Introduction to Criminal Justice

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Suffolk County Youth Academy

Criminal Justice –�“a system of law and order”

• is the structure of laws, rules and agencies designed to hold criminals accountable for their misdeeds. In the US there are many individual systems working in concert to accomplish this goal. How they work depends on the jurisdiction in charge - whether it’s a city, county, state federal, tribal government or military installation. To further complicate matters, criminal justice operates at both the state and federal levels depending on the location of the crime.

Goals of the Criminal Justice System-

• Guaranteeing due process
• Protecting life and property
• Preventing crime
• Enforcing the laws
• Equal Justice
• Apprehending offenders
• Assuring victims’ rights

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The criminal justice system is broken down into three areas – Law Enforcement

• 1. Law Enforcement are the professionals who ENFORCE the law and apprehend violators. This also includes programs and efforts to prevent and deter criminal activity. That includes state and county or village police, sheriffs, federal agents and District Attorney Investigators, Attorney General and some peace officers among others.
• Police officers are the most visible component of a government in society. Police – Towns, Villages, City, County…
• Goals of Law Enforcement Officers (LEO):

Protect life and property

Prevent crime

Maintain order

Arrest Violators

Assure victim’s rights

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2. The Court System – � Judicial

• They prosecute the criminal cases and defend against those prosecutions while protecting witnesses and victims who come forward to participate in court proceedings. The court system is also responsible for analyzing and creating new laws that prohibit or penalize negative behavior. People who work here include, District Attorneys, Attorney Generals, US Attorneys, County Public defenders, Federal Defenders, Judges, paralegals, court clerks, court reporters, court officers, process servers, victim advocates and witness coordinators.
• Local Criminal Courts -
• Village, Town, City
• Superior Courts -
• County
• Supreme
• Appellate Division
• Court of Appeals

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3. Corrections -

• Correctional agencies are tasked with housing, punishment and rehabilitation of law offenders. This is comprised of Jails and Prisons. There is also probation (in lieu of serving time) and parole (violators released from prison to serve the remainder of their time supervised by Parole Officers). Persons who work within this system consist of corrections officers, probation officers, parole officers, rehabilitation specialists, corrections counselors and Wardens. CO’s are employed by County, State and Federal agencies. They work and oversee the prisons and jails.
• A prison, detention center, penitentiary, correctional facility, lock-up, remand center or goal is a facility in which inmates are confined and denied a variety of freedoms by the state as punishment for various crimes for which they have been convicted. A jail is under the jurisdiction of local government (such as a county) for the confinement of those persons awaiting trial or those convicted of MINOR crimes.

CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES -

• County Jails
• County Probation
• Department of Correctional Services
• NYS Division of Youth
• NYS Division of Parole
• NYS Division of Probation & Correctional Alternatives

Goals of Corrections -

Rehabilitation

Confinement

Supervision of parolees & probationers

Assure victim’s rights

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Criminology -

• Criminal Justice also includes Criminology, which is the study of crime and its causes. It is a branch of sociology (the study of human behavior). It helps to develop theories and analyzing empirical patterns to help law enforcement and the criminal justice system work on laws, punishments, rehabilitation and prevention strategies. A person who specializes in this area is called a criminologist.

Police and their responsibilities -

• Police typically are responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities. These functions are known as the ‘act of policing’.

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History of Policing -

• One of the oldest criminal codes is the Code of Hammurabi, developed by the king of Babylonia around 2100 B.C.
• The early Egyptians established laws and courts and a rudimentary rule of law.
• One of the earliest forms of organized policing was created by the Emperor Augustus. In 7 BCE Augustus divided the city of Rome into 14 regiones (wards), each consisting of vici (precincts) overseen by vicomagistri, who were responsible for fire protection and other administrative and religious duties. As a further measure to impose order on the often violent streets of Rome—a city of nearly one million people—Augustus created three “cohorts” of police (called watchmen), which were part of the army of the state and were placed under the command of the urban prefect. Those cohorts could, in turn, call upon the emperor’s own bodyguard (the Praetorian Guard) for assistance.
• The earliest policing system in England, which predates the Norman Conquest in 1066, was community-based and implied collective responsibility (ie:all adult males are to be responsible for the good conduct of each other and to band together for their community’s protection.) These community based groups were banded together and reported to a centralized person called a ‘shire-reeve’ which eventually developed into the modern office of the Sheriff. Later the Norman conquerors added the office of the constable to oversee the “night watches” (or rattlewatch). Yet, despite the addition of constables, the investigation and prosecution of crimes remained a private matter to be handled by the victims. The Statute of Winchester of 1285 codified the system of social obligation. The Justice of the Peace Act of 1361 began the process of centralizing the administration of justice in England. It established the office of justice of the peace, the responsibilities of which encompassed police, judicial, and administrative duties (ie: judges).

