CJ 312 Final

20% of final grade

Policing

Policing is a fundamental component of the criminal justice system.  Public safety is essential for the function of society, and police are positioned to be the front line of public safety in the United States.    

Peelian Principles

In 1982 Sir Robert Peele created British police force, and his work is influential in policing.  He compiled his list of Peelian Principles setting standards for police.  These are the Peelian Principles. 

principles:

• Police must be stable, efficient, and organized along military lines

• Police must be under government control

• Absence of crime will best prove the efficiency of police

• Distribution of crime news is essential

• Deployments of police strength both by time and area is essential

• No quality is more indispensable to a policeman than perfect command of temper; a quiet, determined manner has more effect than violent action

• good appearance commands respect

• Securing and training proper persons is at the root of efficiency

• Public security demands that every police officer be given a number

• Police headquarters should be centrally located and easily accessible to the people

• Policemen should be hired on a probationary basis”

• Police records are necessary to the correct distribution of police strength”

Office-involved shootings

Officer-involved shootings are severe and complex situations that can result in the serious injury or death of community members or police officers.  Therefore, it is vital that law enforcement be adequately trained for the use of deadly force and investigative processes and resources are in place when shootings happen.  

• Officers required to train and qualify with firearms regularly

• Includes review of requirements for deadly force

• Proper investigations take time

• Officers can face criminal charges for unjustified shootings or other uses of force

Augustus Vollmer

• Police chief in Berkeley, CA

• Extremely influential in modern policing

  Influences:

• Psychological and intelligence tests for police candidates

• Police training academies

• Use of scientific method and forensics in investigations

• Helped create Department of Criminology at University of California Berkeley

Community Era

• 1980s to 2000

• Community policing: prolonged approach where police work with the community to address crime

• Began to see more officers with college degrees

• More research

• Problem-oriented policing: community policing that uses a defined process to address crime by beginning with a focus on problems

Department of Homeland Security

• “New model of centralized organizational control began due to the need for informational dissemination”

• Federal agency created as a result of 9/11 attacks

Roles in Policing

• Police protect communities, investigate crime, make arrests

  2 types of people working in law enforcement:

• Commissioned: “has been through police training is certified as a police officer and has arresting powers”

• Civilian: “has not been through police training and does not have arresting powers”

Federalism in Policing

• United States has no national police force

• Law enforcement agencies need to collaborate

Level of Agencies

• federal

• state

• county

• municipal/city

Training and Education Requirements for Police

• Must pass a challenging screening/hiring process including:

• Written and physical tests

• Multiple interviews

• Psychological screening

• Medical screening

• Background screening

• Many agencies and positions require college degrees

Use of Force

• Police are permitted to use necessary force

• Difficult to measure

• Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994: gave DOJ Civil Rights Division ability to take action against law enforcement agencies with patterns of excessive force or denial of rights

4th Amendment and Searches

• 4th Amendment: protects against unreasonable search and seizure

• Terry v. Ohio: US Supreme Court decision supporting stop and frisk

• Mapp v. Ohio: US Supreme Court decision saying evidence seized illegally cannot be used in state trials

United States Court System

Ensures due process of law: “the procedures used to convict the defendant are fair”

Courtroom Workgroup

the cooperative working relationship between prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges working together to efficiently resolve cases in the criminal courts

• Judges

• Prosecutors

• Defense attorneys

• Court Staff

Jurisdiction

the legal authority to hear and decide a case. based on:

• Location

• Subject matter

• Seriousness

• Authority over parties

Dual Court System

two court systems where one has limited authority over the other

• Federal system is over state court systems

Types of Courts

• Trial Court: “pretrial matters, trials, sentencing, probation, and parole violations”

• Appellate Courts: “primarily concerned with matters of law and correct legal errors”

• Courts of limited jurisdiction: “try infractions, violations, and petty crimes or misdemeanors”

• Courts of general jurisdiction: try felonies and misdemeanors

State Courts

• Multiple levels

• Court of last resort

Federal Court System

• Article III of US Constitution: “judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish”

• Appellate courts: “correct legal errors make by trial courts and develop law when new legal questions arise”

• Writ of certiorari: “defendant challenges the conviction on direct appeal, and this can take state cases to federal court"

• Writ of habeas corpus: “defendant challenges the conditions of confinement” 

Federal Courts

• US Supreme Court

• US District Courts

• US Magistrate Courts

US Supreme Court

• 9 Justices appointed for life

• En banc: a panel of judges

• Writ of certiorari

• Rule of four: 4 Justices choose to review a case

• Original jurisdiction

Appellate Process and Courts

• Acquit: “find the defendant not guilty”

