Test 3 on Modules 7-10 GOVT 2306

Lecture Notes for Module 10

Crime affects many Americans. There are two generally accepted methods for measuring the

crime rate: Uniform Crime Reports, which is a record of crimes known to police, and the

Crime Victimization Survey, which is based on a population survey. Murder, aggravated

assault, forcible rape, and robbery are classified as violent crimes. Burglary, theft, motor-vehicle

theft, and arson are property crimes.

Many Americans believe that the crime rate is on the rise, but they are wrong, perhaps because

of the local media’s steady focus on crime stories. Law enforcement officials also have an

interest in promoting the threat of crime because their budgets depend on public concern about

crime.

The Crime Rate

Nonetheless, both crime measures show that the national crime rate and the Texas crime rate

have been steadily and dramatically declining for years. The odds of being murdered or robbed

are now less than half what they were in the early 1990s when the violent crime rate peaked.

Juvenile crime has fallen as well.

Why is the crime rate dropping? Criminologists credit prison expansion, better police work, and

high-tech crime fighting tools. Some scholars attribute the declining crime rate to legalized

abortion. Others credit the decline in the use of crack cocaine. Some point to states phasing out

the use of leaded gasoline. Research shows that young children exposed to lead have many

complications later in life, including lower IQ, hyperactivity, behavioral problems, and learning

disabilities, and likelihood to take part in criminal activity. Finally, some scholars believe that

the election of Barack Obama, the first black president, broadened young people’s vision of what

is possible for their lives. This was especially true among young black men.

Even though the crime rate in Texas has been falling at least as fast as the national crime rate, the

incidence of crime in Texas is higher than the national average. Criminologists offer several

possible reasons for the higher crime rate in Texas: (1) The state’s population is relatively

young; (1) The population is relatively mobile; (3) The population is relatively poor; and (4)

Texas has a violent political culture.

Criminals and Victims

Low-income people, young people, men, urban residents, renters and members of ethnic and

racial minority groups are more likely to be victims of crime than other groups. Criminals are

typically poorly educated young men.

Property crimes are less frequent than violent crimes. Murder is actually the least frequently

occurring crime. Theft is the most frequent.

Criminal Prosecution Process

The clearance rate is the proportion of crimes known to authorities for which an arrest is

made. It is highest for murder, lowest for theft and some other property crimes.

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantee due process of law. The government must

follow fair and regular procedures in actions that could lead to an individual's suffering loss of

life, liberty, or property. In other words, criminal defendants are constitutionally entitled to a day

in court. Before making an arrest, law enforcement must have probable cause, which is the

reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and that a particular suspect is the likely

perpetrator of that crime.

The exclusionary rule is the judicial doctrine stating that when the police violate an individual's

constitutional rights, the evidence obtained as a result of police misconduct or error cannot be

used against the defendant in a criminal prosecution. The exclusionary rule was established

against the federal government in the Weeks Case. It was applied to state action in Mapp v.

Ohio.

After making an arrest, a police officer takes the suspect to a police station or substation to be

booked. Booking is an administrative procedure in which law enforcement authorities document

a suspect's arrest. If charges are filed, suspects are brought before a judge for arraignment,

which is a judicial proceeding at which a suspect is formally charged with a crime and asked to

enter a plea. The arraigning judge also sets bail, which is money or securities posted by accused

persons to guarantee their appearance at later proceedings.

In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution could not use a statement

against an accused person in a court of law unless the authorities observed adequate procedural

safeguards to ensure that the statement was obtained "voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently."

Consequently, law enforcement officials read suspects the following warning before questioning

them: Criminal suspects have the right to remain silent and to know that anything they say may

be used against them. They have the right to discontinue an interview at any time. They also

have the right to an attorney and, if they cannot afford to hire one, they have the right to a lawyer

appointed by the state.

The Sixth Amendment grants defendants the right to legal counsel. In Gideon v. Wainwright, the

Supreme Court ruled that states must provide attorneys for indigent defendants charged with

serious crimes. In most criminal prosecutions, the government is funding both the prosecution

and the defense. A major issue in many prosecutions is the quality of attorneys provided

indigent criminal defendants.

The Texas Constitution requires a grand-jury indictment in all felony cases unless the defendant

waives that right. An indictment is a formal accusation charging an individual with the

commission of a crime. A grand jury is a body of 12 citizens who hears evidence presented by

the prosecuting attorney and decides whether to indict an accused person. At least nine of the 12

jurors must agree in order to issue an indictment, also known as a true bill, against a defendant.

The Texas Constitution guarantees trial by jury for all criminal offenses, even misdemeanors.

Jurors are selected from driver license and voter registration lists. Trial juries must decide cases

by unanimous vote. The overwhelming majority of criminal cases in Texas are resolved with a

plea bargain, which is a procedure in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty in order to

receive punishment less than the maximum for an offense. Most criminal cases that make it to a

courtroom conclude with a conviction, through either a guilty plea or a guilty verdict.

Except for Class C misdemeanor cases, sentencing is a distinct second phase of the trial

proceeding in Texas. With a few exceptions, Texas law permits the judge or jury to grant

probation, which is the suspension of a sentence, permitting the defendant to remain free under

court supervision. Probation is much less expensive to administer than is jail time.

