Colloquium in Criminal Justice

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Colloquium in Criminal Justice
College of Adult Professional Studies Course
Number CRJ 290 Colloquium in Criminal Justice

Thomas N. Davidson, J. D.
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Colloquium

• A colloquium is an informal meeting to discuss
  some subject matter. The purpose of this
  colloquium is to
• 1. Identify key contemporary criminal justice and
  homeland security theories and issues
• 2. Demonstrate knowledge of the overall criminal
  justice field
• 3. Discuss the history of the criminal justice
  field
• 4. Express an educated opinion on the present
  condition and future prospects of American
  society in the context of criminal justice and
  homeland security issues.

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Part 1. Systematic Issues
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Issue 1.

• Are US crime problems a result of our failure to
  get tough on crime?
• Yes. Criminal behavior is rational choice crime
  rates will go down when society increases
  penalties.
• No. The system fails because it produces
  substantial benefits for those in power. The
  wealthy uses ideology to convince people that the
  system is the best one that society can create.

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Crime Prevention Deterrence
Crime Prevention
Crime Deterrence
Likelihood of being caught
Desire
Ability
Desire
Gravity of harm if caught
Opportunity
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Ego Identity

• Ego identity is formed when youths develop a full
  sense of the self, combining how they see
  themselves and how they fit with others.

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Role diffusion

• Role diffusion occurs when people spread
  themselves too thin, experience personal
  uncertainty, and place themselves at the mercy of
  people who promise to give them a sense of
  identity they cannot develop for themselves.
  Example Gangs.
• For a discussion on what factors increase the
  chances of gang activity among juveniles got to
  http//www.lao.ca.gov/1995/050195_juv_crime/kkpart
  3.aspx

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At Risk Youth

• Young people extremely vulnerable t the negative
  consequences of school failure, substance abuse,
  and early sexuality.

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Cynical Preoccupied with Material Acquisitions

• By the time they reach 18, most young people have
  spent more time in front of the TV than in the
  classroom. They see thousands of depictions of
  rape, assault, murder, theft, and other
  anti-social behaviors. They also listen to hours
  of music with violent and sexual content.
  Research indicates that kids who listen to music
  with sexual content are more likely to engage in
  precocious sex than those who dont.

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Each day in America

• 2 mothers die in childbirth
• 4 children are killed by abuse or neglect
• 5 children or teens commit suicide
• 9 children or teens are killed by firearms
• 32 die from accidents
• 202 arrested for violent crimes
• 377 arrested for drug crimes
• 964 babies are born at low birthrate
• 1,210 babies are born to teen mothers

Siegel, L. J., Welsh, B. C. (2012). Juvenile
delinquency Theory, practice, and law (11th
ed.). Belmont, CA Wadsworth.
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Each day in America continued

• 1,240 public school students corporally punished
• 2,060 babies born without health insurance
• 2,175 children are confirmed as abused or
  neglected
• 2,222 drop out of high school
• 2,692 babies are born into poverty
• 4,435 children are arrested
• 4,498 babies are born to unwed mothers
• 18,493 public school students are suspended from
  school
• Siegel, L. J., Welsh, B. C. (2012). Juvenile
  delinquency Theory, practice, and law (11th
  ed.). Belmont, CA Wadsworth

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Poor Education

• About 70 of all 4th graders cannot read at level
• About 90 of blacks
• About 80 of Latino
• About 80 of American Indian
• Black children are about 50 more likely to drop
  out of school than white children in part caused
  by poor reading ability that leads to stress
• Siegel, L. J., Welsh, B. C. (2012). Juvenile
  delinquency Theory, practice, and law (11th
  ed.). Belmont, CA Wadsworth.

