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Crime and Criminology

  • Crime occurs in all segments of society
  • Wide range of offenses committed, not just street crime
  • The general public views crime as a major social problem
  • Some are fascinated with crime

What factors do you think contribute to crime?

  • Large underclass
  • Urban areas in which the poorest and wealthiest live in close proximity
  • Racism and discrimination
  • Failure of the educational system
  • Troubled American family
  • Easy access to handguns

What factors do you think contribute to crime?

  • A culture that defines success in terms of material wealth
  • Drug use
  • Peer support
  • Violence on TV
  • Lack of punishment
  • These factors are used in development of theory

What is Criminology?

Criminology is the scientific approach to the

study of the nature, extent, cause, and

control of criminal behavior

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Most important areas of interest for criminologists?

  • The development of criminal law and its use to define crime
  • The cause of law violations
  • The methods used to control criminal behavior
  • The extent of crime

Criminology

  • Criminology uses the scientific method to pose research questions (hypotheses), gather data, create theories, and test their validity.
  • Example – Hirschi (attachment to delinquent peers and delinquency)

Criminology integrates knowledge from many fields:

Criminal Justice

Sociology

Psychology

Economics

Political Science

Natural Sciences (ex. Biology)

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Categories of Contemporary Criminological Theories

Social

Conflict

Theory

Social

Structural

Theory

Social

Process

Theory

Integrated

Theory

Choice

Theory

Psycho-

logical

Theory

Biosocial

Theory

Criminal Behavior

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Historical Roots of Criminology

  • Utilitarian philosophy of Becarria
  • Biological determinism of Lombroso
  • Social theory of Durkheim
  • Political philosophy of Marx

Criminology v. Criminal Justice

Criminology explains etiology, extent, & nature of crime

Criminal Justice describes, analyzes, & explains behavior & operation of agencies of justice & effective methods of crime control, sentencing, treatment, etc.

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Criminology is more theoretical in its approach

“etiology” or origins of crime; precursors to crime, correlates (EX shoplifters...is it self esteem?)

“extent” how much of it occurs, including the “dark side” of crime that goes unmeasured (1 in 10 shoppers steal?)

“nature” how do people steal, what do they do with it?

Criminal justice is more applied or practical in its approach

ex. Police use of force, sentencing decisions, the effectiveness of rehabilitation

Have you ever…….

  • followed someone & intentionally harassed, annoyed, tormented, or embarrassed them?
  • smoked marijuana?
  • pierced a part of your body other than your ear?
  • taken something from your roommate, partner, sibling, parent, stranger without consent?
  • been to a strip club or read porn material?
  • physically hurt or threatened to hurt someone?

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Who are criminal offenders? What is criminal? Why are certain behaviors just “bad” and others not?

Lets take a little survey.

Consider the questions to yourself.

2 points are important First…..

  • Criminal offenders are not always or very “different” from ourselves
  • They include friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers, & often ourselves
  • Society creates an “outsider” view of “criminals”
  • But, the lines are hazy & crime is common

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Second …..

  • Some behaviors are criminal & obviously “bad”
  • other behaviors may be considered “bad” but not criminal
  • & still other behaviors are criminal but not necessarily “bad”!

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Ex picking your nose in public

having sex in a public place

Crime & Deviance

Deviance is behavior departing from social norms

A Crime is conduct violating law & subject to punishment

  • Not all criminal acts are deviant (ex. Prohibition)
  • Not all deviant acts are criminal
  • Each changes over time & place

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Crime defined

  • Why do we have a criminal justice system?
  • Why do we have a college introductory course in criminal justice?

  • Defined:
  • Wrong committed against society which has been proclaimed by law and when the action is committed in certain circumstances, it is punishable by society as a whole.

  • CONSENSUS & CONFLICT MODELS

Crime & Deviance –
Sociology of Law

  • Criminologists are concerned with how deviant acts become crimes and vice versa
  • When should crimes be decriminalized?
  • Marijuana, gambling, sodomy
  • When should deviant behavior become outlawed?
  • Smoking, marijuana, curfew

Crime & Deviance –
Sociology of Law

  • Criminologists also concerned with the impact of the law on human behavior
  • Example – strict DWI laws
  • Reducing BAC level to .08

OK, back to the survey...

