitable alternative is readily available to care for the person/

  • They wish to punish and control them, even though a la2w has not been broken

law enforcement responsibilities

• Although there is a wide range of debate as to the proper role of law enforcement in the community

  • Classic law enforcement (proactive vs reactive)

  • Crime prevention– order maintenance (micro and macro)

  • Social service providers

police initiated contact with police

• A higher % of males (12.5%) than female (9.2%) experienced police initiated contact

  • Black ppl (11.3%) were more likely than any other racial group to experience policy initiated contact

resident initiated contact with police

White ppl (16%) were more likely than any other racial groups to initiative contact with police

traffic initiated contact with police

Black people more likely to have police contact during a traffic incident/stop

African American community

• greater contact with police than any other racial/ethnic group

  • Higher levels of police presence/patrol

  • Police contact as victim or in response to problem requiring police assistance

  • Aggressive prevention patrol

Latinx community

• unique pattern of experiences with the police

  • Immigration patterns; language barriers; conflicting cultures

native american community

• Law enforcement is complicated by competing authority among tribal police agencies, local county sheriff or city police department and federal authority

• Which agency has jurisdiction depends on where crime was committed, what the crime was, and who committed it

Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander

• Asian americans have the least amount of contact with the police, compared with other social racial and ethnic groups

• Have lowest victimization rates and as a result call the police less often than any other group `

police reform

de-escalation, body cameras, diversifying the force, implicit bias training

de-escalation

policy under which officers are instructed that unless force is absolutely necessary they should attempt to se alternative techniques to resolve a citizen encounter without conflict or the use of force

• Techniques include:

  • Keeping distance from person in ?, in order to avoid direct confrontation, verbal persuasion to gain compliance, or simply saying nothing in response to disrespectful words by the person

• Combination of communication, empathy, instinct, & respect

• Behavior intended to avoid or reduce panic and conflict

• Experts in policing report that de-escalation can be particularly effective

  • Fewer injuries (for civilians and officers)

  • Quicker resolutions

  • Improved community resolutions

• Do not know influence in the long term

body cameras

• police departments are increasingly using body warn cameras to better monitor what officers are doing out in the field

  • Complaints against officers dropped

  • Use of force by police officers was reduced

  • Fatal and non-fatal encounters decreased

  • Can be useful but aren’t the solution on their own

diversifying the force

• does the racial or ethnic composition of a police department make a difference?

  • Diversifying the workforce can help to change internal culture of a police department

    • Police officers of color & female officers are less likely to use force than their white, male counterparts

implicit bias training

consists of a seminar about the psychological theory that unconscious stereotypes can lead ppl to make dangerous rash decisions

• Post-training behavior= similar to pre-training behavior

hate crime

Crimes committed that target victims and/or their property due to their perceived membership in a particular group

hate crime legislation

establishing a crime as a hate crime can be difficult because there must be evidence that the offenders discriminatory attitude or bias responsible for in part or whole for the commission of the crime

• civil rights act of 1871

civil rights act of 1871

Act extended federal protection to individuals whose 14th amendment voting rights were being violated by private persons, including those in the KKK

crimmigration

Interweaving of immigration and criminal law

crimmigration programs

criminal alien program/CAP, Secure communities, SB1070

Criminal alien program (CAP)

transfer of immigrants who are leaving jail and put them into ICE custody

secure communities (2013)

biometrics and database on immigrants

SB1070

went to SCOTUS and allowed for racial profiling against immigrants

immigrant sending countries

Mexico, China, India, Philippines, Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba, South Korea, and Dominican Republic

immigrant trends in the united states

• Immigrants in 2018 13.7% of total population and 44.7 million

• 20-64 years old with median age of 46

• Asians outnumber Latinx since about 2009

• 46% of undocumented immigrants are visa overstayers

traditional destination states

California/CA, New York/NY, Florida/FL, Texas/TX, New Jersey/NJ, Illinois/Il, Massachusetts/MA

new destination states

Alabama/AL, South Carolina/SC, Tennessee/TN, Delaware/DE, Arkansas/AR, Nevada/NV, Georgia/GA, Kentucky/KY

rape

most frequently committed but least reported violent crime

males

account for the majority of robberies, aggravated assaults, homicides, rapes, and sexual assaults