Criminal Justice Ch.1

how society responds to crime

What is criminal justice?

maintain order and provide necessary community services (D.A.R.E., community outreach programs)

what are the main goals of criminal justice? (2)

the police, the legal system, correctional agencies, members of the community

who are the major players in criminal justice?

community’s

Until fairly recently it was the _________ responsibility to carry out justice.

crime analysis (crime map), criminology (who are criminals and why), emergency management (prevent chaos and thus crime), forensic scientists (collect data), homeland security, law and legal studies, security admin (work with police), victimology (who are the victims and why)

What are the fields of inquiry involved in criminal justice? (8)

it consists of a series of steps, it is orderly and predictable, all the players collaborate to ensure efficiency

What is assumed given that criminal justice is a system? (3)

it is __not__ a cohesive unit, discretion can lead to a lot of variation, there isn’t a consensus among all agencies involved

What is assumed if criminal justice is called a non-system? (3)

Because there are educational requirements and it isn’t solely on the job training, more of a profession

Are criminal justice occupations professions or jobs?

agencies are usually organized in a line with a bureaucratic model (everyone has someone above and below them in authority); it is governed by many rules, policies, and procedures; it is organized in a hierarchy; employees are required to complete specific training

What makes criminal justice seem like a bureaucracy? (4)

agencies often have to advocate for legislature to allocate sufficient resources to them; agencies can lobby legislatures to enact policies and laws that benefit them; some agency directors have to answer to politicians (chief of police and mayor)

What makes criminal justice seem like it’s not a bureaucracy?

the laws are made based off of what is immoral and thus should be illegal; morality on certain topics can vary leading to laws that not everyone agrees to (abortion, marijuana use, etc)

How are criminal justice and morality connected?

code of ethics are unique to a particular working environment, morals are broader and apply to all of society

how is code of ethics different from morality?

moral philosophy

Discretionary decisions are often based on _____ _____.

1920s, police professionalism

Criminal justice education began in _____ and focused on _____ _____.

1960s, 70s

In the late _____ and _____, legislation was enacted by Congress that affected the system by placing more emphasis on professionalism.

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration distributed funds to improve criminal justice administration and practices

What is the purpose of the LEAA?

Law Enforcement Education Program (created by LEAA) funds college-level criminal justice education and promoted the development and expansion of criminal justice training departments in universities; led to the growth of criminal justice as an academic discipline

What is the purpose of the LEEP?

professionalism, scholarship

During the 1970s, there was a shift from an emphasis on _____ to _____.

more focus on theory, research, policy, and practice; criminal justice shifted from a craft to a profession; more empirical and theoretical guidance to the criminal justice system

What did the shift to scholarship entail?

collaboration across various academic disciplines with practitioners

what does translational criminology provide?

Crime: speeding; deviance: a man wearing a dress

What’s an example of a crime that isn’t deviant and something that is deviant but isn’t a crime?

specific law

A deviant act is only a crime if it violates a _____ _____.

any behavior the government chooses to define as such by passing a law against it

what is one definition of crime?

mala prohibita (not bad, victimless crimes); mala in se (inherently bad, typically some type of physical aggression)

What are the two types of crimes?

Visible (theft, murder); victimless (prostitution); typical; typical

_____ crimes are more likely to be enforced than _____ crimes and criminal justice resources are more likely to go to _____ crimes. The media is more likely to report _____ crimes.

criminals, non-criminals, criminal

There isn’t a clear line between _____ and _____ because not everyone who commits a crime is labeled a _____

White-collar crimes like fraud and embezzlement; inflict more harm than other types of crime

What are examples of “non-typical” crimes?