Chapter One Criminal Justice Today

What is crime?
In general, crime can be wrong against society proclaimed by law and if committed under
certain circumstances, punishable by society.
The consensus model: rest on the assumption that as people gather together to form a
society
The conflict model: the most politically powerful segments of society
An integrated definition of Crime
Crime is an action or activity that is:
o Punishable under criminal law, as determined by the majority or in some
instances by a powerful minority.
o Considered an offense against society as a whole and prosecuted by public
officials , not by victims and their relative or friends.
o Punishable by sanctions based on laws tht bring about the loss of personal
freedom or life.
Deviance: behavior that does not conform to the norms of a given community or society.
Types of Crime
Six categories to be grouped in: violent crime, property crime, public order crime, white-collar
crime, organized crime, and high-tech crime.
Violent crime: Murder, sexual assault, assault , battery, robbery
Property crime: most common form of criminal activity.
o Larceny: known as theft, pocket picking, shoplifting, stealing of any property that
is not accomplished by force
o Burglary: a structure with the intention of committing a serious crime such as
theft.
Public Order crime: linked to consensus model. Most common public order crimes
include public drunkenness, prostitution, gambling, and illicitly drug use.
o Some times referred to as victimless crimes because they often harm only the
offender.
White-collar crime: business-related crimes, the term is broadly used to describe an
illegal act or series of acts committed by an individual or business entity using some
nonviolent means to obtain a personal or business advantage.
Organized crime: illegal acts by illegal organizations, usually geared toward satisfying
the publics demand for unlawful goods and service.
High-Tech crime: newest variation of crime, cyber crimes, such as selling pornographic
materials, soliciting minors, and defrauding consumers through bogus financial
investments.
The Criminal Justice System
Be able to determine which actions made are to be labeled crimes is only the first step.
Institutions have to be created to apprehend alleged wrongdoers, to determine if they really did
commit a crime, and find a way to punish those who did commit a crime.
The Purpose of the Criminal Justice System
Controlling and Preventing Crime: First two goals straight forward. The system will
attempt to control the crime and prevent the crime.
Maintaining Justice: Third goal, providing and maintaining justice.
o Justice: all individuals are equal before the law nd that they are free from arbitrary
arrest or seizure as define by the law.
The Structure of the Criminal Justice System
Federalism: government powers are shared by the national (federal) government and the states.
Law Enforcement: have their own organizational structures and tend to operate
independently of one another
o Local Law Enforcement: duties split between counties and municipalities.
o Stare Law Enforcement: Hawaii is the only state that does not have one. General,
two types, State police and highway patrols.
o Federal Law Enforcement: The Department of Homeland Security, combines the
police powers of 24 federal agencies to protect the USA from terrorist attacks.
Are also available to provide support for over worked local police departments, as
was necessary several years ago when agents from the ATF joined forces with the
Coatesville (PA) Police department.
The Courts: The United States has the Dual Court System
o We have two independent judicial systems, one at a federal level and one at the
state level.
o 52 different court systems
1 federal court system
50 different state court systems, plus District of Columbia
o Federal System: consists of district courts, circuit courts of appeals, and the
United States Supreme Courts.
o State System: trial courts, intermediate courts o appeals, and state supreme courts.
Corrections: Once the court system convicts and sentences and offender, she or he is
delegated to the correction system. Can be placed on probation, incarcerated, or
transferred to community-based correctional facilities.
The Criminal Justice Process
The Assembly Line: the procedures through which the criminal justice system meets the
expectations of society.
 Formal versus Informal Criminal Justice: involves a series of routinized operations
with the end goal of getting criminal defendant from point A, the arrest by law
enforcement, to B, the criminal trial, to C if guilty, their punishment.
Discretion: the authority to choose between and among alternative courses of actions
which can lead to the development of the informal criminal justice process.
o Discretionary Basics: Police decide whether to arrest a suspect or not
o Prosecutors decide whether to prosecute
o Magistrates decide whether there is sufficient probably cause for a case to go to
jury
o Judges decide on sentencing
The Wedding Cake Model of Criminal Justice: Posits that discretions comes to bear
depending on the relative importance of a particular case.
o Created by Lawrence M. Friedman and Robert V. Percival
o Four layers
The celebrity cases
Serious or high profile felonies
Less serious or ordinary felonies
Misdemeanors
Value of the Criminal Justice System
The Crime Control Model: Law enforcement must be counted on to control criminal
activity.
The Due Process Model: an obstacle course instead of an assembly line.
Criminal Justice Today
Gun Sales and Gun Control: The court has done little to lessen the debate over gun
control or the policies that the government implements to keep firearms out o the hands
of the wrong people.
The Illegal Drugs Problems: many blame the explosion of violent crime that took place in
the late 80s early 90s. Now days, many blame the crimes in Mexico due to their
situation.
Drugs and Crime: offenders who use greater amounts of alcohol and illegal drugs have
significantly higher crime rates.
o Alcohol falls under the definition of a drug
o Psychoactive drugs: affect the brain and alter consciousness or perception
Law Enforcement in the United States: Tradition and Technology
The scourge of street gangs: success is measured by their ability to control street gangs;
Criminal gangs are responsible for 80% of street crime in the country
DNA Profiling: allows law enforcement to identify a suspect from body fluid evidence,
such as blood, saliva, semen, or biological evidence (hair, fingernail)
After reading chapter one, I was able to have a better understanding of how our criminal justice
system works now days and I was able to have an understanding in regards to the different types
of crimes and what it entails. For example robbery, I really didnt think that would fall under
violent crime. If I just read the different crime types, I would have thought it would only be
under property crime.
I would have never imaged businesses would have a huge effect in business crimes. When I read
White Collar crimes, I thought of the TV show White Collar. Prior to reading about this, I
didnt think the name White Collar of the show had a meaning.
I have always wondered why there are police vehicles that say highway patrol, unified, or the
name of the city. Knowing that there is a system that is created which has different types of law
enforcement or structure of a level makes more sense to me now when I would see the different
names. I thought I had an understanding of the difference of a highway patrol and a regular city
police officer, but clearly I did not. Now I have the understand of the different in levels that there
is.
I knew the court system had a set way of how they do things but I didnt realize how much goes
into just to get the basics of it. Learning the Wedding Cake model was a greaet way to have a
better understanding.

