Introduction to Criminal Justice Worksheet

Introduction to Criminal Justice Define these key terms: 1. Alternative sentence Sentence served in treatment facility or in community service; it is not served in jail 2. Appellate courts They are the courts that hear appeals from trial courts or other lower courts 3. Conflict perspective Views crime as one outcome of a struggle among different groups competing for resources in their society 4. Consensus perspective View of crime that sees laws as the product of social agreement or consensus about what criminal behavior is 5. Corrections Systematic, organized effort by society to punish offenders, protect the public, and change offender’s behavior 6. Crime control model Model of the criminal justice system that emphasis the efficient arrest and processing of alleged criminal offenders 7. Crime prevention Taking measures to prevent crime before it happens/ measures taken to reduce the opportunity for crime commission by individuals predisposed to such 8. Criminal justice system Interdependent actors and agencies(law enforcement agencies/ courts/ correctional system/ victim services) at local, state, and federal levels of government that deal with crime 9. Deviance Violation of a norm 10. Due process model Model of the criminal justice system that emphasis individual rights at all stages of the justice process 11. Federal courts System in which federal crimes are prosecuted consisting of district, appellate, or circuit courts and the US Supreme Court 12. Mala in se Behavior categorized as morally wrong (evil in itself) 13. Mala prohibita Statutory crime that reflects public opinion at a moment in time 14. Moral panic Group reaction based on exaggerated or false perceptions about crime and criminal behavior 15. Norm Rule that makes clear what behavior is appropriate and expected in a particular situation 16. Parole Early release from prison conditional on complying with certain standards while free 17. Probation Alternative to jail or prison in which offender remains in community under court supervision usually within caseload of a probation officer 18. Sanctions Prescribed consequences intended to reinforce people’s conformity to norms 19. Secondary victims Family and friends of an individual who has been victimized 20. Social norm Rule that specifies how people are expected to behave 21. State courts Systems in which state crimes are prosecuted/ includes both trial and appellate courts 22. Statutory crime Act that is criminal because it is prohibited by law 23. Victim advocate Professional who assists the victim during the post victimization period 24. Victim impact statement Victim’s written statement usually in presentence report about how the experience affected him or her. Some judges ask the victims to read this statement in open court prior to sentencing. 25. Victim services Range of resources(like shelters/ housing/ 24hr. hotlines/counseling) aimed at reducing the suffering and facilitating the recovery of victims especially those who participate in the criminal justice process 26. Wedding cake model Explanation of the workings of the criminal justice system that shows how cases get filtered according to the seriousness of the offense Review Questions: 1. Explain the difference between things that against the law and things that are just deviant. Be sure to give an example of each. Things that are just deviant do not break formal, written laws; instead they break informal social norms that people just naturally know. Being deviant to a social norm is like burping in public. People know not to burp in public, and when someone does it, they are looked at. On the other hand, things that are against the law break formal, written rules. There is a written law against theft. If this law is broke then the criminal justice system becomes involved. Things that are just deviant might have social repercussions, but if it is against the law it involves the criminal justice system and larger consequences. 2. What is the difference between social norms and legal norms? Social norms are how people are expected to behave. They are not written down, but common people know what they are and follow them. In contrast, legal norms are written down. When legal norms are not followed, the criminal justice system becomes involved. 3. Explain the difference between crimes that are mala prohibita and mala in se. Give an example of each. Crimes that are mala in se are crimes that are morally wrong. This is meaning that certain crimes would be wrong in whatever context they happened in whether there was a formal law against it or not. Mala prohibita crimes are actions that are criminal just because they have a law forbidding them. They are also known as statutory crimes. Mala prohibita crimes change with the opinion of society, while mala in se crimes are forever morally wrong. 4. Compare and contrast the consensus perspective and the conflict perspective. The consensus perspective is where laws are the product of social agreement that certain values and behaviors are different from those of the average population. This is the perspective where since the average population thinks stealing is wrong, they make it a crime. In contrast, the conflict perspective thinks that laws are made by the people who have the political and economic power within the society. This perspective is where crimes are made crimes because it benefits certain people to make acts criminal. An example of this would be a governor making a law where each citizen had to pay him a certain amount of money each year. The governor has the power and he made it illegal not to pay him so he benefits from this law. 5. Sanctions are consequences of crime. Give three examples of what might be a sanction. There are many different kinds of sanctions. If the crime is very small, the sanction could be to pay a fine. If it is larger crime, you could be incarcerated. Some very serious crimes constitute the sanction of execution in some states. 