Criminal Justice (Chapter 4 to...)

English legal tradition

1. limited authority

2. local control

3. Fragmented organization

1. Limited authority

Powers specifically defined by law

2. Local control

No national police

3. Fragmented organization

Many types of officers and agencies, each with a specific function

Frankpledge: 13th century English system

Group would pledge to keep order and deliver law breakers to court

Sir Robert Peel

1829 Metropolitan Police act: created the London police force

1. Prevent crime

2. Maintain public order

3. Reduce conflict

4. Show efficiency through the absence of crime

Colonial Era and the Early Republic

Watch system and Slave patrols

Watch system

Night observers to warn of crime and fires (North)

Slave patrols

Citizens patrolled for slaves (South)

The Political Era (1840-1920)

Local politicans and police closely aligned; police were hired who supported local politicians

Sheriffs

First official, elected law enforcement position in rural areas, including the newly settled West. Would rely on community members to assist in law enforcement functions by forming posses, or groups of deputized men.

U.S. Marshals

Formed after the Civil War. Federal officers used to enforce federal law in the West.

The professional Model Era (1920-1970)

Progressive concepts of policing.

-More efficient government and more efficent government services.

-Goal was to reduce political influence

-Strived for professional law enforcement officials to benefit all society

-Emphasized using new technology to solve crimes

-Focused on crime control and lost ties to community, became more crime fighters

-1960s: civil rights and antiwar movements and urban riots challenged traditional policing ideals.

The Community Policing Era (1970-Present)

Community policing

-Emphasizes close personal contact between police and community members.

-Modern police model in most cities

-Greater community communication would bring police and communities together to solve criminal behaviors.

-Federal government encouraged programs and awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to local police departments for community policing programs

The Communtiy Policing Era (1970-Present) Continued

Problem-oriented policing and "Fixing Broken WIndows" (George Keller, 1995)

Problem-oriented policing

Community policing strategy that emphasizes solving problems of disorder in neighborhood that may contribute to fear of crime.

Police talk to communities and identify the underlying causes of criminal behavior.

"Fixing Broken Windows" (George Keller, 1995)

If police focus on quality-of-life crimes, they can reduce worse crimes. The research has been criticized as successfully proving this method reduces crimes.

Homeland Security/Evidence-Based Policing/Police Reform

Homeland security and Intelligence-led policing

Homeland Security

After 9/11, federal and state agencies shared equipment and training for coordinated homeland protection.

Intelligence-led policing

By-product of federal and state cooperation.

Data analyzed by local departments are shared with other local departments and federal government.

State and federal agencies use the shared information to develop strategies to identify, prevent, and solve problems.

Evidence-based policing

Combining data about crime trends and crime with social science research, police departments can attempt to prevent and control crime.

"What works" in policing.

Requires actual data collection, knowledge of applicable research, and community involvement to measure success.

Police Reform

In 2020, Geoge Floyd's murder sparked a national debate about the responsibilities and accountability of police.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Protect from terrorist attack

-Protect against foreign intelligence operations and espionage

-Protect against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes

-Combat public corruption

-Protect civil rights

-Combat transnational and national organized crime

-Combat major white-collar crime

-Combat significant violent crime

Federal Agencies

FBI, DEA, IRS, ATF, Department of Homeland Security

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Investigates the importation, sale, and trafficking of drugs

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Violations of tax law

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives (ATF)

Investigates untaxed tobacco, firearm sales, firearm dealers, firearmmanufacturers, and illegal possession and manufacturing of explosives

Department of Homeland Security

Includes Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

State Agencies

-Highway patrol

-State troopers

-State police

-State Bureau of Investigation

Country Agencies

Sheriff's offices

Native American Tribal Police

Sovereign nation with legal autonomy

Municipal Agencies

Local police departments

Special Jurisdictions Agencies

Campus police, park rangers, liquor control

Police Recruitment requirements

-US citizen

-Age requirement: Usually minimum age of 21

-High school diploma, some federal agencies require a bachelor's degree

-Valid Driver's license

-Healthy weight

-Pass a medical health examination

-Pass a physical fitness examination

-pass a background investigation

-Pass a polygraph examination

-Pass a urinalysis or blood drug test

-Pass a written test

-Law enforcement certification: successfully completion of police academy

The changing profile of the police

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.