  • harassed someone
  • smoked pot
  • pierced body
  • taken something
  • strip club; porn
  • hurt someone
  • Deviance Crime
  • Deviance Crime
  • Deviance Crime
  • Deviance Crime
  • Deviance Crime
  • Deviance Crime

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Perspectives in Criminology

Perspective: The relationship of

aspects of a subject to each other

and to a whole: a point of view.

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Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

Consensus View – Most Popular

Crime reflects the values, beliefs, and opinions of society

Law defines crime

Agreement exists on outlawed behavior

Laws apply to all citizens equally

Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

  • Criminal law is a social control device
  • Guides people into what are and aren't appropriate behaviors
  • If hold consensus view of crime then what causes it?
  • Two major lines of thought
  • Free Will
  • Biological, psychological, and sociological causes

Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

Conflict view

  • Society is a collection of diverse groups in constant conflict

Law is a tool of the ruling class

Designed to protect the affluent

Crime is a politically defined concept

“Real crimes” are not outlawed or not punished

Law is used to control the underclass

  • If hold a conflict view then what causes crime?
  • Unequal distribution of power

Consensus & Conflict Models

  • Consensus Model
  • Majority agreement

People gather as a group, form a society together

Agree to what is right and wrong

  • Conflict Model

Larger societies

Diverse segments of society, different value systems/norms

Constant struggle between separated segments

Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

Interactionist view

Crimes are not inherently evil or immoral acts, but defined that way

Has no meaning unless people react to it

Moral entrepreneurs define crime

Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

Crimes are illegal because society defines them that way

Criminal labels are life-transforming events

If interactionist view of crime then what causes crime?

Contact and exposure to criminal justice system

Differing Views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

  • Way criminologists define crime dominates their thinking and research

Differing views on the causes and controls of criminal behavior

Interactionist view

Conflict view

Consensus View

Definition

of

Crime

Crime

Statistics

Sociology

of Law

Theory

Construction

Penology

Criminal

Behavior Systems

Victimology

Criminology

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Doing Criminology: Types of Research

Survey Research

(cross-sectional research)

Longitudinal

Research

(cohort groups)

Aggregate Data

Research

Experimental

Research

Observational

Research

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The Purpose of the System

  • Three main goals
  • Control crime, prevent crime, provide/maintain justice

  • How does the system control crime?

Arrest, prosecute, punish

  • How does the system try to prevent crime?

Harsh punishment prevents others from committing a similar crime

  • How does the system provide and maintain justice?

Fairness

All people are equal before the law

The System Structure

  • Federalism
  • Local level
  • Crime is a local problem

  • Law enforcement: local, state, federal – all have their own structures

  • The Courts: dual court system, federal/state courts
  • Federal: district, circuit appellate, supreme
  • State: trial, intermediate appellate, supreme

  • Corrections: state prisons, local jails, federal prisons

Probation, strict sentences, incarceration, community corrections, parole

TV v. Reality

  • The reality
  • Informal v. Formal Process of Justice (Herbert Packer)

  • Formal – THE IDEAL
  • Informal – THE REALITY

  • Why? Discretion

  • Discretion: 3 main reasons it is used

Resources not available to focus on every case

Remove pressures, time constraints

Cut down large caseloads

The Wedding Cake Model

  • Wedding Cake Model of Justice

  • Celebrated Cases – at the top

LAYER ONE

  • High Profile Felonies

LAYER TWO

  • Ordinary Felonies

LAYER THREE

  • Misdemeanors

LAYER FOUR

More than 75 percent of police arrests (non-serious, non-violent)

MOVING DOWN, CRIMES OCCUR MORE FREQUENTLY.

Due Process v. Crime Control

  • The battle between the two models.
  • Crime Control

Punish and stop criminal conduct – most important function

Conservative

  • Due Process

Protect rights of accused through legal constraints on police, courts and corrections

Liberal

Fairness should be the ultimate goal

The models swing back and forth dependant upon the national mood

50’s and 60’s –Warren Court

late 70’s and 80’s, - get tough movement

Types of Crimes

  • Crimes separated based on seriousness – 6 groups
  • Violent – crimes against persons

Murder, sexual assault, robbery, etc.

