CRJ 1: Fundamentals of Criminal Justice

Acquittal

A court or jury’s judgment or verdict of “not guilty” of the offenses charged.

Adjudication

The legal resolution of a dispute—for example, when one is declared guilty or not guilty—by a judge or jury.

Aggravating Circumstances

Elements of a crime that enhance its seriousness, such as the infliction of torture, killing of a police or corrections officer, and so on.

Arrest

The taking into custody or detaining of one who is suspected of committing a crime.

Conflict Theory of Justice

Explains how powerful groups create laws to protect their values and interests in diverse societies. Rousseau.

Consensus Theory of Justice

Explains how a society creates laws as a result of common interests and values, which develop largely because people experience similar socialization. Locke.

Conviction

The legal finding, by a jury or judge, or through a guilty plea, that a criminal defendant is guilty.

Crime control model

A model by Packer that emphasizes law and order and argues that every effort must be made to suppress crime and to try, convict, and incarcerate offenders.

criminal justice flow and process

The movement of defendants and cases through the criminal justice process, beginning with the commission of a crime, and including stages that involve actions of criminal justice actors working within police, courts, and correctional agencies.

determinate sentence

a specific, fixed-period sentence ordered by a court

discretion

Authority to make decisions in enforcing the law based on one’s observations and judgement (“spirit of the law”) rather than the letter of the law

due process model

A model by Packer that advocates defendants’ presumption of innocence, protection of suspects’ rights, and limitations placed on police powers to avoid convicting innocent persons

ethics

A set of rules or values that spell out appropriate human conduct

indeterminate sentence

A scheme whereby one is sentenced for a flexible time period (e.g. 5-10 yrs) so as to be released when rehabilitated or when the opportunity for rehabilitation is present

mitigating circumstances

Circumstances that would tend to less the severity of the sentence, such as one’s youthfulness, mental instability, not having a prior criminal record, and so on

parole

early release from prison, with conditions attached and under supervision of a parole agency

prosecution

The bringing of charges against an individual, based on probable cause, so as to bring the matter before a court

sanction

a penalty or punishment

three strikes law

a crime control strategy whereby an offender who commits three or more violent offenses will be sentenced to a lengthy term in prison, usually 25 years to life

wedding cake model of criminal justice

a model of the criminal justice process whereby a four-tiered hierarchy exists, with a few celebrated cases at the top, and lower tiers increasing in size as the seriousness of cases declines and informal processes (use of discretion) become more likely to occur.