Criminal Justice Process

Midterm Study Guide

According to lecture, what does “doing justice” require? Consider that one of the things it does not require is reducing the amount of crime in society (crime reduction is a different goal, arguably pursued more effectively by institutions and policies lying outside of the criminal justice system).

What is the formal or legal definition of crime? What is the social science definition of crime? What is the difference between instrumental and expressive crimes as identified by William Chambliss? What are the two forms of criminal law? What is actus reus? What is mens rea? What are the common excuses for mens rea? What are the principles underpinning Western-style criminal law? What is intent? What is the difference between intentional and purposeful behavior? What are the different levels of culpability in intentional wrong doing?

What do we mean when we say that the rationale and application of the criminal law usually reflects the narrow interests of powerful groups? Be prepared to give or identify examples.

What are the several types of deterrence? What is deterrence? When is it said to have occurred? In studying the degree to which crime prevention works, what are the types of questions analysts ask? What are some of the problems with deterrence theory?

The criminal justice system is designed to arrest, prosecute, convict, and punish those who disobey the law. What principles and protections constrain these objectives? Know the relevant amendments of the Bill of Rights. (As a US citizen you should know these by heart already!) How might you use these amendments when engaged with police and other aspects of the criminal justice system? Do you have the right to refuse searches? Do you have the right to remain silent? Do you have a right to an attorney?

Familiarize yourself with Richard Quinney’s social reality of crime model and attendant propositions. Be prepared to give or identify examples. According to Quinney, what is the definition of crime? Is crime inherent in behavior? Also, familiarize yourself with my model of the social/historical reality of crime I adapted from the work of Quinney and others.

According to Kappeler, Blumberg, and Potter, in “Crime Waves, Crime Fears, and the Social Reality of Crime,” did America experience a major crime within the past thirty years? What explains the large prison population in the United States relative to other societies? What do the crime statistics show that we reviewed in class?

According to Kappeler, Blumberg, and Potter, authors of “The Social Construction of Crime Myths,” what are techniques the mass media uses to create crime myths? According to Robert Bohm’s research, presented in the Kappeler et al. reading, what do studies of media coverage of crime find?

Joseph Goldstein, in his article on police discretion not to invoke the criminal process, develops three concepts related to the extent of law enforcement. What are they? What are impediments to implementing total and full enforcement? According to Goldstein, does trading enforcement for information (for examples in the enforcement of narcotics law) effectively reduce the deterrent effect of law enforcement? Technically speaking, are police officially delegated all the discretion they employ on the streets?

According to Jerome Skolnick, the working personality of the typical police officer is based on what two characteristic features? In discussing the California F-Scale and similar personality tests, how does Skolnick prefer to characterize the police officer’s working personality? Is it an authoritarian personality or a conventional (or conservative) personality?

What is the general principle of relationship between social organization and the emergence/intensity of the policing and analogous mechanisms identified in class?

Policing in the United States grew out of the British system, which (ideally) emphasized three principles. What are they? Know the history of the development of the modern police force. What is the frankpledge system and when did it exist? What is the constable-watch or constabulary system and when did it exist? When were the first true police forces organized? Who is Robert Peel? What were Robert Peel’s system ideals? What were the terms of the mandate Peel issued to his officers?

Know the three eras of policing in United States history. What is the U.S. Political Era, its time frame, and what was its character in the Northeast, South, and West? What were the features of the Progressive Era? How did this movement impact policing? What is the Professional Era? When did it occur?  Who were August Vollmer and O.W. Wilson? What innovations did they promote? What were key reforms in policing implemented during the Professional Era? What are the six principles that emerged during the Professional Era of U.S. policing? What were some problems with policing in the Professional Era? What is the Community Era? Does the emergence of the Community Era mean that the Professional Era is over? 

What are the main functions of the police? Of these, which get the most public attention, despite accounting for a small proportion of police time and resources?  What is the policing process, what we identified in class as Subsystem I? What are problems with police statistics? Is crime rising or falling?

What are the major features of Subsystem II, i.e. prosecution and pretrial services?  What is charging? What is initial appearance? What is a writ of habeas corpus? What is a preliminary hearing? What is a grand jury? Do all states have grand juries? What is information? Arraignment? What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?

Malcolm M Feeley, in “The Process is the Punishment,” finds that defendants are more concerned with how quickly they can get out of court rather than being arrested in the first place. Why? What are elements of the criminal justice process that punish without a finding of guilt?

What do we mean when we say that the United States has a dual court system? What is the importance of the appeal process? What it is designed to do? What is the doctrine of stare decisis?  What do we mean when we say “common law”? What is judicial review? Can all courts do it? What is jury nullification? What does jurisdiction mean? In which courts do decisions make precedent throughout the country? What is a venue? What is double jeopardy? When does it apply?

Martin Levin, in “The Criminal Courts,” identifies two types of cities: (1) the traditional, administrative decision-making model; (2) the reform, judicial decision-making model. What are the examples he uses? What does he find different about these two examples? How does it impact the criminal justice process?

Samuel Walker et al, in “Race and Sentencing,” identify three traditional explanations for racial disparities in sentencing in the literature they examined. What are these? What is the alternative view they advance called? According to Walker et al, is it true that the harshest penalties are meted out to blacks who victimize whites? If so, what, in their view, does this signify?