crime control and the CJS

• formal institutions of social control

  the police and the criminal justice system
• informal social control

  the ways in which society pressures an individual to behave in a socially acceptable manor
• Althusser - marxist perspective of social control

  argued that the bourgeoise maintained control of the proletariat via the repressive and ideological state apparatus
• policing

  sociologists view the police as agents of social control
• conflict policing

  marxist perspective that views the police not as a part of the community but as a hostile outside force

  this perspective argues that the police are working directly in the interests of the ruling class
• consensus policing

  functionalists see the police as coming from and working on the behalf of the community

  left realists argue that this isn't the reality of policing but it is a desirable model
• police discretion

  the idea that police have some leeway as to when and how seriously they will enforce the law
• Reiner identified three police discretions

  structural discretion

  cultural discretion

  individual discretion
• individual discretion


  individual police officers will use their personal discretion and this can be discriminating
• cultural discretion

  the canteen culture of the police has impacted on discretion, meaning that they are more likely to be suspicious of certain social groups
• structural discretion

  marxist version where the police directly represent the interests of the bourgeoise and enforce law in their interests
• criminal justice system

  collective term for a wide range of institutions and systems that exist to prevent, detect and prosecute crime
• the crown court

  where more serious crimes are tried

  formal court with judge and jury