  • Property – most common form

Goal is economic gain

Shoplifting, theft w/out force

  • Public Order Crime

Public values and morals – public intoxication, gambling, victimless

  • White Collar Crime

Business world – economic/personal/business advantage (ex: embezzlement)

  • Organized Crime

Use of legal business facilities/employees to commit illegal acts

  • High Tech Crime

Latest type to emerge – cyber crimes, getting worse

What is the Criminal Justice System?

  • Definition: refers to the agencies of government charged with enforcing law, adjudicating crime, and correcting criminal conduct.
  • More than 55,000 public agencies employ 2 million people
  • 17,000 law enforcement agencies and nearly 17,000 courts
  • More than 8,000 prosecutorial agencies and about 6,000 correctional institutions
  • More than 3,500 probation and parole departments
  • Almost 7 million are under the control of the correctional system with 2 million people in jails and prisons

Components of the Criminal Justice System

Direct Expenditure by Level of Government

Direct Expenditure by Criminal Justice Function

Number of People Under Correctional Supervision 1990-2003

Adult Correctional Populations 1980-2003

The Process of Justice

  • Assembly line process (Herbert Packer)
  • Initial contact (with police)
  • Investigation (to identify the perpetrator)
  • Arrest (taken into custody)
  • Custody (booking and interrogation)
  • Complaint/Charging (prosecutor)
  • Preliminary hearing/Grand jury (determine probable cause/indictment)
  • Arraignment (reading of charges/bail and trial date set)
  • Bail or detention (money or recognizance bonds)
  • Plea bargaining (deal struck to avoid trial)
  • Adjudication (trial)
  • Disposition (sentencing)
  • Postconviction remedies (appeals)
  • Correctional treatment (probation/incarceration)
  • Release (parole/end of sentence)
  • Postrelease/Aftercare (return to community)

The Critical Stages of the Justice Process

The Process of Justice

  • The criminal justice system acts like a funnel
  • Cases are dismissed at various stages
  • Relatively few cases make it through the funnel
  • Impact of celebrity cases
  • Bargain justice is estimated to occur in 90 percent of all criminal cases

The Criminal Justice Funnel

Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law

  • State and federal courts are supervised by the law of criminal procedure
  • Procedural laws define rights of criminal defendants and control the actions of agencies
  • Bill of Rights (applied at both state and federal levels)
  • Exclusionary rule protects defendants from illegal searches and seizures (not admitting illegally seized evidence)

Concepts of Justice

  • Crime Control Model
  • Protect the public and deter criminal behavior
  • Punishment designed to fit the crime
  • Building more prisons and using the death penalty
  • Rooted in choice theory
  • Became a dominant force in American justice in the 1960s and 1970s

Concepts of Justice

  • Justice Model
  • Futile to rehabilitate criminals because treatment programs are ineffective
  • Determinate sentencing is needed for fairness
  • Parole should be abolished

Concepts of Justice

  • Due Process Model
  • Individualized justice, treatment, and rehabilitation of offenders
  • Civil rights of accused should be protected
  • Competent defense counsel, jury trials, and procedural safeguards
  • The desire to protect the public has overshadowed concerns for the rights of criminal defendants

Concepts of Justice

  • Rehabilitation Model
  • Criminals can change into productive citizens with the right care and treatment
  • Criminals are victims of social injustice, poverty, and racism
  • Dealing effectively with crime requires attacking its root causes
  • Programs that teach interpersonal skills and behavior modification techniques have produced positive results

Concepts of Justice

  • Nonintervention Model
  • Limiting government intrusion into lives of minor offenders
  • Deinstitutionalize nonserious offenders
  • Diverting law violators out of the formal justice system
  • Critics charge there is little evidence that diverting offenders reduces recidivism

Concepts of Justice

  • Restorative Justice Model
  • Promotes a peaceful and just society
  • Religious influences of Quakers and Zen
  • Guided by: 1) community ownership of conflict, material, 2) symbolic reparation for crime victims, and 3) social reintegration of the offender
  • Mediation and conflict resolution programs

