lecture 14 summer 04 w [read-only]

8/19/2019 Lecture 14 Summer 04 W [Read-Only]

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Lecture 14A: Criminal JusticeSystem

• Part I: Models of Criminal

Justice

• Part II: Evaluating the

System


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Part I: Models of CriminalJustice

Chap te r 15 - 1

Police Courts Corrections

The Criminal Justice System

C o m p o n e n t s o fC r i m i n a l J u s t i c eC o m p o n e n t s o f

C r i m i n a l J u s t i c e


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Early Models of Criminal Justice: Focused onSeparate Justice Agencies with Little Relationship toEach Other.


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Systems Model of Criminal Justice System


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Figure 1.8 the Criminal Justice

“Wedding Cake”


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I. Celebrated Cases• Rare cases that involve the full criminal justice

process (usually victim or offender is rich orfamous).

• Enormous publicity

• Impact citizens perceptions of crime and criminal justice system.

• Justice personnel take on cases to gain status andrecognition.


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II. Serious Felonies

• Felonies (often vicious incidents ofviolence) where the victim does not knowthe offender.

• Usually committed by individuals with ahistory of violent crime.

• Everyone in the system sees these cases asserious and worthy of the attention of theentire criminal justice system.


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III. Less Serious Felonies

• Generally small time felonies committed by first-time offenders.• Felonies that involve people who know each other

such as relatives or married couples.• May be dealt with by dismissal, a plea bargain,

reduction in charges, probation, or restitution.(e.g., when OJ was beating his wife Nicole Brown,it was treated as a less serious felony because theywere married and because OJ didn't have a historyof violent convictions)


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IV. Misdemeanors

• Petty crimes including, disorderly conduct, publicintoxication, shoplifting, minor assault.• Millions of these cases are handled by the lower

criminal courts in "assembly-line" fashion eachyear.

• Typical penalty is a small fine; few cases receiveany jail time

• The experience of having to attend court isgenerally punishment enough. ALTHOUGHVARIES BY COURTS


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Hard or Soft on Crime?

• The system is both harsh and lenient

• Hard on second-layer serious felonies andsoft on third-layer less serious felonies.

• Must be careful with aggregate data becauserelatively few cases are celebrity andserious.


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The Criminal Justice System: Size andExpense

55,000 different public agencies$100 billion annual budget

1.8 million employees20,000 police agencies

17,000 courtsTHERE IS DIVERSITY IN HOWTHESE SYSTEMS FUNCTION


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Chapter 15 - 8

Crim inal J u s t i ce Fu n n elCr im inal J u s t i ce Fun n el

Of 1,000crimes that are

committed

Only5 juveniles and

18 adults areincarcerated


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The Funnel

• 2,780,000 index crimesreported, 727,000arrested, 177,000 formalfelony complaints,160,000 sentenced,63,000 to prison.

• (1% of all criminals go to prison.)

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

REPORTED ARRESTED PROCESS SENTENCE


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Soft on Crime?

Why out of 727,000 arrests are only 177,000 processed by system?

• 260,000 are juveniles (35%). Thus, 467,000 adultsremain.

• 128,000 of 467,000 (27%) are dismissed. Thus, 73% prosecuted.

• 90% of processed felonies are sentenced.


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Figure 1.7 Burglary: The Chance ofPunishment


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Courtroom Work Group andLegal Reform

• Prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, andsome police work together day in and day out.

• As a result of social interaction, theseindividuals create informal rules (institutions)

about how to deal with different types ofcases. (e.g., “heavy” vs. “garbage” cases).


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Legal Reform

• Legal reform can be inhibited by theinformal institutions of the courtroom workgroup.

• New laws are passed, but the workgroup

ignores them and follows their own system.(e.g., three-strikes laws).


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How Many Mistakes?

• CJ officials surveyed believe that about 1%of cases lead to wrongful convictions.

• 1981: 5,729 convictions

• 1900-present: 343 people convicted ofcapital punishment; 25 killed and the othersgot up to 25 years in prison.


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Date of Execution:

January 4, 1995

Offender:

Jesse Jacobs #872

Last Statement:

I have committed lots of sin in my life, but I am not guilty ofthis crime.I would like to tell my son, daughter and wife that I love them

– Eden, if they want proof of them, give it to them. Thanks forbeing my friend.


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Lecture 14B: ConservativePosition; Liberal Position

How much of an effect do parts

of the criminal justice systemhave on crime rates (burglaryand robbery)?