6. What are the three components of the criminal justice system? What are the responsibilities/goal s of each? The three main components of the criminal justice system are the judiciary (courts), law enforcement, and corrections. Law enforcement has a wide range of responsibilities. They do anything from educating people about crime and prevention to responding to calls from citizens. Law enforcement is where the process of administering justice starts. Both the federal and state levels have courts. The courts are where the cases go to decide if a case has enough evidence, and then they decide if a person is innocent or guilty. If a person does not like the court’s ruling, it can be appealed in appellate court. The highest court of the land is the Supreme Court. Ultimately, courts decide guilt and what type of punishment is reasonable for the criminal. Corrections is the area of the criminal justice system where the offender is punished. They could be punished with alternative sentences or jail. 7. What are victim services? Victim services are certain resources and agencies that are especially for victims of crime. Victim services include shelters for them to go to, counseling for them to come to grips with what happened and help them understand what is going to happen, and 24 hour hotlines for them to call if they need help. Victim services may help them write a victim impact statement or introduce them to a victim’s advocate. All in all, victim’s services are to help them suffer less and help with their recovery. 8. What is the importance of allowing victim impact statements? The importance of allowing victims impact statements is to show the jury how a criminal has affected someone else’s life because of their wrong doing. This can help the prosecutor’s case against a defendant. 9. Describe the criminal justice funnel. The criminal justice funnel shows a model of how many crimes are committed to how many people are actually incarcerated for the crimes. There might be a large number of crimes, but not all can be tried because it would overload the system. The funnel shows how cases are filtered out of the system. Some cases are thrown out, while in others the criminal is just put on probation. For every 1,000 crimes, after the cases are filtered, only about 25 are incarcerated. Every other case was somehow filtered out of the system. 10. Explain what is meant by the criminal justice wedding cake. Describe each layer and give an example of each. The criminal justice wedding cake helps to tell why some cases are funneled out of the system. The wedding cake has 4 tiers. The bottom tier, or layer 4, is the misdemeanors or infractions. This is the majority of all cases. These crimes only carry less than 1 year of incarceration or an alternative sentence. On the next level, layer 3, are the lesser felonies. These crimes are quickly filtered out too. On layer 2 is the serious felonies. This layer includes crimes like rape and murder, and criminals that have colorful pasts. The top layer is for the celebrated crimes. These are like the cases of serial killers that draw media attention. 11. Compare and contrast the crime control model and the due process model. The crime control model pushes for crime to be responded to quickly and to be reduced. It wants this so that the crime will be out of the public and that it can keep order. On the other hand, the due process model pushes for the individual’s rights. They follow the saying innocent until proven guilty. Advocates of this model are worried about the rights of an individual who is going through the criminal justice than the public being ridded of crime. 12. List and explain the four influences on the CJ system. Fear of Crime: People’s fears of crime be based off of many things like age, gender, or if you have been victimized before. It is good to a point to fear crime, but most of the time it turns irrational and influences society and crime policies, which ultimately affects the criminal justice system. Media Coverage: Media coverage usually affects a person’s fear of crime. The media focuses more on serious, violent crime that is less common and exaggerates it which makes people fear it more. As said before a person’s fear of crime can affect policies, but it can also affect their political standings. Politics: The criminal justice system is within the political system. The political system could influence the criminal justice system by making how much money is given to help the criminal justice system dependent on whether or not it follows and complies with certain things. Discrimination: The criminal justice system has had rules that were discriminatory to people of color. This could have an influence on the system because more people of that race would be going through the system than other races. It could even make it seem that the system was trying to attack that race of people. 13. Explain the global and domestic challenges to the CJ system. The global challenges of the criminal justice system are mainly related to the internet and trafficking. Since the internet is able to connect people across the world, it is easier for global crimes to arise. This creates the job of monitoring the internet for any crimes that are occurring there. Another global challenge is trafficking. There are illegal items like drugs and weapons brought across the borders all the time. This has to be carefully monitored by border police to try and keep the traffic of illegal goods coming into the United States low. Two big issues domestically are high population prisons and the mentally ill. Since there are many criminals going to jail, the prisons have population increases. The criminal justice system has the challenge of trying to figure out what to do with all the inmates whether it is building more prisons or starting more reintegration programs. The other domestic issue is mental illness. There are many mentally ill patients that are in regular prison not receiving the proper care or they have been let back into the common population. Again the system has to figure out if they need to implement more programs for these people or try to figure out if there is a better way to help them.