Perspectives on Justice: Key Concerns and Concepts

Concepts of Justice Today

  • Crime control and justice models have captured the support of legislators and the public
  • Elliot Currie claims the punitive incarceration-based models are doomed to fail
  • The cost of justice skyrockets and the criminal justice system becomes overcrowded

CJS
Criminal Justice System

  • Defining and Categorizing Crime - reminder
  • Measuring Crime - reminder
  • The Criminal Justice System - new
  • Police
  • Courts
  • Corrections
  • Influence of Legislative Bodies and Society
  • Incarceration rates and costs
  • Future of Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice System:
Purpose and Goals

  • To control crime
  • To prevent crime – lower recidivism (re-offending)
  • To provide and maintain justice
  • To help strengthen communities
  • To establish and reflect common values
  • To deal with offenders inside and outside of the community
  • Others ???

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What is a Crime?

  • A crime is an act
  • committed in violation of a law forbidding it (e.g. theft, arson)
  • or omitted in violation of a law commanding it (paying taxes)
  • and for which society has provided a formally sanctioned punishment

Many ways to categorize crimes: examples

  • Misdemeanor vs. Felony
  • Wedding Cake

Groupings of Crimes

  • Violent Crime
  • Property Crime
  • Computer / High-Tech Crime
  • Organized Crime
  • White-collar Crime

What you need, legally, to have a crime

  • Corpus delicti: each crime has elements that must be meet to ‘prove’ the offense occurred
  • Actus reus = action
  • Mens rea = intent
  • Common law definition of Burglary
  • Entering the dwelling of another (act)
  • In the night time
  • To commit a felony within (intent)

Why do people commit crimes?

- lots of theories

- need to be careful: spurious correlation

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MEASURING CRIME AND CRIME STATISTICS

Crime Statistics (Data)
may be reported three ways

  • Raw Data
  • Percent Change
  • Rate (per 100,000)

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Measuring Crime

Crime Statistics come from four sources:

  • Ask the police
  • Ask the courts
  • Ask the victim
  • Ask the offender

Closer we are to actual crime, better the statistics

Dark Figure of Crime

ASK THE POLICE

Uniform Crime Reports - FBI

Part I Offenses (AKA Index Crimes): Eight severe crimes that form the crime rate.

1) Homicide

2) Rape/Sexual Assault

3) Robbery

4) Felony Assault

5) Burglary

6) Larceny

7) Motor Vehicle Theft

8) Arson

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National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

  • Transition – part of UCR
  • not all states plan to adopt
  • More info on offenders and victims
  • Includes stats on
  • Embezzlement
  • Fraud Offenses
  • False Pretenses/Swindle/Confidence Game
  • Credit Card/Automatic Teller Machine Fraud
  • Impersonation
  • Welfare Fraud
  • Wire Fraud

Problems with these stats

  • UCR – FBI required to collect data, local/state agencies not required to provide
  • Local/state agencies under-report
  • Victim may not report
  • Embarrassed
  • Doesn’t know they’ve been a victim
  • Scared of retaliation
  • Others . . . .
  • Rate declines could be due to changes by police rather than changes in incidents

ASK THE COURTS

Offender Based Transaction Statistics (OBTS)

  • Tracks adult offenders from the point of entry into the criminal justice system
  • typically by arrest through final disposition
  • Regardless of conviction or acquittal
  • Collected by individual states
  • Least common – seldom seen references to in CJ research

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Problems with these stats

  • Includes only felony dispositions - no misdemeanors.
  • Based on internal state law in each state. Since state law is not uniform, different states will treat/define a particular offense differently
  • Voluntary as to participation

ASK THE VICTIM

National Criminal
Victimization Survey (NCVS)

Sample of NCVS interview questions

“Now I am going to ask you about any crimes that may have been inflicted on you in the last 12 months.”

