Criminology - UNIT 4

• Government processes of law making

  1. Parliament passes laws/statues/legislation with Acts of Parliament

  2. The Lords - Members are peers, role is to double check on new laws

  3. The Commons - Most important part of parliament, made up of elected representatives

  4. The Government - Runs the country, formed by the party with a majority of MPs, proposals for laws (bills) come from the government and require agreement from the Houses and Royal Assent to become law

  5. Green Paper - Initial report published before a Bill is put to parliament, provokes public discussion

  6. White Paper - Published after consultation, sets out detailed plans for legislation and draft of Bill
• Parliamentary stages of a Bill


  1. First reading - Government introduces bill into the Commons for reading

  2. Second reading - Bills have main prospects considered and debated by House of Commons who then take a vote

  3. Committee stage - Bill is examined line by line in detail by a committee of MPs from different parties

  4. Report stage - MPs consider the committee's proposals and debate and vote on the changes

  5. Third reading - Final chance for the Commons to debate the Bill's contents, no changes allowed now

  6. The Lords - Bill goes through the same stages in the House of Lords, if amended it goes back to the Commons

  7. Royal Assent - Monarch signs the Bill formally, making it an Act of Parliament/law
• Judicial precedent


  Law-making based on past judges' decisions - future judges follow this to create new law
• Statutory interpretation


  Judges interpret the meaning of the words in statutes/Acts of Parliament and apply them to the case
• Literal rule


  Judges use everyday, ordinary meanings of words in the statute
• Golden rule


  Literal meanings can be modified from the literal meaning to avoid an absurd result
• Mischief rule


  Allows court to enforce what the statute intends to achieve instead of what the words actually say
• Superego


  The moral conscience developed through early socialisation, tells us what's right/wrong and inflicts guilty feelings for misbehaviour
• Agencies of social control


  • Organisations/institutions that impose rules on us to make us behave a certain way, can give positive and negative sanctions
• Hirschi's bonds of attachment


  Attachment, commitment, involvement, beliefs - the stronger these bonds, the less likely someone is to commit crime
• Internalisation of social rules & morality

  We internalise rules from socialisation, society's moral code and rules become our personal ones, we willingly conform to social norms
• Coercion


  The use or threat of force (physical or psychological) to make someone do or stop doing something
• Deterrence


  Punishments to stop individual offending (individual deterrence) or deter the whole of society from offending (general deterrence)
• Incapacitation


  Protecting the public by removing offender's opportunity to offend again, e.g. imprisonment
• Reparation


  Making amends to the victim or society, fixing the material/social harm caused, e.g. financial compensation or restorative justice
• Peel's philosophy of policing

  • Preventing crime/disorder is the basic mission, ability to perform duties depends on public cooperation and approval, physical force is the last resort, police are just citizens in uniform upholding the law
• Aims and objectives of the police

  • Keep peace/maintain order
  • Protect life/property
  • Prevent, detect & investigate crime
  • Bring offenders to justice
• The total police budget for 2020/21 was £15.2B, coming from central government, local council tax, and charging for services
• Using physical force is the last resort
• Police are the public & the public are the police- the police are just citizens in uniform who uphold the law like all citizens must
• Aims and objectives of the Association of Chief Police Officers

  • Keep peace/maintain order
  • Protect life/property
  • Prevent, detect & investigate crime
  • Brings offenders to justice
• Police powers


  Stop & search, arrest, question, detain, etc.
• The total police budget for 2020/21 was £15.2B
• Sources of police funding

  • 2/3 from central government
  • Most from local council tax
  • Small amount from charging for service like policing football matches
• Police funding fell by 19% during 2010-18, which led to a fall of 20,000 in police numbers
• National & local reach of police

  • 39 regional forces in England (like Met police), 4 in Wales (like South Wales Police) & 1 each in Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Types of criminality & offender dealt with by police

  • The police deal with almost all offenders, but some specialist agencies deal with certain crimes, like HM Revenue and Customs dealing with fraud/tax evasion
• Police duties


  • General duties like patrolling the area, working with community, answering calls, securing crime scenes, gathering witness evidence and apprehending offenders
• Specialist policing


  • Criminal Investigations Department, fraud & drugs squad, specialist branch, air support, river police and dog handler units, National Crime Agency, SO15 (counter terrorism)
• Unarmed policing is most of Britain's police, as to reflect Peel's view that force is the last resort
• Special constables


  Unpaid, part-time volunteers who have the same training and legal powers as paid officers
• Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)


  Limited powers to deal with street anti-social behaviour, like issuing fixed penalty notices for littering/underage drinkers, and asking officers to arrest someone
• Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs)


  Elected representatives of the area covered by a police force, who give the locals a voice in policing. They aim to cut crime and ensure efficient/effective policing, as well as setting the local force's priorities, budget, and holding the Chief Constable to account
• CPS took over the role of prosecuting in 1986, because the police doing it alongside investigating crimes has a risk of bias
• Roles of the CPS

  • Advise the police in their investigation and lines of inquiry/evidence needed for a case
  • Keeping cases under continuous review and independently assessing evidence submitted by police
  • Decided whether to prosecute and what charges should be
  • Preparing and presenting the prosecution case
  • Assist, inform and support victims/prosecution witnesses
• Philosophy & values of the CPS

  • Independence & fairness-prosecuting without bias
  • Honesty & openness
  • Treating everyone with respect
  • Behaving professionally & striving for excellence
  • Equality & inclusion- inspires greater confidence in the CPS from victims/witnesses
• CPS income comes mostly from the government, and the budget is approx. ½ Billion per year
• CPS are able to recover some of their costs when courts award costs against offenders, as well as assets confiscated from them
• The CPS budget fell by 25% in 2018 and lost 1/3 of staff
• Types of criminality & offender dealt with by CPS

  • Apart from very minor offences, CPS deals with the full range of offenders/criminals