Racial and ethnic diversity among police officers

-Women of the force

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972:

stopped state and local governments from discriminating in hiring practices

Racial and ethnic diversity among police officers

-Reflection of community composition, affects community relations

-25 percent of local police officers are composed of the racial and ethnic groups historically excluded from police jobs

Women on the force

Risen 11 percent between 1970 to 2016

Training (police)

Formal training, field training, Espirt de corps, and success of the groups depends on the cooperations of its members

Formal training

Legal rules, weapon use, defensive tactics

Field training

Learning from experienced officers while functioning as active officer (probationary period)

-Socialization: rules and values of a group learned by its members

Esprit de corps

Loyalty to a group, loyalty to fellow police officers

Subculture

Beliefs and values shared by subgroup members

Working personality

Set of emotional and behavioral characteristics developed by members of an occupation in response to the work environment (2 elements)

1. Danger

2. Authority

1. Danger

-Officers aware of body language and situational awareness

-Officers routinely reminded of dangerous and deadly encounters

-Constant state of "high alert"

2. Authority

Need to extert and establish authority

Police morality

-Typically, a high sense of morality

-Genuinely motivated to help people and improve society

-But can justify they actions in moral terms; condoning use of force asnecessary or a price to pay to cleanse society

Police isolation

-Police may be suspicious of the public

-Public can lose confidence in police

-Police separate themselves from the people and form strong in-group ties

-Tend to socialize more with family and other officers

Job stress

External, organizational, personal, operational

External stress

Dangerous encounters, constant state of high alert

Organizational stress

constant schedule changes, irregular work hours,detailed rules and procedures

Personal stress

officers' racial or gender status among peers, social isolation, perceptions of bias

Operational stress

being lied to continually, dealing with mentally ill, required to face danger to protect the public that seems hostile, fear of legalliability (prison) for one's actions

Order Maintenance

noise disturbances, panhandlers, disorderly conduct calls, handle a situation that the public cannot control

Law enforcement

law has clearly been broken, suspect is identified andarrested

Service

first aid, medical calls, rescue animals, helping the disoriented,runaways

Implenmenting the mandate

Public support, or lack of public support, candictate a police agency's focus.

Bureaucratic Elements

Divison of labor, Chain and unity of command

Divison of Labor or police bureaucracy

Divisions have a specific function that include a budget and training specifically for the mission.

-Patrol units: uniformed police officers

-Special units: officers/detectives that focus on a specific crime

Chain and unity of command

Chain of command: each person in the chain of command has a supervisor who is responsible for subordinates' actions.

The Police Bureaucracy and the criminal justice system

1. Gateway through which individuals enter the criminal justice system

- Police decide who gets arrested

2. Police do not control the decisions of prosecutors and judges

3. Police officers are required to follow strict rules and regulations while alsoapplying independent judgment and discretion.

4. The organization of the police is affected by the economy of the community.

-Less money for the police, fewer special units

Police policies reflect

The preferences and values of police executives

Police are influenced

by politics, public pressure, and social context.

Policies affect the "style" of policing.

Watchman style, legalistic style, and service style.

Watchman Style

Officers make arrests only for flagrant violation as long asthere is general order.

Legalistic style:

Police act as if there is a single standard of conduct,prescribed by the law, and strictly enforce those laws

Service style:

Sensitive to individual situations and use discretion to avoid embarrassment or punishment

Chain of command

Organizational structure based on a military model with clear definition of ranks to indicate authority over subordinates and obligations to obey orders from superiors.

Community policing

Approach to policing that emphasizes close personal contact between police and citizens and the inclusion of citizens in efforts to solve problems, including vandalism, disorder, youth misbehavior, and crime.