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Status Offenses

• Conduct is only illegal because the offender is
  under age.
• Smoking and drinking
• Skipping school
• Runaway
• Participating in sex
• Curfew
• Profanity
• Disobeying parents
• Truantcy

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Part I Crimes

• Serious crimes against property and people
• Murder
• Rape
• Burglary
• Arson
• Motor vehicle theft
• Theft
• Aggravated assult

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Part II Crimes

• All other crimes that are not Part I crimes
• Public intoxication
• Driving under the influence
• Littering
• Disorderly conduct, et cetera
• Drug use

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What the data says

• More than 13.6 million arrests each year
• 2.3 million are Part I crimes
• 11 million are less serious Part II crimes
• Juveniles are arrested for approximately 15 of
  Part I violent crimes and 24 Part I property
  crimes
• Kids 14-17 account for only 6 of population, but
  are arrested for a disproportionate amount of
  crime.
• 1.1 million juvenile arrests in 2009 for Part II
  offenses
• 74,000 status offenses arrests in 2009

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Causes of Crime

• Socioeconomic Status Theory
• Cognitive Behavior Theory
• Rational Choice Theory
• Trait Theory
• Biosocial Theory
• Psychological Theory

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Routine Activities Theory

• Capable Guardians
• Motivated Offenders
• Suitable Targets

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Social Factors Believed to affect Crime

• Interpersonal interactions family, peers,
  schools, jobs
• Community conditions inner-city, poverty, decay
• Exposure to violence
• Social change politics, mistrust, economic
  stress
• Low socioeconomic status poverty creates
  incentive
• Racial disparity poverty among minorities is
  higher than that of whites

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Theories

• Social Structure crime (C) is function of
  place in economic structure.
• Social Process C as result of interaction with
  socialization elements.
• Stratified Society Grouping society into classes
  based on the unequal distribution of resources.
• Culture of Poverty View that poor people form
  their own values which sometimes clash with
  conventional society.

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Theories

• Underclass Group of poor whose members have
  little chance of upward mobility.
• Social Structure Crime is result of
  socioeconomic conditions and cultural values.
• Enculturated The process learning what is
  accepted in a culture.
• Social Disorganization Links crime to being
  locked out of economic mainstream which cause
  anger.
• Cultural Deviance Lower class culture develops
  in disorganized areas whose beliefs are in
  conflict with conventional norms

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Theories

• Social Transmission Norms and values passed down
  from each generation.
• Social Control Ability of institutions to
  influence social behavior.
• Social Ecology Law abiding behavior is result of
  social rather than individual forces.
• Transitional Neighborhood Transition of
  population structure from middle class to
  poorer (White flight).

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Theories

• Siege Mentality Residents become suspicious of
  authority and consider outside world as the
  enemy. We see this when communities refuse to
  cooperate with police even when the crimes are
  outrageous and heinous.
• Collective Efficacy The ability of communities
  to regulate behavior through influences of school
  and family.
• Street Efficacy Using ones wit to avoid
  violence and feel safe.

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Theories

• Strain Theory Suggests that most people share
  similar values and goals. When people feel
  shutout they feel frustrated and angry, a
  condition called strain.
• General Strain Theory (GST) Multiple sources of
  strain interact with a persons traits and
  responses to produce crime.
• Anomie Normlessness produced by rapidly shifting
  moral values. Personal goals cannot be achieved
  using available means.

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Sources of Stress Causing Strain

• Failure to achieve positively valued goals.
• Disjunction between expectations and
  achievements.
• Removal of positively valued stimuli (loss of
  friends).
• Presentation of negative stimuli (child abuse).

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Research that Supports GST

• People who think they have been treated unfairly
  report high levels of anger high levels of
  theft.
• People who live in strain producing conditions
  are more likely to commit anti-social acts.
• People who believe that path to success is
  blocked are more likely to engage in criminal
  activities.
• Similar results in foreign countries (indicating
  not cultural based outcomes).

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Focal Concerns

• Unique value system that defines lower-class
  culture. Conformance to these focal concerns
  dominates life. Promotes illegal or violent
  behavior. The need for being seen as tough or
  the need for excitement, trouble, smartness
  (streetwise savvy), fate, and personal autonomy
  (independent of authority figures).

