Chapter 1: Crime and the Problem of Social Control

Multiple Goals of the CJS

1) Deterrence - specific general 2) Incapacitation - usually incarceration 3) Retribution - need for justice 4) Rehabilitation - still controversial 5) Restoration - repairing relationships

Deterrence

Act or the threat of an act that inhibits or prevents another act

Crime

Action taken by a person or a group of people that violates the rules of society to the point that someone is harmed or society's interests are harmed

Restorative Justice

An alternative justice model that uses community programs to repair the harm done by offenders

Rehabilitation

Correcting the offender's behavior and giving him or her the skills and ability to survive in society without violating the law

Bailiff

Court officer responsible for executing writs and processes, making arrests, and keeping order in the court

LO4: Define crime and criminal justice

Crime is an action taken by a person or a group of people that violates the rules of society to the point that someone is harmed or society's interests are harmed. Criminal justice is a social institution that has the mission of controlling crime by detecting, detaining, adjudicating, and punishing and/or rehabilitating people who break the law.

LO5: Talk about the importance of discretion

Discretion is the power to make decisions on issues within legal guidelines. Criminal justice practitioners exercise considerable discretion in deciding what happens to individual cases. This discretion is sometimes deemed problematic, and the influence of individual decision makers is curbed. Some discretion is inherent in the criminal justice system, but its use is contested. Each level of government and each agency has its own powers of discretion.

Circuit

District established within a state judicial system or the federal judicial system

Crime as a Social Responsibility

Family, religion, schools, media, the institution of last resort, and individual vs societal responsibility for crime

LO3: Understanding society's two broad ways of controlling crime

Formal crime control refers to the legal controls imposed by the law and carried out by official organizations. Informal crime control refers to the moral rule and norms prescribed by unofficial groups, such as the family, religions, and peer groups.

War On Drugs

Governmental policy aimed at reducing the sale and use of illegal drugs

Misdemeanor

Minor criminal offense punishable by a fine and/or jail time for up to one year

White-Collar Crime

Nonviolent criminal offense committed during the course of business for financial gain.

Felony

Offense punishable by a sentence of more than a year in state or federal prison and sometimes by death

Sheriff

Official of a county or parish who primarily carries out judicial duties

Discretion

Power of a criminal justice official to make decisions on issues within legal guidelines 1. cost 2. discretion 3. errors

Socialization

Process by which individuals acquire a personal identity and learn the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to their society

Sentence

Punishment that a person convicted of a criminal offense is ordered by a judge to receive

Retribution

Punishment that is considered to be deserved

Social Control

Rules, habits, and customs a society use to enforce conformity to its norms

Street Crime

Small-scale, person offenses such as single-victim homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, and vandalism

LO9: Explain why the criminal justice system is the institution of last resort

Social control in a democratic society is complicated, and the criminal justice stem is the institution of last resort. The family, religion, school, and the media exert a tremendous amount of influence over individual behavior. When these institutions fail to develop law-abiding citizens, the criminal justice system must deal with the consequences.

LO1: Discuss social control and the importance of socialization

Social control is the rules, habits, and customs a society uses to enforce conformity to its norms. Socialization is a process by which individuals acquire a personal identity and learn the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to their society. To live with other people, individuals must curb their appetites, ambitions, and desires. People who are inadequately socialized not only fail to contribute to society, but also can become so problematic that society believes they must be confined, exiled, or, in extremely rare cases, eliminated. How these decisions are made is the purview of the criminal justice systems.

Criminal Justice

Social institution that has the mission of controlling crime by detecting, detaining, adjudicating, and punishing and/or rehabilitating people who are break the law

Prison

State or federal institution that confines people convicted of crime who are serving sentences for longer than a year

Probation

Suspension of all or part of a sentence subject to certain conditions and supervision in the community

The Approach of this Text

The Mainstream: traditional uses and concerns The Crosscurrents: .....page 27

The Media on Social Control

The News Hollywood The Internet

LO2: Outline how the U.S. criminal justice system protects individual rights

The U.S. criminal justice system protects individual rights as an integral part of the functioning of law enforcement. By protecting the rights of marginal individuals, the US demonstrates respect for both people and laws. Keeping citizens safe doesn't require that they lose their constitutional rights. The government serves citizens' interests by finding methods to control crime without allowing law enforcement agencies to turn the nation into a police state.

LO7: List and briefly explain the five basic goals of the criminal justice system

The five basic goals of the criminal justice system are deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. Two types of deterrence are important to the criminal just ice systems: specific and general. Incapacitation entails removing the offender's ability to break the law. Retribution, punishment that is considered to be deserved, is considered by many to be one of the most important goals of the criminal justice system. Rehabilitation involves correcting the offender's behavior and giving him/her the skills and ability to survive in society without violating the law. The goal of restorative justice is to repair the harm crime has done to the relationship between the offender and victim and between the offender and the community.

Sociological Imagination

The idea that we must look beyond the obvious to evaluate how our social location influences how we perceive society

LO6: Explain the relationship between local, state, and cereal levels of criminal justice.

The lines of authority and distinction between local, state, and federal agencies are not always clear and sometimes must be negotiated according to the politics of the case. Responsibilities are spread unevenly across different levels of government. Each state has a different configuration of political jurisdictions. State-level law enforcement functions are usually confined to specialized missions. Federal-level law enforcement functions include a wide range of agencies responsible for enforcing derail laws and assisting state and local governments.

The Institution of Last Resort

The offender, resources, structure

LO8: Describe the role that social institutions other than the criminal justice system play in social control

The primary institution of socialization in society is the family. Families must transmit the expectations of behavior society and provide an emotionally secure and supportive environment. Although many people do not attend religious services, most people in the US have ben exposed to some sort of religious instruction that has influenced the way they think about dealing with others. As institutions, schools are a powerful force in socializing children into the culturally approved ways of interacting with other people. The way the media treats crime influences how we think about it and react to it.

Arrest

When law enforcement drains and holds a criminal suspect or suspects

Appeal

Written request to a higher court to modify or reverse the judgment of a trial court or intermediate-level appellate court