Due Process Model

• Opposite of crime control.
• Focuses on the presumption of innocence and the necessity of producing fairness by protecting the defendant's legal rights.
• Rather than an increase in police powers it asserts that police should be limited to prevent official oppression of the individual.
• The justice system should safeguard all the rights of an individual to provide against a wrongful conviction.
• Justice should involve a thorough investigation, where there is a protection of the innocent by legislative obstacles to overcome before a conviction can occur. This helps to ensure a correct verdict can be reached.
• It relates to the left realism approach to criminality, with a focus on the inequalities created by a capitalist society. A more equal and cari g society would eventually eliminate crime.
• Examples of areas of law that support the due process model

  • The acknowledgement of the need for police procedural safeguards by the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984.
  • All interviews are now recorded and suspects have the right to legal representation.
  • The Human Rights Act 1998 allows for criminal justice practices to thoroughly looked at from the human rights perspective.