72. During the last 12 months, did anyone break into your home or apartment and steal something?

  • A. Was the crime reported to the police?
  • B. Why was the crime not reported to the police?
  • C. Were you satisfied or not satisfied with the manner in which the complaint was handled after it was reported to the police?
  • D. Where did the burglar enter your home or apartment?
  • E. What time of day did the burglary occur?
  • F. What, if anything, was stolen?
  • G. Was the stolen property recovered?
  • H. If all or part of your stolen property was recovered, who recovered it

Problems with these stats

  • May feel that you were a victim, but may not meet a legal definition
  • Same as ‘ask the police’ – may be reluctant to admit; However
  • Juveniles self report about 2x more compared to ‘ask the police’ stats

ASK THE OFFENDER

(aka self report)

Drug Use Forecasting (DUF)
National Youth Study (NYS)

  • Trying to get to crimes not known to police
  • remember: in general the closer we get to the crime, the better the data
  • Problems
  • Truthfulness: both under and over reporting
  • Confidentiality
  • have to be careful as a researcher
  • don’t make promises that you can’t keep

Responding to crime:

The Criminal

Justice

System

The Criminal Justice System: Size and Expense

  • 55,000 different public agencies
  • $147 billion annual budget
  • 2.2 million employees
  • 20,000 police agencies
  • 17,000 courts

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The Criminal Justice System: Size and Expense

  • 8,000 prosecutorial agencies
  • 5,700 correctional institutions
  • 3,500 probation and parole departments

  • 15 million arrests per year
  • 3 million for felonies
  • Correctional population of 2 million
  • Additional 4 million on probation or parole

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The Criminal Justice System: Size and Expense

  • Law Enforcement employs over 1 million sworn personnel, not counting civilian employees

  • Corrections employs over 717,000 people
  • Court systems employ 455,000

  • It costs $70,000 to build a jail or prison cell
  • It costs $25,000 a year to house an inmate

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THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Police /

Law Enforcement

Corrections

-community

-institutional

Courts

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THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Police /

Law Enforcement

Corrections

-community

-institutional

Courts

Society

Legislative

Bodies

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POLICE /

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Modern Policing

  • Importance of Discretion
  • Not like on TV
  • Paperwork
  • Firing a gun in the line of duty
  • Constitutional rights
  • Current Hot Trend: Community Policing

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Police:
Investigation and Arrest

  • Police become aware of a violation of law
  • Proactive Law Enforcement
  • v.
  • Reactive Law Enforcement

Types of Police Responses:

  • Proactive:
  • The police, usually during routine patrol, observe a suspicious situation or a crime in progress
  • Reactive:
  • The police respond to a request for assistance either as a result of a phone call from a citizen or are flagged down while on patrol

Warrant

  • In criminal proceedings, any number of writs issued by a judicial officer, which direct a law enforcement officer to perform a specified act and afford him/her protection from damage if he/she performs it.

Arrest

  • The taking of a person into physical custody by authority of law, for the purpose of charging the person with a criminal offense or a delinquent act or status offense terminating with the recording of a specific offense

Miranda v Arizona (1966)

  • The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the conviction of Ernesto Miranda and thereby established guidelines for the police to follow in the interrogation of suspects

Miranda v Arizona (1966)

  • You have the right to remain silent
  • Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law
  • You have the right to talk to a attorney and have him/her present while you are being questioned

Miranda v Arizona (1966)

  • If you cannot afford to hire an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you
  • You can decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements

Miranda v Arizona (1966) Waiver

  • After the warnings have been given, the following should be asked:

Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you?

Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?

Booking

  • An administrative process officially recording an entry into detention after arrest.
  • At time of booking, the accused’s:
  • name
  • address
  • time and place of arrest
  • arrest charges are entered into the police log
  • fingerprints and photos can also be taken

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Terrorism

FBI Definition

  • The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

Terrorism: Generating Publicity and Fear

Classifying Terrorism

  • Revolutionary Terrorism Forcing governments to respond; to encourage a revolution, e.g., PLO

  • State-Sponsored Terrorism

Terrorist activities by governments against their own citizens or other countries, e.g., Khmer Rouge

  • Religious Terrorism

Promoting a religious system or protect a set of religious beliefs, e.g., use of Jihad or holy war by Islamic fundamentalists

Terrorism

Punishment?