Chapter Two Causes of Crime

Theory in Criminology
Criminologist: Also known as researchers who study the causes of crime, warn against
using models to predict violent behavior.
Correlation: between two variables means that they tend to vary together.
Causation: that one variable is responsible for the change in the other.
The role of theory is to base the theory on facts that are observed, and experimentations
and the reasoning.
A hypothesis is the created to see if what was observed or found in the research is enough
to prove a point to be valid.
Scientific Method: Observations, Hypothesis, Test, Verification, Theory, Prediction
Multiple theories can be created to be able to find the truth
Exploring the Causes of Crime
Crime and Free Will: Choice theories of crime if there isnt enough evidence to prove
the victim guilt or if found that the defendant has lacked the ability to make ration
choices, then there punishment may not be given as harshly for a crime if they were
norm.
1764, Italian Cesare Beccaria, published his Essays on Crime and Punishments. He
criticized the existing systems of criminal law as irrational and argued that criminal
procedures should be more consistent with human behavior.
 There should be 3 truths:
o All decisions, including the decision to commit a crime, are results of rational
choice.
o Fear of punishment can have deterrent effect on the choice to commit crime.
o More swift and certain punishment is, the ore effective it will be in controlling
crime.
1789, Britains Jeremy Bentham, pronounced Nature has placed man under the
governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.
Bentham felt punishment should have 4 goals:
o To prevent all crime
o When it cannot prevent crime, to assure that a criminal will commit a lesser
crime to avid a harsher punishment.
o To give the criminal an incentive not to arm others in the pursuit of crime
o To prevent crime at the least possible cost to society.
Positivism and Modern Rational Theory
According to Positivism: criminal behavior is determined by biological, psychological,
and social forces and is beyond the control of the individual.
Italian physician Cesare Lombroso, an early adherent of positivism who is known as the
Father of Criminology.
Born Criminal: Biological and psychological theories of Crime
Biological or psychological traits in individuals could incline them toward criminal
behavior given a certain set of circumstances.
Twin Studies: is at the heart of criminologys debate of nurture versus nature.
Questioning, if traits such as aggressiveness and antisocial behavior, both of which often
lea to criminality, a result of a persons environment (Nurture) or her or his
genes(Nature)?
Environment = Nurture
Genes = Nature
The Brain and Crime
Studies of the brain activity has also found a place in criminology.
Neurons(cells in brain) communicate with each other by releasing a chemical of
Neurotransmitters.
Aggressive Behavior can be started with low levels of serotonin and high levels of
norepinephrine.
A strong connection has been found between violent behavior and damage to a part of the
brain know as frontal lobe which is right behind the forehead.
The Chicago School
 Chicago School members Ernest Burgess and Robert Ezra Park, argued that
neighborhood conditions be they of wealth or poverty, had a much greater determinant
effect on criminal behavior than ethnicity, race, or religion.
The study of crime as correlated with social structure revolves around 3 theories:
o Social disorganization theory
o Strain theory
o Cultural deviance theory
Family, Friend, and the Media: Social processes of crime
Social Process Theories function the same basis as Zimbardos Interdependence of
decisions experiment: The potential for criminal behavior exists in everyone.
Social process theory has three main branches:
o Learning Theory
o Control Theory
o Labeling Theory
Further Study: Explaining Criminology
Looking Back to Childhood: Life Course Theories of Crime
Life Course Criminology: believe that lying, stealing, bullying, and other conduct
problems that occur in childhood are the strongest predictors of future criminal behavior
and have been under valued in the examination of why crime occurs.
Self Control Theory
Children with behavioral problems are not solved later in life by positive development.
Continuity theory of crime: once negative behavior patterns have been established, they
cant be changed.
The Possibility of change
Based on Terrie Moffitt, there will be two groups on our life that will help divide the
offenders. You will either have life-course-persistent offenders and adolescent-limited
offenders
Victimology and Victims of Crime
Victimology becomes an essential component of criminology.
Relationships between victims and offenders and the interactions between victims and the
criminal justice system
The Link Between Drugs and Crime
22 million Americans regularly use illegal drugs such as marijuana and cocaine
200 million use legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine
Why do people use drugs?
 o Social Disorganization Theory: cause people to become disaffiliated from
mainstream society
o Subculture Theory: peer pressure
o Control Theory: lack of social control, as provided by entities
What is the consequence for the criminal justice system?
37% prisoners/33% jail inmates are there for violent crime under the influence of alcohol.
I have always wondered if someone who commits a crime has had a troubled life growing up and
could have actually caused the to go that direction in life instead of avoiding crime. It is
interesting to see that there is or can be some part to it in regards to having a troubled childhood.
It is crazy to think how alcohol has been involved in a lot of cases that has caused a person to be
placed in jail or prison. I was surprising to hear that alcohol is considered a drug. Mainly
surprising because if it is illegal then why sell it in stores. When something is illegal my
understanding of it was it shouldnt be sold anywhere. Granted, alcohol is legal to a certain
degree. There are rules to be followed which I think is great to have.
I knew are of an issue that has been on going is with the prescription drugs. Honestly, I would
have never thought that would be abused so much as it is. You would think that those are
mediations give for certain reasons to be able to treat a medical concern for your health but
instead, people rather sell them or even take them away from someone who really needs it. It is
sad to see this be part of a problem we run into.