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Crime Subcultures

• Status Frustration Culture conflict experienced
  by lower-class youths because social conditions
  prevent them from achieving success as defined by
  society.
• Middle-class Measuring Rods Standards used by
  teachers others to evaluate behavior-when
  poorer kids do not meet standards they are
  subject to failure, which brings about anger and
  frustration.
• Reaction Formation ? Reaction that occurs when a
  person does or says something that is the
  opposite of what he really wants or is socially
  appropriate.

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Differential Opportunity

• View that poorer youths, which have limited
  opportunities, join gangs and pursue criminal
  careers as an alternative means to achieving
  success.
• Criminal gangs Criminal goals.
• Conflict gangs Protect their own.
• Retreatist gangs Retreat and create fringe
  society often getting high, sex, and music is
  goal.

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Social Process

• Socialization People learn to adopt the
  behaviors of the community in which they live.
• Family influence
• School
• Peers
• Religion

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Social Learning Theory

• Crime is learned through close relationships with
  others asserts that children are born good and
  learn bad from others.
• Differential Association Asserts that crime is
  learned within interpersonal groups and youths
  will become crime if violating the law is
  favorable to obeying the law.

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Principles of Differential Association (DA)

• Crime behavior is learned.
• Learning is a by-product of interaction.
• Learning occurs within intimate groups.
• Criminal techniques are learned.
• Perceptions of legal code influence motives.
• Crime participation may vary in duration,
  frequency, priority, intensity.
• Crime is an expression of needs values, but not
  an excuse.

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Neutralization Theory (NT)

• Subterranean values The ability of people to
  repress social norms. People can drift back and
  force between conventional and crime norms.

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Neutralization Techniques

• A set of attitudes that allow people to negate
  moral apprehension so that they may freely engage
  in crime behavior without regret.
• Deny responsibility.
• Deny injury (no one hurt, so not wrong).
• Deny the victim (he had it coming).
• Condemn the condemners (world, school, society is
  corrupt).
• Appeal to higher loyalties (Caught between being
  loyal to peers and rules of society).

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Social Control Theory (SCT)

• All people have the potential to violate the law
  and that society presents many opportunities for
  illegal activity. Drugs, illicit sex, even theft
  offer exciting pastimes. Is it fear of
  punishment that prevents offending behavior
  (choice theory)? Obeying law is a function of
  success, so we dont disobey (structural theory)?
  Obedience is because of contact with law-abiding
  parents and peers (learning theory)? SCT argues
  that internal and external forces control desire
  and passion. Proper socialization renders us
  incapable of committing D acts.

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Social Reaction Theory (Labeling Theory)

• Pygmalion effect. Tell someone they are bad,
  injudicious, lazy, or unqualified (and they and
  those around them) and the resulting
  reinforcement can actually cause the outcome.

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Symbolic Interaction

• People communicate via gestures, signals,
  symbols, and words that stand for something else.
  Ring on fourth finger of left hand indicates
  that the person is married for example.

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Status Symbols

• Possession, rank, or activity that indicates
  ones social prestige.

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Stigmatized

• Mark someone with disgrace or reproach to
  characterize or brand someone as disgraceful or
  disreputable.

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Differential Labeling

• Law is differentially applied white collar
  criminals ordinarily get lighter sentences than
  common burglars for example. This is due to
  discretionary decision making.

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Identity

• Damaged identity-stigmatized.
• Primary deviance-norm violations that little
  influence on the actor and can be quickly
  forgotten. Minor crimes that go unnoticed and
  therefore have little influence on the persons
  life.
• Secondary deviance-deviant acts that define the
  actor and create a new identity. Crimes that
  come to the attention of others who apply a
  negative label.

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Labeling Delinquency

• Pure deviants-engage in illegal acts and get
  caught.
• Conformists-do not engage in delinquent acts.
• Falsely accused-blamed for something they did not
  do.
• Secret deviants-engage in illegal acts, but do
  not get caught.

