Unit 4 miss
johannes
Describe models of criminal justice
Two models of criminal justice
In 1968 herbert packer, an american professor of law and criminology, described two
contrasting sets of values which shape the way criminal justice systems work. He sums these
up in the two opposed models of justice:
● The crime control model of justice
● The due process model of justice
The crime control model
● Crime is a threat to people's freedom and so the goal of the crime control model is the
suppression of crime. It prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and
preventing them from committing further crime.
● The model starts from a presumption of guilt. It trusts the police to be able to identify
those who are probably guilty through their investigations and interrogations.
● Police should be free from unnecessary legal technicalities that prevent them
investigating crime.
● Once the ‘probably guilty’ are identified, it favours a conveyor belt or assembly line
justice system that speedily prosecutes, convicts and punishes them.
● It argues that if a few innocent people are occasionally convicted by mistake, this is a
price worth paying for convicting a large number of guilty people.
● It emphasises the rights of society and victims to be protected from crime, rather than
the right of suspects.
Q- what sort of legal technicalities might supporters of the crime control model want to remove
so that the police can investigate more effectively?
Technicalities such as needing a warrant to enter a suspect's house as well as only being able
to hold a suspect for so long before they have to release them.
The due process model
● The power of the state is the greatest threat to the individual’s freedom and so the goal
of the due process model is to protect the accused from oppression by the state and its
agents. They include the police, prosecution, judges.
● The model starts from a presumption of innocence. The accused is innocent until proven
guilty after a fair trial.
● It has less faith in the police’s ability to conduct satisfactory investigations,
incompetence, dishonesty etc. mean that suspects and defendants rights need to be
safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trials must follow.
These include rules about arrest, questioning, legal representation, admissibility and
disclosure of evidence, cross examination of witnesses, no secret trial etc.
johannes
Describe models of criminal justice
Two models of criminal justice
In 1968 herbert packer, an american professor of law and criminology, described two
contrasting sets of values which shape the way criminal justice systems work. He sums these
up in the two opposed models of justice:
● The crime control model of justice
● The due process model of justice
The crime control model
● Crime is a threat to people's freedom and so the goal of the crime control model is the
suppression of crime. It prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and
preventing them from committing further crime.
● The model starts from a presumption of guilt. It trusts the police to be able to identify
those who are probably guilty through their investigations and interrogations.
● Police should be free from unnecessary legal technicalities that prevent them
investigating crime.
● Once the ‘probably guilty’ are identified, it favours a conveyor belt or assembly line
justice system that speedily prosecutes, convicts and punishes them.
● It argues that if a few innocent people are occasionally convicted by mistake, this is a
price worth paying for convicting a large number of guilty people.
● It emphasises the rights of society and victims to be protected from crime, rather than
the right of suspects.
Q- what sort of legal technicalities might supporters of the crime control model want to remove
so that the police can investigate more effectively?
Technicalities such as needing a warrant to enter a suspect's house as well as only being able
to hold a suspect for so long before they have to release them.
The due process model
● The power of the state is the greatest threat to the individual’s freedom and so the goal
of the due process model is to protect the accused from oppression by the state and its
agents. They include the police, prosecution, judges.
● The model starts from a presumption of innocence. The accused is innocent until proven
guilty after a fair trial.
● It has less faith in the police’s ability to conduct satisfactory investigations,
incompetence, dishonesty etc. mean that suspects and defendants rights need to be
safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trials must follow.
These include rules about arrest, questioning, legal representation, admissibility and
disclosure of evidence, cross examination of witnesses, no secret trial etc.