Chapter 3 Defining and Measuring Crime

Classification of Crime
What are the primary goals of civil law and criminal law?
Civil law resolves a dispute that may happen between a private individual and a business.
In other words when someone is being sued.
Criminal law protects society from any kind of criminal behavior. This is when they go to
a sentencing or court in other words, to find out what the outcome may be.
Burden of proof is much greater in criminal trials than civil ones. Its almost always
Easier to win monetary damages than a criminal conviction.
Felonies and Misdemeanors
Felonies are serious crimes punishable by death or by imprisonment in federal or state
Misdemeanor are crimes punishable b a fine or by confinement for up to a year
Degrees of a crime is determined by a mental state of the offender.
Mala in se and mala prohibita
Mala in Se: criminal act if it is inherently wrong
 Mala Prohibita: criminal act is illegal only because it is prohibited by the laws of a
particular society.
The Uniform Crime Report
Uniform Crime Report (UCR) an annual report complied b the FBI to give an
indication of criminal activity in the United States. FBI collects the data to enter into a
report
o Information on 3 measurements
o Number of persons arrested
o Number of crimes reported
o Number of law enforcement officers
Once information is gathered, FBI presents the crime data two ways:
o As a rate per 100,000 people
o As a percentage change fro the previous year

Criminologist use the following 3 factors most often to be able to explain the changes in
the nations crime rate.
o Imprisonment because the inmates are already in prison or jail
o Youth Population the younger you are the more offenders there can be but as
you grow, you grow out of it.
o Economy- legitimate opportunities to earn income become scarce that some
people have to turn to crime to make a living
Race and Crime -
Worrisome Divergence crime trends between the race. Stated by Professor Fox
Sociologist Robert J. Sampson, discovered, doesnt matter what race you are, a person
would have a higher risk of violent behavior if they live in an area that strikes poverty
that is not organized, or simple there is no parents or adults running the home.
High income citizens are involved in all sorts of criminal activities and are far more
likely to commit white-collar crimes.

