Introduction to Criminal Justice

1 Klickable/FotoliaIntroduction to Criminal Justice1 Summarize criminology, Criminal law, and Criminal a defendant s due process major events that led to changes in the American Criminal Justice the fundamentals of the Criminal Justice the structure of the Criminal Justice the public-order (crime-control) and individual-rights (due process) perspectives of Criminal Justice and explain how the Criminal Justice system balances the John Locke argued that all human beings are endowed with what he called natural rights. These rights are given to people by a power higher than government, and people cannot be deprived of 11/2/14 7:03 AM2 Chapter 1 Introduction to Criminal Justice What does society do when there appears to be a conflict over due process rights or over what should be legal behavior and one party has to compromise? In cases where there is outright conflict, as to the rights claimed by one group but opposed by another group, the Criminal Justice system plays an important role in resolving the conflict.

2 When changing social values and norms result in conflicts between what the laws say are legal behavior and in the current morality, often there must be changes made to the Criminal Justice system. Laws may need to be changed or deleted or new laws may need to be the Declaration of Independence declares that peo-ple have unalienable rights and the Constitution describes those rights, from time to time, some of them may be in con-flict with popular opinion, the law, or social values. Society uses several means to balance conflicting rights and social values. In general, these means can be divided into informal and for-mal sanctions. Informal sanctions include social norms that are Balancing Public Safety and Unalienable RightsINTROThe Criminal Justice system encapsulates the changing social norms and values of the society. Some changes result in laws changing slowly over decades and other changes occur rapidly.

3 The changing laws related to same-sex marriage are an example of the latter. In the 1980s, sodomy between same-sex couples was a con-stitutionally upheld crime1 in more than half the states, same-sex marriage was not legal, and homosexuals were discharged from military ser-vice. In 1986, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining marriage as a union between one man and one 2003, the Supreme Court overturned its ruling up-holding the constitutionality of laws criminalizing sex between same-sex President Clinton adopted a Don t Ask Don t Tell policy for military personnel, and President Obama abolished military pro-hibitions against same-sex couples. In 2013, 13 states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriages. In 2013, the Supreme Court declared DOMA Court s ruling triggered numerous changes in the law. Within a month of the Court s ruling, the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Medi-care, and the military revised their laws and provided equal benefits for spouses of same-sex couples.

4 California pris-ons permitted inmates to marry same-sex partners who are not incarcerated3 and in Elane Photography, LLC v. Willock, the New Mexico Court ruled there was a moral and legal equivalence between racial discrimination and sex-ual : The Glue ThaT holds us ToGeTher In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled a pluralistic society must be a society of compromise by definition .. Compromise is part of the glue that holds us together as a nation .. it is the price of citizenship. Do you agree?DISCUSSF requently, the norms and values embedded in informal systems are reflected in the formal systems of order of Key Events1791 The rst ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, are added to the Constitution. These amendments are the foundation of the civil rights and due process rights of Thirteenth Amendment abolishes Constitution of the newly formed government is rati ed by the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship and is the basis for the due process clause of civil Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of voting rights based on race, color, or previous state of servitude.

5 The Fifteenth Amendment does not extend voting rights to women, only to television begins in the United Nineteenth Amendment extends voting rights to Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson establishes the separate but equal doctrine of racial discrimi-nation that permitted the legal separation of whites and v. Board of Education declares state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitu-tional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 that established the doctrine of separate but equal racial Parks is arrested and convicted for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus. Her arrest initiates the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott and many acts of civil 21/2/14 7:03 AM3 Balancing Public Safety and Unalienable Rightsenforced through the social forces of the family, school, govern-ment, and religion.

6 These social institutions teach people what is expected for normative behavior. In addition to teaching nor-mative behavior, these primary social institutions also provide punishment when people violate social norms. In the informal system, parents punish children for disobedience, bosses rep-rimand employees, teachers discipline students, and religious groups call on offenders to repent of their balancing of rights and public safety can also be achieved through use of formal sanctions (such as laws) found within the Criminal Justice system. Frequently, the norms and values embedded in informal systems are reflected in the for-mal systems of order maintenance. The more homogeneous and stable the people and their belief systems, the fewer the violations of social norms. In a homogeneous, stable society with a common belief system, there is less need for reliance on a formal system of social control to maintain order and regu-late interactions.

7 Social control systems operate most effectively and efficiently where there is constant and unified, overt and covert, and cultural and social support from all control However, contemporary society is not characterized by a homogeneous and stable group of people with a common belief system. Rather, the United States is characterized by great diversity in race, religion, ethnicity, and Powers of GovernmentIn Two Treatises of Government (1690), philosopher John Locke argued that all human beings are endowed with what he called natural rights. These rights are given to people by a power higher than government, and people cannot be deprived of them. Governments exist, according to Locke, to serve indi-viduals. People surrender certain rights with the understand-ing that they will receive as much, or more, in other benefits, such as safety, order, and preservation of property rights.

8 Locke conceded that the government must have the power of physi-cal force to protect people and their property from the physical violations of However, this power was to be balanced against the need to preserve individual liberty. John Locke s philosophies had a great influence on Thomas Jefferson when he drafted the Declaration of there is conflict be-tween rights, often the Court system decides which rights are to be sanctioned. For example, the Supreme Court has recognized the right of people who have conscien-tious objections to killing to be exempted from combat service (the exemption does not exempt them from mili-tary service when required by law), the right to refuse child-hood immunizations required by law, the right to withdraw children from public school before the age allowed by law, the right of Amish to be ex-empt from paying Social Secu-rity taxes, the right of Jews to be exempt from military rules that forbid nonuniform head coverings, and the right of Na-tive Americans to use certain drugs in religious ceremo-nies and gather eagle feathers (which is prohibited by law for nonnative Americans).

9 Often conflicts between competing Timeline of Key Events1791 The rst ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, are added to the Constitution. These amendments are the foundation of the civil rights and due process rights of Thirteenth Amendment abolishes Constitution of the newly formed government is rati ed by the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship and is the basis for the due process clause of civil Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of voting rights based on race, color, or previous state of servitude. The Fifteenth Amendment does not extend voting rights to women, only to television begins in the United Nineteenth Amendment extends voting rights to Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson establishes the separate but equal doctrine of racial discrimi-nation that permitted the legal separation of whites and v. Board of Education declares state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitu-tional.

10 The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 that established the doctrine of separate but equal racial Parks is arrested and convicted for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus. Her arrest initiates the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott and many acts of civil more homogeneous and stable the people and their belief systems, the fewer the violations of social the public-order (crime-control) and individual-rights (due process) perspectives of Criminal Justice and explain how the Criminal Justice system balances the sanctions Social norms that are enforced through the social forces of the family, school, government, and norms The expected nor-mative behavior in a sanctions Social norms enforced through the laws of the Criminal Justice maintenance Activities of law enforcement that resolve conflicts and assist in the regula-tion of day-to-day interactions of of social control A social system designed to maintain order and regulate process rights Rights guar-anteed to persons by the Constitu-tion and its (public-order)