AC 1.3 models of criminal justice

• What are the two models of criminal justice?

  • The crime control model
  • The due process model
• Who came up with the two models?

  Herbert Packer, 1968
• What is the crime control model?

  • Goal is the suppression of crime, prioritising the catching and punishing of offenders, deterring and preventing them from committing further crime
  • Presumption of guilt, police should be free from any unnecessary legal technicalities that prevent them from investigating crime
  • Conveyor belt system that speedily prosecutes, convicts and punishes people
  • If a few innocent people are convicted by mistake it is a price worth paying for convicting a large number of guilty people
  • Emphasises the rights of society advice is rather than suspects
• What is the due process model?

  • Protect the accused from oppression by the state and its agents
  • Presumption of innocence, less faith in the polices ability to conduct satisfactory investigations
  • Suspects rights need to be safeguarded by a set of due process rules that investigations and trials must follow
  • Obstacle course system that prosecutors have to overcome before securing a conviction
  • Guilty sometimes go free on technicality
  • Emphasises the rights of the accused rather than those of the victims or society
• What theories can be linked to the crime control model?

  • Right realism: the model is a right-wing, conservative approach to justice and has much in common with right realist theories of crime
  • Functionalism: the model also has links with this theory, punishment reinforces society’s moral boundaries, the main function of justice is to punish the guilty
• What theories can be linked to the due process model?

  • Labelling theory: the model is a liberal approach, aims to stop state agencies from oppressing people, the learning theory inks as the police may be tempted to act illegally by harassing groups they label as ‘typical criminals’
  • Left realism: argues that oppressive ‘militaristic policing’ of poor areas triggers confrontations and makes residents unwilling to assist the police, in the left realist view police must follow the process by acting in a lawful and non-discriminatory way if they want to fight crime effectively
• Which two areas describe how far the models describe the system of justice in England and Wales?

  • The rules governing the working of the justice system: do the rules protect the rights of the accused or favour the prosecution
  • The way the system works in practice: do the police, prosecutors and judges actually follow the rules and procedures as they should
• What are some rules that govern the working of the justice system?

  • Due process rules to protect the individuals rights during investigation and trial
  • Illegally gained evidence may be deemed as inadmissible in court but the judge has the power to admit illegally obtained evidencE if they believe it will help to establish the truth
• What are some examples of miscarriages of justice due to agents of the state failing to follow procedure?

  • Colin Stagg
  • Sally Clark
  • The Birmingham Six
  • The West Midlands Serious Crime Squad
  • The case of Bingham Justices
• What happened with Colin Stagg?

  • He was he victim of an attempted entrapment following the murder of Rachel Nickell
  • The police became convinced that he was the killer and tried to use a honey trap to trick him into confessing to the crime
• What happened with Sally Clark?

  She was wrongfully jailed for the murder of her two baby sons partly as a result of the home office pathologist and prosecution witness Alan Williams who failed to disclose relevant information to the defence lawyers
• What happened with the Birmingham Six?

  • They were all wrongfully convicted of 21 murders after the police found fabricated evidence against them
  • The police deprived them of sleep and food, also used violence and threats against them to extract confessions
  • The judge wrongly deemed the confessions admissible as evidence while excluding defence evidence ad the prosecution presented dubious ad unreliable forensic evidence against them
• What happened with the West Midlands serious crime squad?

  • They were responsible for over 100 criminal cases involving malpractice by its officers
  • Perjury, assaulting prisoners, fabricating confessions and planting incriminating evidence on suspects
• What was the case of Bingham justices?

  • Bias by a magistrate
  • When a defendants evidence contradicted that of a police officer in a speeding case, the chairman of the magistrates said their principle in such cases has been too believe the police officer