• Interlocutory appeal: “appeal of a court’s pretrial ruling” (Gau, 2019)

  Errors:

• Fundamental

• Prejudicial

• plain

• Brief

• Appellant

• Reply

• Amicus: individuals or groups who may be affected by the ruling in the case file briefs that supply additional information supporting the ruling they amicus party is seeking

• Affirm, reverse, or remand

• Arbitrary and capricious : ” completely unreasonable and it had no rational connection between the facts found and the decision made”

• Abuse of discretion: “the judge failed to exercise sound, reasonable, and legal decision-making skills”

• De Novo review: “the appellate court is going to use its own judgment about whether the trial court correctly applied the law”

Habeas Corpus

• “prisoners’ pleas to the courts alleging that the government has inadequate legal basis for holding them in confinement”

• Constitutional right

• Must prove significant errors during trial or sentencing

• All other postconviction appeals have to be used before filing based on habeas corpus

• Postconviction appeals process can be lengthy and expensive

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act 1996

• Federal legislation regulating habeas corpus filings

• 1 year statute of limitations

• Limited which federal courts can hear petitions for people in state prisons

• Prohibited multiple filings on same issues

• Critiqued as symbolic legislation

Supreme Court Decisions (death penalty)

• Furman v. Georgia (1972): declared death penalty unconstitutional

• Gregg v. Georgia (1976): “states can administer the death penalty in compliance with the Eighth Amendment by giving juries clear guidelines to use when weighing whether to sentence an offender to death or to life in prison”

The Death Penalty

• Also called capital punishment

• When individuals are killed by the government as punishment for crime

  foundational ideas:

• Retribution - just deserts, moral argument that individuals who commit murder deserve the death penalty

  Deterrence - the death penalty will deter individuals from committing murder

  opposition:

• Beccaria was against the death penalty, continued support for abolishing the death penalty

Disparities and Discrimination - Death Penalty

• Empirical data clearly demonstrates racial disparities and discrimination

• McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) - used Baldus study to argue racial discrimination in implementation of the death penalty

• Evidence shows racial disparities in charging and jury decisions

• Cases with female victims are more likely to result in the death penalty, effect increases with white female victims

Wrongful Convictions - Death Penalty

• Evidence that wrongful convictions happen

• Prevalence unclear

Community Corrections - Intermediate Sanctions

• Alternative to prison

• Range of approaches

• Provide for discretion and flexibility

diversion

• “a process whereby an individual, at some stage, is diverted from continuing on in the formal justice process”

• Impossible to know how much diversion is used

Probation

• “a form of suspended sentence, in that the jail or prison sentence of the convicted offender is suspended, for the privilege of serving conditions of supervision in the community”

• Has conditions for term of probation

• Typically monitored by a probation officer who manages a caseload of probationers

Community Corrections - Boot Camp

• “designed on a militaristic ideal… valued that a regimen of strict physical exercise would teach structure and discipline in youth”

• Does not reduce recidivism, or reoffending

• Criminogenic needs of youth neglected

Drug Court

• “courtroom works in a non-adversarial way for a more supportive program”

• Popular approach that has expanded to all 50 states

• Requires treatment and supportive services as appropriate

Halfway House

• “used to control/house offenders”

• “typically used as a stopping point for offenders coming out of prisons”

• “also used as a more secure measure of monitoring probationers in lieu of going to prison”

• Supportive halfway houses: “a place to stay while reintegrating back into society”

• Interventive halfway houses: “multiple treatment modalities” and larger capacity

House Arrest

• Also called home incarceration

• Serving an incarceration sentence confined in a personal residence

• May have releases to go to work, attend medical appointments, etc.

• Typically uses electronic monitoring

Community Residential Facilities

• Also called community correctional centers, transition centers, community-based correctional facilities

• Varied structures and services

• “increased focus in rehabilitation, at a lower cost than a state institution”

Restorative Justice

• “community based and trauma informed practice used to build relationships, strengthen communities, encourage accountability, repair harm, and restore relationships when wrongdoings occur”

• Research shows promise

Parole

• “release under conditions of an individual after they have served a portion of their sentence”

• Parolees must follow conditions or risk going back to prison

• Discretionary parole: granted by parole board before mandatory release date

• Mandatory parole: prisoners can earn time off their sentence through good behavior

• Expiatory release: when a prisoner is released after serving their entire sentence

Youth as Juveniles

• “The contemporary juvenile justice system operates under the premise that juveniles are different than adults and require special attention and treatment.”

