Review Flashcards for Criminal Justice System

Flashcards generated from lecture notes on law-making, agency relationships within the Criminal Justice System, models of criminal justice, forms of social control, aims of sentencing, and the effectiveness and limitations of criminal justice agencies.

What document collects the public's response to a proposed law change?

A Green Paper, during consultation.

What are firm proposals related to law change presented in?

A White Paper

What must happen in Parliament for a bill to pass into law?

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords must agree.

What can the monarch do to a bill to make it an Act of Parliament?

Sign the bill, receiving royal assent.

What is Judicial Precedent?

Judges create law for future judges to follow; past cases inform present decisions.

What legal principle was established in Donoghue v Stevenson?

Manufacturers have a ‘duty of care’ to anyone who suffers due to their irresponsibility, regardless of a contract.

What are the two exceptions to Precedent?

Distinguishing and Over-ruling

What do judges attempt in Statutory Interpretation?

Work with the law, sometimes changing it slightly using statutory rules.

What is the Literal Rule in statutory interpretation?

The literal, dictionary definition of the law is used.

What is the Golden Rule in statutory interpretation?

Small amendments must be made to make the law clearer as the literal rule would be too absurd.

What is the Mischief Rule in statutory interpretation?

The judge may re-work the law, attempting to fix something broken or ambiguous within the law.

What is the primary relationship between the Police, and Courts?

Police give evidence as prosecution witnesses and protect vulnerable witnesses; courts hold defendants and transport them.

What is the primary relationship between the Police, and CPS?

Police provide evidence for the CPS and charge offenders in-line with CPS instructions.

What is the primary relationship between the Police, and Prison?

Police transport offenders on remand and investigate crimes within the prison.

What is the primary relationship between the Police, and Probation Service?

Probation asks police to attend to and arrest individuals who breach licence or community order conditions.

What is the primary relationship between the Police, and Government Departments?

Police enforce the laws introduced by government departments, who are responsible for police wages, staffing, etc.

What is the main role of the CPS?

Assess whether the evidence is suitable for a realistic conviction; prepare and present the case in court.

What is the National Probation Service responsible for?

The management of offenders serving their sentence in the community or on license.

What document does Probation write that is useful to the Court in determining an offender’s sentence?

Pre-sentence Report

What is the primary relationship between the Probation Service, and Police?

If an offender breaches either their licence or community order conditions, probation will ask police to attend to and arrest the individual.

What is the Prison Service responsible for?

Manage offenders serving custodial sentences.

What is a key function of Charities and Pressure Groups vis-a-vis Prisons?

Working with prisons to address offender needs upon release.

What is a key function of Charities and Pressure Groups vis-a-vis Probation?

Seeking to help those in the community rehabilitate and reintegrate back into society.

What is the goal of the Due Process model?

Protect the individual from oppression by the state and its agents.

What is assumed in the Due Process model?

Innocence rather than guilt.

What does the Due Process model emphasize?

The rights of the accused.

What is the aim of the Crime Control model?

Suppress crime, as crime is a threat to people’s freedom.

What is assumed in the Crime Control model?

Guilt - It trusts the police to be able to identify the guilty.

What does the Crime Control model emphasize?

The rights of society and victims rather than the rights of the suspects.

In Freud’s psychodynamic theory, what is the Super Ego?

Our moral conscious makes us behave because otherwise we feel guilty.

What process helps to form a Super Ego?

Socialisation

How might different institutions in society socialize us?

Family, school/education and religion.

What theory is being demonstrated when agencies give out negative sanctions to deter people away from ‘bad behaviour’?

Operant Learning by Skinner.

According to Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory, what is Attachment?

The more attached we are to others, the more likely we are to follow their norms, care about what they think of us and will be less likely to be deviant.

According to Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory, what is Involvement?

The more involved we are in conventional, law-abiding activities such as studying, or participating in sports, the less time and energy we have for committing crime.

According to Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory, what is Commitment?

The more we are committed to a conventional lifestyle (succeeding and getting a good job) the more we risk losing by getting involved in crime.

According to Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory, what is Belief?

If we have been socialised to believe it is right to obey the law, we are less likely to break it.

What are the main aims of Sentencing?

Retribution, Reparation, Public Protection, Rehabilitation, and Deterrence.

What is Retribution in sentencing?

Punishing an offender as vengeance for a wrongful act; criminals should get their ‘just deserts’.

What Right Realist theories are related to Retribution?

