A2 Criminal Justice Final Exam P1 The CJ System

NDHS A2 Criminal Justice

Dark figure of crime

The massive number of crimes not reported to or detected by criminal justice agencies

Actus reus

Guilty act, you committed a crime

Mens reus

guilty mind

Causation

the relationship of cause and effect between one event or action and the result

Concurrence

occurs when there is an intention to commit the crime and voluntary criminal action

Justice

a legal structure or system that is designed to judge in a general sense who should be accorded a benefit or burden when the law is applied to a person's factual circumstances

The code of Hammurabi

The first set of written laws

Uniform Crime Report

a nationwide, cooperative, statistical effort of more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention, creates crime statistics

Booking

he process where information about a criminal suspect is entered into the system of a police station or jail after that person's arrest

Arraignment

reading you the crime you've been charged with and entering your initial plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest, occurs during First Appearance

First Appearance

A defendant's first appearance in court, Arraignment occurs during this

System Model

similar to computer system it has an input and an output, inputs crime outputs corrections

Funnel model

Represents several crimes being committed, but only a small percentage of criminals end up in prison.

Adversarial Model

The trial is a contest between two adversaries (prosecution vs. defense). 

Discretionary Model

use of discretion at each stage of the criminal justice system

NCVS

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization.

Victim

person that has suffered direct physical, emotional, or pecuniary harm as a result of the commission of a crime.

Witness

a person who saw or heard the crime take place or may have important information about the crime or the defendant

Citizen

a person who, by place of birth, nationality of one or both parents, or naturalization is granted full rights and responsibilities as a member of a nation or political community

Suspect

person law enforcement believes to be a likely culprit of a crime

4th amendment

prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures

8th amendment

protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments.

5th amendment

an individual cannot be compelled by the government to provide incriminating information about herself

6th amendment

guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.

Celebrated Cases

These types of cases garner a great deal of media attention because the crimes are unusual or because the defendants are celebrities or high-ranking officials

Less serious felonies

crimes that include: White collar crime, which includes fraud, tax crimes, bribery and/or counterfeiting; Property crime including embezzlement, theft, receipt of stolen goods, and/or arson; and/or. Drug and alcohol crimes including public intoxication, drug manufacturing and/or drug distribution

Misdemeanors

a type of offense punishable under criminal law, less serious then a felony

Serious felonies

crimes punishable by imprisonment of more than one year that are more serious then less serious felonies, ie murder, assault and battery, robbery