Corrections

The United States has the largest prison system in the world with 2.2 million prisoners behind

bars. China, with four times the population, has 1.5 million prisoners. The U.S. incarceration

rate also leads the world. From the late 1970s until 2010, the prison population in the United

States grew steadily, but it has subsequently begun to fall, primarily because of state budget

pressures during the Great Recession.

Both states and the federal government operate prison systems with a majority of inmates held in

the state prison systems. Texas, with more than 150,000 inmates, has the largest prison system

in the nation.

The growth of the prison population coincides with the war on drugs. Moreover, the war on

drugs has disproportionately affected African American males. Even though white males are

more likely to use drugs, African American males are much, much more likely to be imprisoned

for it.

Burglary, robbery, assault, and DWI are the leading offenses that send people to prison in Texas.

Many prison inmates have been convicted of crimes involving drug possession or distribution.

Texas has some of the harshest drug laws in the nation.

Jails house people accused of felony and misdemeanor criminal offenses who have not made

bail, convicted felons who are awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

(TDCJ), people charged with federal criminal offenses who are awaiting transfer to a federal

facility, and persons convicted of misdemeanor offenses who are serving relatively short

sentences. State jails house persons convicted of a new category of crime, fourth-degree (state

jail) felonies. Persons convicted of more serious felonies serve time in the state prison system.

Parole is the conditional release of convicted offenders from prison to serve the remainder of

their sentences in the community under supervision. In theory, parole is a mechanism for

reintegrating offenders into the community because it allows the state to release prisoners to the

community conditionally, under supervision. The parole rate in Texas has been increasing

because it is less expensive than prison.

The phrase good time refers to time off for good behavior. Under state law, most prisoners are

eligible for parole after serving one-fourth of their sentence or 15 years, whichever is less. The

state determines the amount of time served for inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses by

adding together the actual days spent behind bars with good time earned.

Recidivism is the tendency of offenders released from prison to commit additional crimes and be

returned behind bars. In Texas, 23 percent of inmates released from prison are rearrested for a

serious crime within three years of their release. That is a relatively low rate.

Capital Punishment

People accused of murder in Texas may be charged with capital murder if their alleged crime fits

one of a number of criteria.

In order to qualify for the death penalty, a murder must meet one of the following criteria:

 Murdering a peace officer or firefighter, who is acting in the lawful discharge of an

official duty and who the person knows is a police officer or firefighter;

 Intentionally committing a murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit

kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, or arson;

 Committing a murder for pay or promise to pay or employing another person to commit

murder;

 Committing a murder while escaping or attempting to escape from a penal institution;

 Murdering a prison employee while incarcerated;

 Committing a gang-related murder while incarcerated;

 Committing a murder to obstruct justice or in retaliation against a witness in a criminal

case;

 Committing serial or mass murder; and

 Murdering a child under the age of six.

Punishment for capital murder is either life in prison without parole or the death penalty. The

U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the use of the death penalty against people who were

juveniles when they committed their crimes, people who are mentally retarded, and for people

convicted of crimes other than murder.

The United States is one of only a handful of democracies that still has the death penalty. Not all

states have the death penalty. Texas leads the nation in executions. The number of executions

both in the United States as a whole and in Texas has been in decline. Juries may be reluctant to

assess the death penalty in light of a number of recent cases where DNA testing showed that

people facing execution were actually innocent. In Texas, the addition of the life without parole

option has given jurors an acceptable alternative to the death penalty. Finally, some states have

delayed executions because of shortages of drugs used in lethal injection.

Study Questions

1. How is crime measured?

2. How does the crime rate in Texas compare with the national crime rate?

3. Has the crime rate been increasing, decreasing, or holding steady? Is this true for the

crime rate in Texas or just the national crime rate?

4. Why do many Americans believe that the crime rate is rising?

5. What theories do criminologists offer to explain the falling crime rate?

6. What reasons are offered to explain Texas having an above-average crime rate?

7. What groups of people are more likely to be victims of crime?

8. What groups of people are more likely to be criminals?

9. Which crimes are more frequently committed? Which crimes are least frequently committed?

10. What is the clearance rate? Which crimes have high clearance rates? Which crimes have low clearance rates?

11. What is probable cause? 12. What is the purpose of a warrant? 13. What is the exclusionary rule? What is the rationale for it? What case applied the rule to

the states?

14. What is booking? 15. What is an arraignment? 16. What is bail? What is its purpose? 17. What is the significance of Miranda v. Arizona? 18. What is the significance of Gideon v. Wainwright? 19. What are grand juries? What is their purpose in the criminal justice process? 20. What is a plea bargain? 21. What are the two phases of criminal trials in Texas? 22. What is probation? 23. Which nation has the largest prison system? 24. Has the U.S. prison population been rising, falling, or holding steady? 25. What is the best explanation for changes in the prison population? 26. What is the relationship between the war on drugs and the size of the prison population? 27. Does the war on drugs have a disproportionate impact on different racial groups? 28. For what offenses are people most likely to be imprisoned in Texas? 29. What sorts of offenders are housed in county jails? State prisons? State jails? 30. What is parole? 31. What is good time? 32. What is recidivism? 33. What crimes are considered capital murder in Texas? 34. What is the punishment for capital murder in Texas? 35. Do most democracies have the death penalty? 36. Do all states have the death penalty? 37. How does the execution rate in Texas compare with other states? 38. Has the execution rate in the United States and Texas risen, fallen, or held steady? 39. How do criminologists account for changes in the rate of executions?