An offender is a rational actor who consciously chose to commit a crime so must therefore face the outrage of society.

What is Reparation in sentencing?

The offender making amends for their wrongs (financial, unpaid work, or restorative justice).

What is a limitation of Reparation in sentencing?

This does not work for all offences and is often seen to be too soft on offenders.

What is Public Protection in sentencing?

Punishments can be used to incapacitate offenders.

What Biological theories are related to Public Protection in sentencing?

Lombroso argued that criminals are biologically different from the rest of the population, so it is not possible to rehabilitate them.

What is rehabilitation in sentencing?

Punishment can be used to reform or change offenders to reduce recidivism.

What is Deterrence in sentencing?

Putting someone off committing a crime, for example because they fear the punishment if they get caught.

What is a limitation of Deterrence in sentencing?

Recidivism rates of prison leavers is high which suggests that prison is not an effective deterrent.

What is the aim of Custodial Sentencing?

Removal of an offenders' freedom; protects the public.

Are community sentences seen as better than short-term prison sentences when it comes to rehabilitation?

Yes

How does community sentencing aim to achieve reparation?

Offender is making right for their wrong doings. Giving back to the community after they have betrayed it, or cleaning graffiti.

What are Fines, as a sentence used for?

A financial penalty used for both summary and indictable offences.

What is a Discharge, as a form of sentencing?

Used often for minor (first-time) offences where the court does not want to input a criminal conviction.

What are the Aims & Objectives of the Police?

To keep the peace and maintain order; to protect life and property; to prevent, detect and investigate crime; to bring offenders to justice.

What are the Aims & Objectives of the Judiciary?

Manages the trial; ensures fairness to all parties; explains the legal issues and procedures to members of the jury; sums up evidence; passes sentence if the defendant is found guilty.

What is Judicial Independence?

Free from government interference.

What oath do Judges make upon undertaking their role?

Oath of Allegiance, and Judicial Oath.

What oath is it that the Judge will 'do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will?

Judicial Oath

What are the Aims & Objectives of the C.P.S?

Advise the police in their investigations; independently assess the evidence; decide whether to prosecute and what charges should be brought; prepare the prosecution case and presents it in court; assists, informs and supports victims and prosecutes witnesses.

What are the Aims & Objectives of Probation?

Supervises high-risk offenders released into the community; provides statutory support to victims of serious sexual or violent crimes; protect the public by rehabilitating offenders.

What is the the community rehabilitation companies primarily target?

Private businesses that have a contract with the Ministry of Justice to provide probation services

What are the Aims & Objectives of a Prison?

To protect the public from harm; to help people who have been convicted to rehabilitate; to implement the orders of the courts.

What are the main Prison categories?

Cat A (maximum security), Cat B, Cat C, Cat D (open prison)

What are the Aims & Objectives of NACRO (pressure groups)?

To provide practical help and personalized support through education, housing, justice and health and wellbeing services.

What are Environmental Measures?

Environmental design involves what a neighbourhood looks like and how it is designed so to have an impact on criminality.

Is territoriality a key feature in Newman's arguments in defensible spaces?

Yes

Is surveillance a key feature in Newman's arguments in defensible spaces?

Yes

Is a safe image a key feature in Newman's arguments in defensible spaces?

Yes

Is a protected location a key feature in Newman's arguments in defensible spaces?

Yes

What did Alice Coleman find encouraged crime?

Anonymity, lack of surveillance and easy escape.

What is the Secured by Design (SBD)?

Kitemark scheme, Home Office

What are some Behavioural Measures?

ASBOs, Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs), Token Economies

What happened to those receiving ASBOs?

They Create the self-fulfilling prophecy, thinking they should continue with crime as they’re already labelled by their ASBO.

What are CBOs?

CBOs deal with seriously anti-social individuals who cause harassment, alarm or distress to others.

Why might Staggered/ Phased discipline, and lenient punishments for first time offences be described as Institutional Measures?

These are supposed to coerce good behaviour, acting as a threat or fear.

When Budget cuts are happening what is the general term for agencies who are struggling to do their job?

Lack of Resources

Police can not operate if?

Unreported Crime

For a Police to operate, what must be in place?

Existing Law

What is the current Repeat offending (Recidivism) rate?

48%

In England and Wales, we do not live within an authoritarian state, meaning that police are restricted by law and procedure, what is this also described as?

Civil Liberties

A over-riding sense of what is right and is so strong it compels a person to act in a certain way to uphold

Moral Imperative