  • Symbolic
  • Retributive
  • Desert
  • Expressive
  • Restorative

COURTS

Goals of Punishment

Retribution

Deterrence

Incapacitation

Rehabilitation

Proportional Penalty - Offense Determinative

Deserved Penalty - Harm Determinative

Expressive Penalty - Message Determinative

Individualized Sentences

Offender Culpability - Offense

Offender Change - Intervention

Crime Rates - Fear of Consequences

Power of Deterrence - Swift, Certain***,

Sufficiently Severe, Laws Known to Public

Types: General and Specific (or Special)

Collective Incapacitation

Selective Incapacitation

Restorative Justice

Repairing the harm between

Offender and victim

Different types of Courts

  • Local: felony, misdemeanor, combo
  • State
  • Federal
  • Appeal vs. Trial
  • Your can only appeal an error or constitutional violation

Bail: Purpose Of

To ensure that the accused appear in court for trial

Preliminary Hearing:
Grand Jury

  • U.S. Constitution provides that the state must prove to an impartial hearing board that there is “probable cause” that the accused committed the crime, and therefore, that there is sufficient reason to try the person as charged. Grand Jury can issue an indictment

Preliminary Hearing

Definition: Preliminary Hearing – a proceeding before a judicial officer in which three matters must be decided: whether a crime was committed, whether the crime occurred within the territorial jurisdiction of the court, and whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant committed the crime

© 2001 Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Arraignment

  • Takes place after preliminary hearing or indictment
  • Charges are read
  • Attorney provided if not yet retained by the defendant
  • Defendant is asked to enter a plea
  • If plea is “not guilty” - trial date is set

Arraignment

Definition: Arraignment – I. Strictly, the hearing before a court having jurisdiction in a criminal case, in which the identity of the defendant is established, the defendant is informed of the charge(s) and his or her rights, and the defendant is required to enter a plea. II. In some usages, any appearance in court prior to trial in criminal proceedings

Trial

  • If defendant enters a plea of “not guilty” at the arraignment the proceedings move forward to the trial phase
  • At this phase the burden of proof is on the state to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant committed the crime

Trial

Definition: Trial – In criminal proceedings, the examination in a court of the issues of fact and law in a case, for the purpose of reaching a judgment of conviction or acquittal of the defendant(s)

Due Process

  • Asserts the fundamental principles of justice are given priority in a criminal courtroom and that the administration of the law in a criminal case does not violate individual rights. Based on the 14th Amendment

Due Process

Definition: Due Process – A right guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and generally understood, in legal contexts, to mean the due course of legal proceedings according to the rules and forms which have been established for the protection of private rights

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The Constitution

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  • “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws….”

Fourteenth Amendment

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Fourth Amendment

  • The prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures
  • The Exclusionary Rule prohibits the use of items obtained as a result of an unreasonable search and seizure as evidence against a criminal defendant

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Fifth Amendment

  • The bar against double jeopardy

  • The privilege against forced self-incrimination

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Sixth Amendment

  • right to a jury trial
  • right to a public trial
  • right to a speedy trial
  • right to confront witnesses
  • right to compulsory process to obtain witnesses

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Sixth Amendment (cont.)

  • right to assistance of an attorney in felony cases
  • right to assistance of an attorney in misdemeanor cases in which a prison term is imposed

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Eighth Amendment

Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment

41.unknown

Role of Discretion:

What impacts sentence?

  • Judges attitude
  • Community Attitudes
  • Law
  • Evidence
  • PSI
  • Seriousness of Crime
  • Effect on Victim
  • Defendant’s attitude
  • Politics
  • Sentencing guidelines
  • Jails position
  • Community Resources

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E D E R A L S E N T E N C I N G G R I D

PAROLE ABOLISHED ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL!!

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Example of calculating offense level

Martin Miller of Bethesda

(defrauding business partners)

Fraud (base level) 6
Loss between $173,107 and $200,000 +7
More than minimal planning +2
Abused position of trust +2
Subtotal 17
Accepted responsibility -3
Total Level: 14

E D E R A L S E N T E N C I N G G R I D

PAROLE ABOLISHED ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL!!

