How laws are applied differently

• in theory, the law is applied equally to everyone: two different people suspected of the same crime should be treated in the same way by the justice system. however, this is not always the case. there are several ways in which the laws may be applied differently according to the circumstances in which a criminal act occurs.
• the law is not always enforced equally. moral panics about certain crimes and the situations in which they occur can lead to offenders being treated more harshly by the courts.
• moral panics - those convicted of relatively minor offences committed during the london riots of 2011, such as theft, were more likely to receive custodial sentences than similar cases committed under ‘normal’ conditions. likewise, the courts imposed more severe sentences on youths convicted of offences during the moral panic over mods and rockers in the 1960s.
• typifications - chambliss studied two groups of youths, the middle-class ‘saints’ and the working-class ‘roughnecks’. he found that the police enforced the law more strictly against the roughnecks.
• chambliss’s research supports that of cicourel who argues that police officers hold typifications - ideas about what a ‘typical criminal’ is like.
• piliavin and briar found that ‘situational factors’ play a large part in police officer’s decisions to stop or arrest a person. these include the individual’s class, ethnicity, age, attitude towards the officer, and place and time of day or nightt.
• two people may commit the same criminal act but will be treated differently by the law if one of them is below the age of criminal responsibility. this is the age below which a child is deemed not to have the capacity to commit a crime. the logic behind this is that children below a certain age are unable to understand the full meaning of the act they have committed and so cannot be held responsible for it in the same way.
• the age of criminal responsibility varies from place to place. in england, wales and northern ireland it is 10 years. no country has a lower age of criminal responsibility than this. in scotland the age of criminal responsibility is 12.
• children or young people who commit a crime may be treated differently by the justice system. most countries have separate courts to deal with offenders below a certain age.
• in england and wales, youth courts are special magistrates’ courts that hear cases involving people aged 10 to 17.
• youth courts are less formal: defendants are called by their first name, and members of the public are not normally allowed in. the court cannot send anyone to prison but can impose sentences including a detention and training order carried out in a secure centre.
• there are three special defences contained in the homicide act 1957 which exist solely for the offence of murder, where the defendant can plead not guilty despite having killed someone:

  • diminished responsibility
  • loss of control
  • automatism