FBI special agents

The sworn law enforcement officers in the FBI who conduct investigations and make arrests

Frankpledge

A system in old English law in which members of a tithing (a group of 10 families) pledged to be responsible for keeping order and bringing violators of the law to court.

Intelligence-led policing (vocab)

An approach to policing, in conjunction with concerns about homeland security, that emphasizes gathering and analyzing information to be shared among agencies in order to develop cooperative efforts to identify, prevent, and solve problems.

Law Enforcement

The police function of controlling crime by intervening in situations in which the law has clearly been violated, and the police need to identify and apprehend the guilty person.

Law enforcement certification

Preservice training required for sworn officers in many states,which includes coursework on law, psychology, police procedures, and the use of weapons. Police departments for state and large cities often run training programs called police academies for their own recruits

Legalistic style (vocab)

Style of policing that emphasizes strict enforcement of laws and reduces officers' authority to handle matters informally

Order maintenance

The police function of preventing behavior that disturbs or threatens to disturb the public peace or that involves face-to-face conflict between two or more people. In such situations, the police exercise discretion in deciding whether a law has been broken

Patrol units

The core operational units of local police departments that deploy uniformed officers to handle the full array of police functions for service, order maintenance, and law enforcement

Police bureaucracy

The organizational description of police departments' design and operations that seek to achieve efficiency through division of labor, chain of command, and rules to guide staff.

Problem-oriented policing (vocab)

Community policing strategy that emphasizes solving problems of disorder in a neighborhood that may contribute to fear of crime and to crime itself.

Service (vocab)

The police function of providing assistance to the public for many matters unrelated to crime as well as for crime prevention education.

Service style (vocab)

Style of policing in which officers cater to citizens' desire for favorable treatment and sensitivity to individual situations by using discretion to handle minor matters in ways that seek to avoid embarrassment or punishment.

Sheriff

Top law enforcement official in county government who was an exceptionally important police official during the country's westward expansion and continues to bear primary responsibility for many local jails

Slave patrols (vocab)

Distinctively American form of law enforcement in Southern states that sought to catch and control slaves through patrol groups that stopped and questioned African Americanson the roads and elsewhere in public places.

Socialization

The process by which the rules, symbols, and values of a group or subculture are learned by its members.

Special units

Units within local police departments that deploy officers, often in plain clothes if not assigned to the traffic unit, who are dedicated to a specific task, such as investigation, ortype of crime, such as narcotics enforcement.

Subculture (vocab)

The symbols, beliefs, values, and attitudes shared by members of a subgroup of the larger society.

U.S. marshals

Federal law enforcement officials originally appointed to handle duties inwestern territories; today they bear responsibility for providing federal court security and apprehending fugitives

Watch System

Practice of assigning individuals to night observation duty to warn the public offires and crime; first introduced to the American colonies in Boston and later evolved into asystem of paid, uniformed police.

Watchman style

Style of policing that emphasizes order maintenance and tolerates minor violations of law as officers use discretion to handle small infractions informally but make arrests for major violations

Working personality (vocab)

A set of emotional and behavioral characteristics developed by membersof an occupational group in response to the work situation and environmental influences.

Police response:

Reactive, Proactive, incident-driven policing, and differential response

Reactive

Responding to calls for service (main type of response)

Proactive

Actively searching for potential offenders

Incident-driven policing

calls for service are the primary instigation of action.

Differential response

Calls for service are assigned priorities.

Evidence-based policing

Research studies that guide police to proactively employ

Preventive patrol

A police presence that help deter crime and enables officers to quickly respond to calls for service.

Detectives:

1. Crime occurs (patrol officers)

2. Preliminary investigation (Patrol officers)

3. follow up investigation (detectives)

4. Clearance and arrest (detectives)

Speical operations:

-School resource officers (SROs)

-Traffic

-Vice

-Drug law enforcement

-Aggressive patrol

School resource officers (SROs)

Police officesr assigned to high schools.