criminology unit 4

• AC1.1 - processes of law making
• What are the three parts of parliament?


  - the monarch

  - the House of Lords

  - the House of Commons
• How many peers are there in the House of Lords?

  800
• What is the main job of the peers?

  To act as a 'double check' on new laws.
• what is the House of Commons made up of?

  The elected representatives of the people (MPs)
• What is the government?

  The political party that has a majority of the 650 MPs votes. The prime minister is the leader of that party.
• What is the first stage of creating a new bill?

  Green paper - the initial report to provoke public discussion. Often includes questions for interested people to respond to.
• What is the second stage of creating a new bill?


  White paper - a document setting out detailed plans for legislation. Often includes a draft of the bill they intend to put before parliament.
• What is the third stage of creating a new bill?

  First reading - the gov introduces the new bill to the commons. This is a formal announcement of the new bill and is followed by a vote to allow it to move it to it's next stage.
• What is the fourth stage of creating a new bill?

  Second reading - the bills main principles are considered and debated by the whole House of Commons and a vote is taken. The gov will usually win this vote as they have the support of the majority of the MPs.
• What is the fifth stage of creating a new bill?

  The committee stage - a small group of MPs from different parties examine the bill in great detail. They will report back to the whole House of Commons and have often made amendments.
• What is the sixth stage of creating a new bill?

  The report stage - this gives the MPs a chance to debate and vote on the committee's amendments.
• What is the seventh stage of creating a new bill?

  The third reading - this is the final chance for the commons to debate the bill's contents. No amendments are allowed at this stage, they either pass or reject the bill.
• What is the eighth stage of creating a new bill?

  The lords - the bill goes to the House of Lords where it goes through the same process as the commons. If the lords have amended the bill it needs to return to the commons so MPs can decide if they want to pass or reject it.
• What is the ninth stage of creating a new bill?

  Royal assent - once the bill has been passed by both Houses of Parliament it gets sent to the monarch for signing. This is the monarchs agreement to make the bill into an act of parliament. The new law will come into force immediately unless the act specifies that it will come into act at a later date.
• Judicial processes of law making
• What are the two processes of judicial law making?

  Judicial prevent

  Statutory interpretation
• What is judicial precedent?


  where past decisions of judges create law for future judges to follow.
• How was precedent from Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) followed in Daniels v White (1938)?

  Donoghue v Stevenson: Mrs Donoghue suffered nervous shock upon discovering a decomposed snail in her bottle of lemonade. The court decided that the manufacturer of the lemonade owed a "duty of care" to Mrs Donoghue.

  
  

  Daniels v White: A claimant suffered burning in the throat having drunk a bottle of lemonade which contained a corrosive substance. The ruling in Donoghue v Stevenson was applied, despite the slightly different facts.
• What is the court hierarchy?

  the ranking of courts from lowest to highest according to the seriousness and complexity of the matters they deal with.
• What are the exceptions to precedent?


  distinguishing and overruling
• What is distinguishing?


  A precedent from an earlier case is only binding on a present case if the legal principle involved is the same and the facts are similar in both cases.
• What is overruling?


  Where a Court in a later case states that the legal rule in an earlier case is wrong. This only applies to courts higher up in the hierarchy.
• What is statutory interpretation?


  the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation
• Whitely v Chappell (1868)

  (an example of statutory interpretation)

  The defendant was charged with the offence of "impersonating any person entitled to vote". The defendant had pretended to be a person not on the electoral register because the person had died. The court held that the defendant was not guilty because dead people are not entitled to vote.
• What are the three interpretation rules that judges follow when applying a statue to a case?

  The literal rule

  The golden rule

  The mischief rule
• What is the literal rule?

  The courts give words their plain, ordinary or literal meaning, as if it would appear in a dictionary.

  E.G. R v Maginnis, a case involving illegal drugs, judges found different meanings for the word "supply".
• What is the golden rule?


  Sometimes the literal rule can lead to an absurd result, so the golden rule allows judges to modify the meaning.

  E.G. under the official secrets act it was an offence to obstruct her majesties forces 'in the vicinity of'. In the case of Alder v George, Alder argued he hadn't broken the law because he was in the prohibited place, not in the vicinity of it.
• What is the mischief rule?


  allows the court to enforce what the statute was intended to achieve rather than what the words actually say.

  E.G. the licensing act makes it an offence to be drunk and in charge of a 'carriage'. In Corkery v Carpenter, Corkery was convicted for riding a bicycle drunk because the act's purpose was to prevent people from using any form of transport whilst drunk.
• AC1.2 Describe the organisation of the criminal justice system in England and Wales
• What are the three parts of the criminal justice system?

  Law creation and administration - the passing of criminal laws by parliament

  Law enforcement - by the police

  The courts - decide the outcome of criminal cases

  Punishment of convicted offenders - by the prisons and probation services.
• What is the relationship between the following agencies of the criminal justice system?

  - Police

  - Ministry of Justice

  - HM Courts and Tribunals Service

  - Crown Prosecution Service

  - National Probation Service

  - Sentencing Council

  - Campaigns for change


  - Police: They work with the CPS to bring prosecutions. Police officers often give evidence in court.

  
  

  - Ministry of Justice: Oversees the work of the courts, probation and prison services.

  
  

  - HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Judges create law through judicial precedent and statutory interpretation.

  
  

  - Crown Prosecution Service: They advise the police on charging suspects.

  
  

  - National Probation Service: They liaise with the police if a prisoner needs to be recalled to prison. They oversee prisons who have been released on licence.

  
  

  - Sentencing Council: They work with the judiciary to produce guidelines for sentencing.

  
  

  - Campaigns for change: The Sarah's Law campaign liaised with the police to introduce the sex offenders disclosure scheme. The Bobby Turnbull anti-gun campaign liaised with the police in changing gun licensing.
• What is the relation between the police and the criminal justice system


  They work with the CPS to bring prosecutions. Police officers often give evidence in court.
• What is the relation between the military of justice and the justice system


  Oversees the work of the courts, probation and prison services.
• What is the relation between the CPS and the criminal justice system?


  They advice the police on charging suspects
• What is the relation between the national probation service and the criminal justice system?

  They liaise with the police if a prisoner needs to be recalled to prison. They oversee prisoners who have been released on license.
• What is the relation between the sentencing council and the criminal justice system?

  The work with the justiciary to produce guidelines for sentencing.
• What is the relation between campaigns for change and the criminal justice system?

  The Sarah's Law campaign liaised with police to introduce the sex offenders disclosure scheme. The Bobby Turnball anti-gun campaign liaised with police in changing gun license.
• Due Process model of criminal justice


  The justice system should safeguard the rights of the individual to reduce the chance of wrongful conviction.
• Presumption of innocence


  A person should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.