W10 - CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Lecture outline
CONTEXT: Distinctive place and form of crim justice within leg. Syst.
DEVELOPMENT: in the crim. Just. System.
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES: Differences in our system to other ones around the
world.
The role or function of criminal justice
The proscription of certain wrongs or harms representing seen as of such importance
that they call for a public response not an individual one.
Maintain civil order.
Protect vulnerable.
Defend rights.
NB: no distinction between civil and crim law in early legal systems: association of
emergence of crim. Law with that of the state. Crim. Law as a form of public law,
playing a central part in business of democratic governance.
The distinctive model of criminal justice
Quasi-moral mode:
o Crime as a serious wrong/unjustified harm
o Punishment as deserved, expressing a strong evaluation of culpability for
wrongful conduct (e.g. homicide, rape, assault).
Regulatory mode:
o Crime as socially harmful or costly so discouraged,
o Punishment as attaching costs to this conduct to reduce it or deter it, by
incapicating the offender, or by reforming or rehabilitating the offender, e.g.
taking driving license, drug offences, regulatory offences.
Distinctive institutional framework for criminal justice within legal systems in England and
Wales
Crown Prosecution Service,
Criminal courts,
Specialist criminal bar,
Police,
Probation,
Prison,
Distinctive rules of evidence, procedure and proof.
, Conditions for the effective operation of criminal justice systems
Adequate staff and funds
Well-functioning criminal justice institutions
Adequate levels of trust and perceived legitimacy and efficacy of:
o Criminal law,
o Institutions which define and enforce it:
Politicians
Police officers,
Judges,
Police officers,
Probation officers,
Prison officers.
These conditions, especially trust and perceived legitimacy, also to resources and
personnel, apply not only to the criminal justice system but also to the broader
systems in which it is nested:
o Political,
o Wider legal,
o Economic – e.g. impact of economic inequality?
o Social systems – e.g. an adequate level of social cohesion?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE CONSEQUENCES ARENT FULFILLED?
o Rising crime,
o Difficulties of enforcement (e.g. insufficient resources so weak enforcement,
and insufficient trust leading to withdrawal of cooperation and voluntary
compliance)
o Emergence of alternative forms of social ordering e.g. community self help,
legal pluralism.
o Diminishing trust and perceived legitimacy,
o Vicious circle of all of the above (and more factors!)
Case study: English Riots 2011 (and cf. the gilets jaunes in France)
4th Aug 2011 the police shot, killed 29 YO man Mark Duggan who they thought had a
gun.
Operation planned as part of Operation Trident which investigated gang crime in NE
London in Tottenham.
8th Jan 2014 Jury at the RCJ concluded he was lawfully killed.
6th Aug 2011 protest held at Broadwater Farm Police station.
Family and friends demand justice from police.
Protest was violent and spread in London.
7th Aug 2011 riots in even Bham Manny and Nottingham i.e. North England.
Significant damages: five died, 16 injured, £200 million in property damages
15th Aug over 3k arrests and over 1k of crim charges.
Over 90% of cases sentenced at crown court meant jail terms compared with
average custodial sentence of 46%
Lecture outline
CONTEXT: Distinctive place and form of crim justice within leg. Syst.
DEVELOPMENT: in the crim. Just. System.
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES: Differences in our system to other ones around the
world.
The role or function of criminal justice
The proscription of certain wrongs or harms representing seen as of such importance
that they call for a public response not an individual one.
Maintain civil order.
Protect vulnerable.
Defend rights.
NB: no distinction between civil and crim law in early legal systems: association of
emergence of crim. Law with that of the state. Crim. Law as a form of public law,
playing a central part in business of democratic governance.
The distinctive model of criminal justice
Quasi-moral mode:
o Crime as a serious wrong/unjustified harm
o Punishment as deserved, expressing a strong evaluation of culpability for
wrongful conduct (e.g. homicide, rape, assault).
Regulatory mode:
o Crime as socially harmful or costly so discouraged,
o Punishment as attaching costs to this conduct to reduce it or deter it, by
incapicating the offender, or by reforming or rehabilitating the offender, e.g.
taking driving license, drug offences, regulatory offences.
Distinctive institutional framework for criminal justice within legal systems in England and
Wales
Crown Prosecution Service,
Criminal courts,
Specialist criminal bar,
Police,
Probation,
Prison,
Distinctive rules of evidence, procedure and proof.
, Conditions for the effective operation of criminal justice systems
Adequate staff and funds
Well-functioning criminal justice institutions
Adequate levels of trust and perceived legitimacy and efficacy of:
o Criminal law,
o Institutions which define and enforce it:
Politicians
Police officers,
Judges,
Police officers,
Probation officers,
Prison officers.
These conditions, especially trust and perceived legitimacy, also to resources and
personnel, apply not only to the criminal justice system but also to the broader
systems in which it is nested:
o Political,
o Wider legal,
o Economic – e.g. impact of economic inequality?
o Social systems – e.g. an adequate level of social cohesion?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE CONSEQUENCES ARENT FULFILLED?
o Rising crime,
o Difficulties of enforcement (e.g. insufficient resources so weak enforcement,
and insufficient trust leading to withdrawal of cooperation and voluntary
compliance)
o Emergence of alternative forms of social ordering e.g. community self help,
legal pluralism.
o Diminishing trust and perceived legitimacy,
o Vicious circle of all of the above (and more factors!)
Case study: English Riots 2011 (and cf. the gilets jaunes in France)
4th Aug 2011 the police shot, killed 29 YO man Mark Duggan who they thought had a
gun.
Operation planned as part of Operation Trident which investigated gang crime in NE
London in Tottenham.
8th Jan 2014 Jury at the RCJ concluded he was lawfully killed.
6th Aug 2011 protest held at Broadwater Farm Police station.
Family and friends demand justice from police.
Protest was violent and spread in London.
7th Aug 2011 riots in even Bham Manny and Nottingham i.e. North England.
Significant damages: five died, 16 injured, £200 million in property damages
15th Aug over 3k arrests and over 1k of crim charges.
Over 90% of cases sentenced at crown court meant jail terms compared with
average custodial sentence of 46%