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Conservative Position

The system is “easy” oncriminals. In other words,individuals who violate

laws do not experiencecriminal sanctions such as

prison, jail, or fines.


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Can Different Policing PracticesReduce Crime?

1.) Police/population ratio: will more police per capita reduce crime? Are crackdownson “hot spots” effective?

2.) Increase number of detectives

3.) Eliminate the “Technicalities”


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Police population ratios

1.6San Jose

1.7San Diego

2.2Los Angeles

3.8Detroit4 Newark, N.J.

7Wash. D.C.

Officers per 1,000citizens

City


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It depends on what police do!

• More police does not always mean moreenforcement.

• Police may not actually be on patrol at peak crimehours, or they may not make arrests and be visible.

• More police and more money for police may notresult in more “policing.”


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Kansas City Experiment

• Proactive (2-3 more patrols)• Reactive (no routine

patrols)• Control (normal

levels).

• Neither crime nor perceptions of crimediffered in

experiment


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Why Patrol Has Limited Impact

• Patrols are spread very thin—patrol cars passdifferent points only once a week or so.

• Many crimes occur indoors, involveacquaintances, and occur in the “heat of passion.”

• Many criminals underestimate possibility of beingcaught, and some are simply fatalistic.


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Crackdowns and “Hot spots”

• Crackdowns—short bursts of police activities— are often crude and unsophisticated. Often purpose is to arrest a lot of suspected criminals(then release them) to satisfy the public.

• Hot spots: Some areas majority of victimizations

occurs in small geographic area. Evidence formodest deterrence effect from increased patrols inthese areas.


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2.) More detectives?• Detectives solve cases in

which they have a name ofthe suspect.

• Information is the criticalfactor.

• LA: 86% of “Named”cases cleared and 12% of“Unnamed.” N

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Eliminate the “Technicalities”

• Conservatives believe the courts have“handcuffed” the police with procedural rules thatlimit their power.

• Exclusionary rule: evidence obtained in illegalsearchers and seizures is inadmissible in court.

• Miranda warning: “You have the right to remainsilent….”


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Exclusionary Rule and CrimeFighting

• Due process accounts for very few rejections anddismissals (about 27% dismissed).

• Cases solved more by information from witnessesthan from physical evidence (physical evidencemore important for drugs/weapons possession andgambling cases).

• Few defendants use rule (5%) and successful inless than 1% of cases.


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Miranda Warning

• Important to look not at only convictionsoverturned, but at number of confessions policeget. Confession rate declined, but net effect wasonly 3.8% loss in convictions.

• Most suspects (60-80%) feel guilty and confess to

police (although “prisoner’s dilemma tacticsused).


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Part II. Incarceration: GettingCriminals off the Street

• The main conservative control strategy is toget criminals off the street by locking themup.

• All “lock ‘em up strategies” seek to limitdiscretion of judges. “Bleeding heart”

judges are simply too lenient with convictedoffenders.


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Bail Reform

• Civil rights activists in the 1960-70s pushed forreforming bail laws that discriminated against the poor.

• Defendants released on recognizance if evidenceof job, family, or community ties (discriminationof unemployed people continued).

• Rise in crime rates coincided with bail reform,thus conservative sought new policies.


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Preventive Detention

• Allows judges to deny bail to high-risk criminaloffenders.

• Reagan administration pushed for laws allowingthis to occur and Supreme Court upheld it.

• Ineffective: 1.) Judges only switched method ofdetention 2.) and only 6% of released defendantscommitted another crime.


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Selective Incapacitation

• Lock up only the few high rate or careercriminals.

• Attention from CJ system. Claims thatselective incapacitation can reduce crime

between 30-80%.


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The Rand Formula

• Individuals from the 90th

percentile—or the careercriminals—average 87 crimes a year.

• Use background characteristics (e.g., previousoffenses) to rank likelihood of committing morecrimes.

• Employment caries same weight as prior offence!If unemployment causes crime, why not createmore jobs?


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Gross Incapacitation

• Gross incapacitation has been adopted.Goal is to simply put lots of people in prison.

• Reason why prison rates tripled between1980 and 1995.


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Zedlewski’s Model

• Argued that for every dollar we spend onimprisoning criminals, we save 17$ inother societal costs.

• Argued that each offender imprisonedsaves society 405,000$


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Absurd Predictions of Model

• 1977 to 1987 prison population increased by 230,000.