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Importance of Plea Bargains

Current issue facing the courts: The CSI Effect

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Entertainment
vs. Education

"What's happening is [that] everyday people are watching the TV show and they think they're being educated as well as entertained."

Thomas Mauriello (a forensic scientist):

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CORRECTIONS

Crime is not new

  • 1849 California Gold Rush
  • 89,000 Miners
  • 20% dead in first six months (mostly homicide)
  • Crime rate led to the creation of one of the first state prisons.

San Quentin Prison
one of the first prisons ever constructed in the US

Corrections involves

  • Community Supervision in Lieu of Incarceration
  • Suspended Sentence
  • Probation: Reporting vs. Nonreporting
  • House Arrest
  • Diversionary Programs
  • Community Supervision Following Incarceration
  • Parole (vs. maxing out)
  • Incarceration
  • Prison, Jail, Boot Camps
  • Other
  • Work Release Programs

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Community Sanctions

  • Probation Officers
  • Home visits
  • Guns
  • Power of arrest
  • Fines, Community Service, Counseling, Drug Tests, Special Programs, PUF
  • Offender’s Rights (or lack of)

Is this how you view prison?

Contemporary Pod System

Due to crowding – some rely on a dorm system

The Reality of Prison

  • Threat of violence
  • Race and gangs
  • Availability of contraband
  • Little things that make it difficult

Prison population and Costs of the Cj system

Soft on Crime?

  • The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world
  • seven to 10 times as many as most other democracies
  • If no changes
  • an estimated 1 of every 15 persons will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
  • Black males - 1 in 3 chance of going to prison during his lifetime
  • For a Hispanic male, it's 1 in 6
  • For a white male, 1 in 17

Crime rates vs. incarceration rates

Total = $193 billion

Criminal Justice in the Future…

Or the Future of Criminal Justice

*

Emerging Technologies

DNA Profiling

Use of biological residue found at scene of a crime for genetic comparisons in aiding the identification of criminal suspects

DNA Identification Act of 1994

Uses computer hardware/software which attempts to duplicate decision-making processes used by skilled investigators in analysis of evidence

Uses computer program known as “inference engine” which makes comparisons between user input and stored information

Emerging Technologies

Computers also used for crime scene analysis

Psychological profiles - computer generated

Emerging Technologies

  • Daubert Standard

1993 Supreme Court case – Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Test of scientific acceptability applicable to the gathering of evidence in a criminal case

Daubert Standard

Factors that may be used to determine whether any form of scientific evidence is reliable:

Whether it has been subject to testing

Whether it has been subject to peer review

Known or potential rates of error

Existence of standards controlling application of techniques involved

© 2001 Prentice Hall, Inc.

Computer Crime

Hackers – hobbyists or professionals generally with advanced programming skills

Today this group includes individuals bent on illegal accessing of computers of others or those of corporations or governments to cause damage or collect information

Computer Crime

Viruses – programs designed to secretly invade systems and modify manner in which they operate or alter the information they store

Software piracy – the unauthorized duplication of software, which is one of the most prevalent computer crimes in the world

Computer Crime
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

  • Passed in 1984
    Made unauthorized access to government computers or computers containing information protected under the Federal Piracy Act a crime

Most states have their own computer crime laws that incorporate

4 techniques:

Physical security

Passwords

Data encryption

Screen blanking

Terrorism

Definition – a violent act, or act dangerous to human life, in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives

Terrorism

  • Characteristics of Terrorism

No rules

No distinction between soldiers and civilians

Economy – kill 1, frighten 10,000

Publicity

Meaning

No clarity

Terrorism:

Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

Passed in 1996

Limits federal appeals in death penalty cases

Bans fund raising in U.S. for international terrorist organizations

Provided $1 billion for enhanced terrorism-fighting measures

Terrorism:

Permits foreign terrorism suspects to be deported

Makes it a federal crime to use the U.S. as a base to plan attacks overseas

Requires taggants to be added to plastic explosives to facilitate identification

Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

any

QUESTIONS?