I am still stuck on the short example that is given in regards to a man causing an accident and not
being guilty under criminal trials. It was until they took it into a civil court where the man was
found guilty. It is crazy to believe that a person who killed someone wouldnt be found guilty in
the first place. Now knowing there is a difference in civil vs criminal cases makes a lot more
sense as to why I have seen cases not go the direction I thought it was going to go.
With the Mala In Se and Mala Prohibita, you would think this is something to be seen the same
across the board. Knowing that it may vary country to country or even here in the states, is
unbelievable. Something should just be the same everywhere.
There is so much information that is being gathered that goes into the UCR. I was thrown off
guard on a few of the categories there are like Vagrancy which is when someone is begging or
loitering. I guess it is more because of how much I have seen thing. Here in Utah, you have
someone standing at the exit of the freeway or at the entrance/exit of a grocery store asking for
money. Even though it is not as bad as some other states, it upsetting when you have someone
begging for money but then in reality they dont need it, however, the way you find out is
because they are leaving in a nice car or all of a sudden they are healed and can walk.
I do get sad when I hear people blaming others for a crime that was not committed but they are
blamed upon basing it on their race. It is sad that our world still views this as okay when in
reality, it is not.

Chapter 4 Inside Criminal Law

Constitutional Law: Is the law as expressed in these constitutions. The US constitution is
the supreme law of our land.
Tenth Amendment defines the powers and limitation of the federal government, reserves
to the states all powers not granted to the federal government.
Statutory Law: Statutes enacted by legislative bodies at any level of government make up
another source of law
Federal Statutes: are laws that are enacted by the US Congress.
Written Sources of American Criminal Law
The U.S Constitution and the State Constitution
Statuses passed by Congress and State Legislatures
Administrative Agency Regulations
Case Law
Two basic functions of criminal law
First: to protect citizens form harms to their safety and property and from harms that may
be seen as interested to society.
Second: To main train and teach social values as well as social boundaries.
The 4 most important justification criminal defenses
Duress- requires: threat is of serious bodily harm or death, harm is greater than that
caused by the crime, threat is immediate and inescapable, and the defendant is not
evolved and has no fault what so ever.
Justifiable use of Force defense of ones person, dwelling or property, or the prevention
of a crime.
Necessity justifiable if the harm sought to be avoided is greater than that sought to be
prevented by the law defining the offense charged.
Entrapment Criminal action was induced b certain governmental persuasion or trickery.
Going over the Constitutional Law and the Statutory Law, kind of confuses me but I think its
because I keep mixing them up. At the same time, it reminds me of my history professor who
was extremely knowledgeable in regards to our history.
One of the things I question is, why change a law if it is already created or remove it if the law
was helping the country in some certain way. There have been some law that I can see have done
great but then I can see some of the ones that are trying to be removed or changed and it doesnt
help.
There was an explain given in the book about how burning the American flag is unconstitutional
because the flag resembles ones right to freedom of expression. On social media you see how
often or when the flag is being burned for no legit reason. I think we do need rules or laws better
said, but even if we do, it is kay to just repeat itself.
Chapter 5 Law Enforcement Today
A police office is responsible of 4 basic things
To enforce laws holding everyone accountable for what they do.
To provide services believing in their motto To Serve and Protect. Helping the
community and perform numerous services.
To prevent crime Issue stricter laws and severe penalties.
To preserve the peace police officers have the right to be able to remove someone from
the premises even if they have not done anything however, if the officer feels something
will happen, then they can.
The Political Era
Patronage System also know as Spoils System
Corruption lasted from 1840 1930
Police officers didnt get paid good, and started to see opportunities to make more money
doing illegal things.
The Patronage System was the corruption that stared and officers, keeping the money
they would make on the side from favors.

Recruitment and Training: Becoming a Police Officer

Minimum requirements:
o At least 21 but not older than 45 years old
o Few places will take you after 45 years old
o Meet weight and eyesight requirements
o No felony, Be a US Citizen, be able to drive.
Police Academy: controlled environment where the police officers learn the basics of
policing from instructors in classroom.
 Field training: happens in real life or real world. They go on patrol with an experienced
police officer.

I think anyone in law enforcement should stay true to what they do and what they believe in. If
that involves helping people out that you may not get along with then you might be in the wrong
field, in my personal view. I dont believe the job of an officer is easy at all. I know they are
putting their life on the line to be there for someone else. I know not everyone in this world is the
same and easy going to be able to talk to or now. However, I do believe everyone deserves to be
treated equally. As much as I hate to say this but not everyone is treated equally and not all law
enforcement treats everyone equally.
It is incredible that back in the day during the Political Era, a system was able to get created on
how to do illegal activities and make money on the side. It kind of reminds me of what goes on
in Mexico with the Cartel and how some of the police officers are involved. It is sad to see that
this started or the system itself was created over 100 years ago and here we are now where you
can still see this happen in some parts of the world.
I knew there was a difference from the training to being in the field. However, the requirements
that is needed to become a police officer or to join in other words are intense. I didnt know that
part was going to be that intense. However, it is good that it is since as a police officer you have
to be ready for anything to happen.
It is kind of weird to thing how time has gone by so fast but at the same time it hasnt. It was just
in the 70s that the United States Supreme Court has ruled discrimination by law enforcement
agencies violates federal law.