Article: Criminal justice

Criminal justice refers to the system used by government to maintain social control, enforce laws, and administer justice. Law enforcement (police), courts, and corrections are the primary agencies charged with these responsibilities. The pursuit of criminal justice, like all forms of "justice", "fairness" or "process", essentially the pursuit of an ideal.

History of criminal justice

Main article: History of criminal justice

The modern criminal justice system has evolved since ancient times, with new forms of punishment, added rights for offenders and victims, and policing reforms. These developments have reflected changing customs, political ideals, and economic conditions. In ancient times through the Middle Ages, exile was a common form of punishment. During the Middle ages, payment to the victim (or their family), known as Wergild, was another common punishment, including for violent crimes. For those who could not afford to buy their way out of punishment, harsh penalties included various forms of corporal punishment. These included mutilation, branding, and flogging, as well execution.

Though a prison, Le Stinche, existed as early as the 14th century in Florence, Italy ^[1], incarceration was not widely used until the 19th century. Correctional reform in the United States was first initiated by William Penn, towards the end of the 17th century. For a time, Pennsylvania's criminal code was revised to forbid torture and other forms of cruel punishment, with jails and prisons replacing corporal punishment. These reforms were reverted, upon Penn's death in 1718. Under pressure from a group of Quakers, these reforms were revived in Pennsylvania toward the end of the 18th century, and led to a marked drop in Pennsylvania's crime rate.

The first police force was established in London in 1829, by Sir Robert Peel, with police departments established in Boston in 1838, and New York City in 1844. Early on, police were not respected by the community, as corruption was rampant. In the 1920s, led by Berkeley, California police chief, August Vollmer, police began to professionalize, adopt new technologies, and place emphasis on training. Despite such reforms, police agencies were led by highly autocratic leaders, and there remained a lack of respect between police and the community. Following urban unrest in the 1960s, police placed more emphasis on community relations, and enacted reforms such as increased diversity in hiring. In the 1990s, CompStat was developed by the New York Police Department as an information-based system for tracking and mapping crime patterns and trends, and holding police accountable for dealing with crime problems. CompStat, and other forms of information-led policing, have since been replicated in police departments across the United States and around the world.

Concepts

Rights

One question which is presented by the idea of creating justice involves balancing the rights of victims and the rights of accused criminals, and how these individual rights are related to one another and to social control. It is generally argued that victim's and defendant's rights are inversely related, and individual rights, as a whole, are likewise viewed as inversely related to social control. Rights, of course, imply responsibilities or duties, and this in turn requires a great deal of consensus in the community regarding the appropriate definitions for many of these legal terms.

Theories

There are several basic theories regarding criminal justice and its relation to individual rights and social control:

• Restorative justice assumes that the victim or their heirs or neighbors can be in some way restored to a condition "just as good as" before the criminal incident. Substantially it builds on traditions in common law and tort law that requires all who commit wrong to be penalized. In recent time these penalties that restorative justice advocates have included community service, restitution, and alternatives to imprisonment that keep the offender active in the community, and re-socialized him into society. Some suggest that it is a weak way to punish criminals who must be deterred. These critics are often proponents of retributive justice.
• Retributive justice or the "eye for an eye" approach. Assuming that the victim or their heirs or neighbors have the right to do to the offender what was done to the victim. These ideas fuel support for capital punishment for murder, amputation for theft (as in some versions of the sharia).
• Psychiatric imprisonment treats crime nominally as illness, and assumes that it can be treated by psychotherapy, drugs, and other techniques associated with psychiatry and medicine, but in forcible confinement. It is more commonly associated with crime that does not appear to have animal emotion or human economic motives, nor even any clear benefit to the offender, but has idiosyncratic characteristics that make it hard for society to comprehend, thus hard to trust the individual if released into society.
• Transformative justice does not assume that there is any reasonable comparison between the lives of victims nor offenders before and after the incident. It discourages such comparisons and measurements, and emphasizes the trust of the society in each member, including trust in the offender not to re-offend, and of the victim (or heirs) not to avenge.

In addition, there are models of criminal justice systems which try to explain how these institutions achieve justice:

• The Consensus Model argues that the organizations of a criminal justice system do, or should, cooperate.
• The Conflict Model assumes that the organizations of a criminal justice system do, or should, compete.

Criminal justice system

The criminal justice system consists of law enforcement (police), courts, and corrections.

Law enforcement

While the police work towards crime prevention, they are also involved with crime control, and handle cases initially when crime occurs. The police will conduct a crime investigation, gather evidence, and identifying suspect(s). The first contact the offender has with the criminal justice system is with the police who make the arrest. Probable cause is necessary for the police to make an arrest, and take the suspect into custody. The suspect undergoes booking, a process which may involve fingerprinting, taking mugshots, and interrogation.

Courts

Given sufficient evidence, the case will be handed over to the prosecutor who may then file a complaint. The case will then go before a grand jury in a preliminary hearing. If the grand jury finds probable cause, the suspect will be arraigned with formal charges filed, and bail set. Following the arraignment, plea bargaining may occur with the suspect pleading guilty in exchange for a more lenient sentence. Otherwise, the case will move forward to trial. If the defendant is found guilty, disposition is the next step with the sentencing determined. The case may then be appealed at higher courts.

Corrections

Offenders are then turned over to the correctional authorities. The offender may be sentenced to probation, incarceration in a prison or jail, community supervision, or some other form of sentencing.

Probation

Probation involves a contract between the offender and the court, that allows the offender to remain in the community under promises of good behavior and to adhere to conditions set forth by the court.

Alternative sanctions

Other possible sanctions, short of incarceration, include fines, forfeiture, restitution, and community corrections (e.g. residence in a halfway house).

Incarceration

Prisons are the primary type of institution for housing offenders, convicted of felonies. In the United States, prisons are operated by the state and Federal government.

Prisons are not synonymous with jails, which are detention facilities run by local jurisdictions, including county and municipal governments. Jails are used to detain suspects prior to trial, if they are ineligible or cannot afford bond. Jails also house offenders convicted of misdemeanors, with short sentences (usually, a year or less).

In the United States, separate facilities are used to house male and female offenders, as well as juvenile offenders. Prisons also have varying levels of security, ranging from minimum-security prisons that mainly house non-violent offenders, medium-security facilities, and maximum-security prisons for potentially dangerous inmates.

Upon serving the sentence or through parole, the offender is then released into the community.

Capital punishment

Main article: Capital punishment

In some countries, sanctions beyond incarceration include execution.

Educational programs

Criminal justice is distinct from the field of criminology, which involves the study of crime as a social phenomena, causes of crime, criminal behavior, and other aspects of crime. Criminal justice is related to other disciplines, including anthropology, criminology, economics, history, law, political science, psychology, sociology, theology, and ethics.

The establishment of criminal justice as an academic field during the 1920s is generally credited to Berkeley police chief August Vollmer. By 1950, approximately 1,000 students were in the field, 100,000 students by 1975, and approximately 350,000 by 1998.

See also

• Corrections
• Criminal law
• Criminology
• History of criminal justice
• Law
• Police
• Social justice
• List of basic criminal justice topics
• List of criminal justice notables
• Sentence (law)
• Collateral Consequences of Criminal Charges