1.3 Describe Models of Criminal Justice

• Herbert Packer

  • constructed two models to represent the two competing systems of values operating within criminal justice
  • crime control model
  • due process model
• Crime Control Model

  • seeks a quick and efficient disposal of criminal cases - goal is suppression of crime
  • prioritises catching and punishing offenders, deterring and preventing them from committing further crime
  • focus of protecting rights of society and victim
  • compared to an assembly line or conveyor belt
  • starts with the presumption of guilt, trusts police to correctly identify offenders
  • argues that if a few innocent people are punished, it is a price worth paying for large numbers of guilty people convicted
• Crime Control Process (Theories)

  • Right Realism
  • right-wing, Conservative approach to justice, like zero-tolerance policing it favours giving the police greater powers to investigate and suppress crime
  • Functionalism
  • support it as the main function of justice is to punish the guilty, this enable society to strengthen social cohesion and reinforce moral boundaries
• The Birmingham Six

  • wrongfully convicted of a bombing that took place in 2 pubs in Birmingham in 1974
  • 5/6 were on their way to Belfast to go to the funeral of an IRA bomber
  • 21 people were killed and 220 injured
  • convictions quashed in 1991 due to investigative techniques of journalist, Chris Mullin
  • false confessions contradicted each other and didn't match the evidence from the scene
• Due Process Model

  • goal is to protect accused from oppression by state and its agents (police, judges, and prosecutors)
  • starts with presumption of innocence
  • has less faith in police's ability to conduct satisfactory investigations
  • includes rules about arrest, questioning, legal representation, admissibility of evidence, and cross-examination of witness
  • guilty sometimes go free on a technicality
  • emphasises rights if accused individual rather than those of the victim or society
• Due Process Model (Theories)

  • Left Realism
  • argues that the oppressive "militaristic policing" of poor areas triggers confrontations and makes residents unwilling to help/trust the police
  • Labelling
  • police must be tempted to act illegally, harassing groups that they label negatively as "typical criminals"
  • due process offers some protection against this because it requires police to follow lawful procedures and not exceed powers
• Colin Stagg

  • wrongfully arrested for the murder of Rachel Nickel in 1992
  • honey trap used - undercover police officer tried to get him to confess but he insisted he was innocent
  • police information ruled as inadmissible due to police abusing their powers
  • spent 13 months in custody and received £706,000 in compensation