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Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) Home Secretary, Prime Minister, Founder of the London Metropolitan Police, Father of modern policing

Nicknamed Bobbies or Peelers

• In 1822, the home secretary, Sir Robert Peel, known as the ‘founder of modern professional policing’ in England, sponsored the first successful bill to create a professional police force in England. The Metropolitan Police Act (1829) established the London Metropolitan Police Department, an organization that would become a model for future police departments in Great Britain, the British Commonwealth, and the United States. The metropolitan constables were not immediately popular. Most citizens viewed them as intrusive and illegitimate, and they were often jeered. However, they eventually overcame the public’s misgivings, and they gained a worldwide reputation for the excellence of their leadership. Their mission statement popularly known as Peel’s Principles (comprised of 3 core ideas and 9 principles). According to those principles, police should demonstrate impartiality, focus on crime prevention, carry out their duties within the limits of the law, work in cooperation with the public so that the public voluntarily observes the law, and use force only to the extent necessary to restore order and only when other means have been exhausted. Contemporary police scholars consider Peel’s Principles to be as relevant a guide for police departments in the 21st century as they were in the 19th.
• "The police are the public and the public are the police.“

- Sir Robert Peel

Peel’s 3 CORE Ideals -

• The goal is on preventing crime, not catching criminals. If the police stop crime before it happens, we don't have to punish citizens or suppress their rights. ...
• The key to preventing crime is earning public support. ...
• The police earn public support by respecting community principles.

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Early policing in Colonial America -

• The United States inherited England’s Anglo-Saxon common law and its system of social obligation, sheriffs, constables, watchmen, and stipendiary justice. As both societies became less rural and agrarian and more urban and industrialized, crime, riots, and other public disturbances became more common. Yet Americans, like the English, were wary of creating standing ‘centralized’ police forces. Among the first public police forces established in colonial North America were the watchmen organized in Boston in 1631 and in New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1647. Although watchmen were paid a fee in both Boston and New York, most officers in colonial America did not receive a salary but were paid by private citizens, as were their early English counterparts. A “stipendiary” police system evolved where the capture and conviction of thieves was paid for by private citizens but was rife with corruption. This person, would attempt, for a fee, to secure a return of all or part of the stolen property.

Organized Police Departments -

• The first organized police department in the United States was established in Boston in 1838 and NYC in 1844 (it was officially organized in 1845). Other cities soon followed suit: New Orleans and Cincinnati (Ohio) in 1852 and Philadelphia in 1854; Chicago and Milwaukee (Wis.) in 1855; and Baltimore (MD.) and Newark (N.J.) in 1857. Those early departments all used the London Metropolitan Police as a model. Like the Metropolitan Police, American police were organized in a quasi-military command structure. Their main task was the prevention of crime and disorder, and they provided a wide array of other public services. Initially there were no detectives. Officers walked a “beat” or foot post and stopped at Police ‘call’ boxes along their route which allowed the officer to turn a key in the box and his location would be registered at his HQ, they later added phones to speak with officers.

Early ‘coppers’ -

• As a symbol of authority, the NYPD adopted a single copper badge, mounted on a leather circle. Early English police forces had very large copper helmets (or, in some versions, copper buttons). It may also be a variation of the Latin word ‘capere’, meaning, to grab or apprehend. It is from this police may have acquired the nickname ‘copper’ which was shortened to ‘cop’ over time. Other explanations include the color of early sheriff’s cars or just the shortened phrase for a “Constable On Patrol”.
• A prevailing characteristic of the early police was the prevalence of politics in hiring, promotion, and enforcement priorities. This led ultimately to civil service testing.
• Training was minimal during the early years, and most officers worked under little supervision.
• With few technological aids to assist the officer, the mechanics of early police work were crude at best.

Modern Detective Divisions -

• Detective units later were established in the police departments of many American cities, including New York City in 1857 and Chicago in 1861.
• Investigators usually were former thief-takers or constables who had continued their stipendiary investigative activities after the creation of police departments. Although they brought investigative skills to the police, they also brought the bane of stipendiary police—corruption.
• New York City suffered major scandals in 1877—all as a consequence of corruption. Many major cities including Chicago and Boston soon reconstructed their ‘investigative units’, but significant improvement in the professional conduct of detectives did not occur until well into the 20th century

August Vollmer – First Police Chief in Berkley California, founder of Professional Policing Reform Movement in the U.S.