• If each criminal did on average of 187 crimes, then 43

million crimes should have been prevented.

• In 1987 there were less than this 43 million crimes

altogether. In short, the model predicts completeelimination of all crime by 1986!!!

W h ld b k i l h


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We should be skeptical thatincarceration has dramatic effect

on crime rates.


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Three Strikes Laws

• A popular form of mandatory sentencing law.Goal is to mandate prison for third offenceregardless of judges’ preferences.

• Used in many states, but with varying degree ofseverity.

• Universally condemned by criminologists.“Vengeance as Public Policy.”


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Part III: Loopholes

• Celebrity cases have made people believe insanitydefense is often used. In reality less than 1% of allcases and usually not successful.

• Plea bargaining: hated by both liberals andconservatives. However, a “market” for the

courtroom work group that leads to predictableoutcomes (serious felony cases treated severely).


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Reintegrate with Furloughs

• Furlough: classicrehabilitation program withgoal to reintegrate prisonerinto community.

• Few “fail” on furloughs.Florida: 31/96,745

Illinois: all/13,785Conn. 29/3,398

Bush and Dukakisdramatized the Willie Hortoncase in the 1988 presidentialelection


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The “Nothing Works”Controversy

• Review of rehabilitation programs founddiscouraging by different researchers.

• Findings suggest that there needs to be agood match between offenders andtreatment programs.

• BUT DIFFICULT TO PREDICT.


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1.) Diversion• 1.) Avoid labeling offenders committing less

serious crimes and protect juveniles.• 2.) Provide social services (drug/employment

counseling).• 3.) Reduce costs of imprisonment.

Consequences: a.) Net-widening (more people brought under some form of social control), b.)treatment is unspecific and often ineffective.


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2.) Probation• Most widely used rehabilitation program.

• By end of 1994, 2.9 million adults on probation.

• About 25% of convicted felons get “straight probation”.

• Goal: Keep person out of prison, but monitor themand give them treatment such as drug/alcoholcounseling and job help.


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Probation Populations in the United States,Probation Populations in the United States,19801980 --19971997

Percentage of Serious Felons ReceivingPercentage of Serious Felons Receiving


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ProbationProbation --Only SentencesOnly Sentences

Is Probation Effective?

Failure rates vary from 12 to 65%.

Estimated that 8% of crime committed by probationers

Probation effective if offender is socially “embedded”in positive networks ?


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3.) New IntermediatePunishments• A number of programs often used together in an

attempt to improve effectiveness of probation.

• Generally more intensive supervision andtreatment.

• Evaluations suggest ineffective and not trulyrehabilitative.

Intensive ProbationIntensive Probation


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Intensive ProbationIntensive Probation

SupervisionSupervision

•• Rely on great degree of clientRely on great degree of clientcontact by probation officercontact by probation officer(smaller case loads).(smaller case loads).

•• Many systems use very specificMany systems use very specificconditions, e.g. mandatory curfew,conditions, e.g. mandatory curfew,employment, drug testing,employment, drug testing,community service, etc..community service, etc..

•• Effectiveness variesEffectiveness varies


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House ArrestHouse Arrest

•• Offender required toOffender required tospend extended periodsspend extended periodsof time in one’s ownof time in one’s ownhome as an alternativehome as an alternativeto incarcerationto incarceration

•• Little standardizationLittle standardizationthroughout U.S. in howthroughout U.S. in howhouse arrest ishouse arrest isadministeredadministered


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Electronic MonitoringElectronic Monitoring•• Often used to ensureOften used to ensure

compliance with housecompliance with housearrestarrest

•• Similar recidivism toSimilar recidivism totraditional systemstraditional systems

•• Prison overcrowding isPrison overcrowding isreducedreduced

•• Issues of privacy andIssues of privacy andlibertyliberty

Boot Camps:


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p

- Military style

- Mixed success

- Aggressive andcounterproductive ?


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Do prisoners who are released on


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Do prisoners who are released on parole have lower recidivismrates than those serving longer

sentences?• Data are not encouraging: Half of all offenders

“fail.”• Because parolees do no worse than those who stay

in prison, a good idea to release offenders early?

• Once again, difficult to predict prisoners mostlikely to respond well to parole.


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Restorative Justice

• Victim/offender mediation and restoration.

• Limited usefulness for serious crimes

• Strong informal social controls required

(e.g., community enforcement of rules).


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Percent change in spendingper capita on prisons andhigher education, 1980-2000

Educate vs.Rehabilitate!

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