• “juveniles are malleable and can be rehabilitated”

• “public safety is best served by emphasizing the rehabilitation, rather than the incapacitation and punishment of juveniles”

Age Crime Curve

• Adolescent brains are still undergoing growth

• Age can be a factor in crime

• Theoretical perspective that crime is related to age

Adolescent-limited and Life Course Persistent Offenders

• Adolescent-limited offenders: criminal behavior in adolescence only

• Life-course-persistent offenders: criminal behavior throughout the life course

Juvenile Crime

Different than adult crime and should be addressed differently

Juvenile Delinquency

• Ages 7-17

• Adult at 18 in most states

2 main responsibilities:

• Juvenile delinquency - criminal charges and status offenses

• Dependency, neglect, child abuse

• Status offenses: “offenses that are only illegal because of the age of the offender”

Differences in the Juvenile System

• Petition: document filed that initiates process, similar to adult indictment

• Hearings: proceedings of juvenile courts

• Disposition: sentence in juvenile system

• Delinquent: similar to guilty in adult system

Juveniles in Adult Court System

• Juveniles can be tried in the adult system in all 50 states

• A waiver is needed to transfer a juvenile to adult court

  Types of waivers:

• Prosecutorial

• Legislative

• judicial

Prosecutorial Waiver

prosecutor has the discretion to file charges in juvenile or adult court, does not require a transfer hearing

Legislative Waiver

statutory waiver, identifies certain offenses which have been mandated by state law to be excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction

Judicial Waiver

affords the juvenile court judge the authority to transfer a case to adult criminal court”

• Discretionary: burden of proof rests with the state to prove juvenile system not appropriate

• Presumptive: burden of proof on the juvenile to prove the juvenile system is appropriate

• Mandatory: “ judge must automatically transfer to adult court juvenile offenders who meet certain criteria, such as age and current offense”

Juvenile System Structure

9 Decision Points:

• Arrest

• Referral to Court

• Diversion

• Secure Detention

• Judicial Waiver to Adult Court

• Case Petitioning

• Delinquency finding/Adjudication

• Probation

• Residential Placement

Juvenile Institutions

• Detention: can be detained pre-trial, dependency, waiting on transfer to another facility, waiting on disposition, etc.

• Group homes: “long-term facilities where youth are allowed and encouraged to have extensive contact with the community”

• Residential Treatment Centers: “long term facilities that focus on individual treatment”

• Long-term Secure Facilities: “strict secure confinement… reserved for youth who have committed serious offenses”

Parens Patriae

• Dates to 12th century English kings who were considered to be the father of the country

• Influential in US laws and system

• “the state is acting in [juvenile’s] best interest, protecting the youth from growing up to be ill-prepared members of society…courts are intervening for the youth’s own good.”

1825 Houses of Refuge

provided space for youth who needed somewhere to go or were sent by courts

1850s Reform Schools

residential facility for delinquent and dependent youth

Child-saving Movement

“effort to change the way the state was dealing with dependent, neglected, and delinquent children”

Juvenile Court

• 1899: 1st juvenile court in Illinois

Commonwealth v. Fisher 1905:

• Used parens patriae to justify a separate juvenile justice system

• State has the power to intervene to act in the child’s best interest

Juveniles - Supreme Court Cases

• Kent v. United States (1966): requires judge’s to “conduct a full investigation and an official waiver hearing” to transfer a juvenile to adult court (Burke et al, 2019)

• In re Gault (1967): juveniles entitled to due process of the law

Specifically:

• Notice of charges

• Right to counsel

• Ability to confront/cross-examine witnesses

• Against self-incrimination

  -

• In re Winship (1970): required proof beyond a reasonable doubt, previously preponderance of evidence

• Breed v. Jones (1975): banned double jeopardy

• Roper v. Simmons (2005): death penalty unconstitutional when under 18 at the time of the crime

• Graham v. Florida (2010): life without the possibility of parole unconstitutional for non-homicide crimes

• Miller v. Alabama (2012): mandatory life without parole for juveniles is cruel and unusual

• Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016): ruled Miller v. Alabama applied retroactively

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974

• Federal legislation on juvenile justice

  Tied reforms to funds granted to states

• Secure detention

• Holding juveniles and adults separately

• Deinstitutionalization

• Services for female juveniles

Angola Prison: Louisiana State Penitentiary

• “largest maximum-security prison in the US” 18,000 acres

• Began in 1901

• Inmates work in jobs that either serve the prison or the for-profit branch of the Louisiana Dept. of Corrections

• Award-winning prison magazine: The Angolite

Wilbert Rideau

• Journalist, author, and lecturer

• Incarcerated in Angola in 1961

• Served 44 years

• Editor of The Angolite for 25 years

• Memoir: In the Place of Justice (2010)