• The founder of the professional policing reform movement in the United States in the 1920’s was August Vollmer, the first Police Chief in Berkley California (1905-1952) also established the first police training school in 1908. He promoted the application to policing of concepts from the study of management, sociology, social work, psychology, and technology, and he was the first major police official to argue that police officers should have a college education. His School of Criminology was housed in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, where he later held a position as a university professor of police science.
• After Vollmer, the basic strategy of policing shifted to what became known as the “three Rs”: random preventive patrols, rapid response to calls for service, and reactive criminal investigation and automobile patrols became a large part of this policing model in the belief that it would prevent crimes through omnipresence. This model came to dominate policing in the United States after that time. Unfortunately it removed officers from “foot patrols” and officers became reactive, responding after the crimes had occurred.

Current Types of Policing -

• Watchman -
• Emphasizes maintaining order, usually found in communities with a declining industrial base, and a blue-collar, mixed ethnic/racial population. This form of policing is implicitly less pro-active than other styles, and certain offenses may be "overlooked" on a variety of social, legal, and cultural grounds as long as public order is maintained. Broad discretion is exercised in this style of policing which can result in complaints of discrimination when it appears police treatment of different groups results in the perception that some groups get better treatment than others.
• Legalistic -
• Emphasizes law enforcement and professionalism. This is usually found in reform-minded cities, with mixed socioeconomic composition. Officers are expected to generate a large number of arrests and citations and act as if there were a single community standard for conduct, rather than different standards for different groups. However, the fact that certain groups are more likely to have law enforcement contact means this strict enforcement of laws may seem overly harsh on certain groups.
• Service -
• Emphasizes the service functions of police work, usually found in suburban, middle-class communities where residents demand individual treatment. Police in homogeneous communities can view their work as protecting their citizens against "outsiders", with frequent but often-informal interventions against community members. The uniform make-up of the community means crimes are usually more obvious, and therefore less frequent, leaving police free to deal with service functions and traffic control.
• At any given time, police officers may be acting in a watchman, service, or legalistic function by the nature of what they are doing at the time, their temperament, or their mood. Individual officers may also be inclined to one style or another, regardless of the supervisor or citizen demands.
• Community-oriented policing was started in the 1970’s which is a shift in policing practices in the U.S. that moved towards a more preventative model where police actively partner with the community they serve. Problem-oriented policing (POP) started in the 2000’s was created to address specific problems such as drugs and gang crime.

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Current Models of Policing -

• There are approximately 17,985 U.S. police agencies in the United States which include city police departments, county sheriff's offices, state police/highway patrol and federal law enforcement agencies.
• Law enforcement agencies, to varying degrees at different levels of government and in different agencies, are also commonly charged with the responsibilities of deterring criminal activity and preventing the successful commission of crimes in progress. Other duties may include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs, and other orders of the courts.
• Law enforcement agencies are also involved in providing first response to emergencies and other threats to public safety; the protection of certain public facilities and infrastructure; the maintenance of public order; the protection of public officials; and the operation of some detention facilities (usually at the local level).

A positive outgrowth of modern reforms was an increase in the development and application of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for police officers.

Printed rules & regulations police officers are required to follow.

Efforts continue to professionalize police, such as establishment of state police standards organizations.

Police officer standards & training (POST) organizations, strive to formalize and standardize training, procedures, and hiring practices.

Another advancement pertains to police accreditation for law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

Federal Agencies -

• At the federal level, there exists both federal police, who possess full federal authority as given to them under United States Code (U.S.C.), and federal law enforcement agencies, who are authorized to enforce various laws at the federal level. Both police and law enforcement agencies operate at the highest level and are endowed with police roles; each may maintain a small component of the other (for example, the FBI Police). The agencies have jurisdiction in all states, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions for enforcement of federal law.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) is responsible for most law enforcement duties at the federal level. It includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), among others.

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More Federal Agencies -

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is another branch with numerous federal law enforcement agencies reporting to it. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), United States Secret Service (USSS), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are some of the agencies that report to DHS. The United States Coast Guard is assigned to the United States Department of Defense in the event of war.

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Questions -

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• Do we need Police? Are the police social service agents or law enforcers?
• Should the police serve the people in a community or the government in the community?
• What sort of policing system do we have now?
• Do you feel the system is effective?
• If not, what would you change to improve the system?