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Conflict Theory Prevention

• Restorative justice- humanistic, non-punitive
  strategies.
• Shame-personal feelings we have when we fail to
  meet personal standard or those of significant
  others.
• Reintegrative shaming-allowing offenders to
  understand their wrongdoing and shame themselves.
• Restoration-using the system to heal the offender.

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Concept Summary

• Developmental theory
• Life-course theory
• Latent trait
• Propensity
• Trajectory theory

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General Theory of Crime

• Integrates social control theory with biosocial,
  psychological, routine activities, and rational
  choice theories.

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Pathways to crime

• Authority conflicts-early age defiance and
  authority avoidance
• Covert pathway-begins with minor underhanded
  behaviors and then leads to more serious theft
  and fraud crimes
• Overt pathway- begins with minor aggression and
  leads to fighting and violent crimes
• See next slide

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Pathways to Crime
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Issue 2.

• Does the US have the right to torture suspected
  terrorists?
• Yes. Appropriate for preventing the greater
  evil.
• No. The use of torture is immoral and
  counterproductive.

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Egoism Ethical Model

• Egoism is belief that one ought to do what is in
  one's own self-interest, although a distinction
  should be made between what is really in one's
  self-interest and what is only apparently so.
  What is in one's self-interest may incidentally
  be detrimental to others, beneficial to others,
  or neutral in its effect.

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Guiding Formula for Moral Judgment

1. Select moral principle that best defines the
   problem honesty, fairness, equity, loyalty, et
   cetera.
2. Justify the situation by examining whether it
   conforms to the selected principle. If not,
   accentuating or mitigating factors that make it
   more or less fitting?
3. If situation fits exactly, then the judgment
   should be made exactly in accordance with the
   principle.
4. If it does not fit, judgment is made by
   determining a high or low likelihood that the
   situation fits the principle by examining the
   accentuating mitigating factors.

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EPJ2

• E is the ethical decision to be made.
• P is the principle.
• J is the justification of the situation.
• Square on the value of J is proposed to allow for
  justification to be ratcheted up or down
  depending on the power of accentuating or
  mitigating factors.

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EPJ2 put to the test.

• E Torture.
• P Sanctity of Life.
• J Protect Society
• Expedites the flow of information. (A)
• Prevents a greater evil to a large population.
  (A)
• May receive unreliable information. (A)
• Torture is intrinsically evil even when done by
  the government. (M)

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Issue 3.

• Should serious sex offenders be castrated? (Odd
  question, I wonder if the author meant serial
  sex offenders instead of serious sex offenders?
• Yes. Treat it as therapy instead of punishment.
• No. Ineffective, unacceptable, and
  unconstitutional.

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EPJ2

• E is the ethical decision to be made.
• P is the principle.
• J is the justification of the situation.
• Square on the value of J is proposed to allow for
  justification to be ratcheted up or down
  depending on the power of accentuating or
  mitigating factors.

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Issue 4.

• Will strict gun control laws reduce the number of
  homicides in the US?
• Yes. Strong relationship between guns and death
  rate from murder.
• No. Institutionalizes the natural predatory
  advantages of larger and stronger people against
  weaker persons. (Law of the Jungle).

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London, UK v. Detroit, USA

• Detroit the Motor City experienced 418 cases of
  murder and non-negligent manslaughter and has a
  population of 713,777 people.
• London, UK, experienced 55 murders and has a
  population of 7,825,200.

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Part 2. Legal Issues
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Issue 5.

• Should the United States abolish the Exclusionary
  Rule?
• Yes. If reliable evidence is excluded, wrongful
  convictions and acquittals will result.
• No. Sole effective remedy to secure compliance
  with the Constitution.

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Criminal Procedure Exclusionary Rule

• Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914).
  First used in federal case.
• Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961) Made applicable
  to the states.
• Rationale
• Dirty Hands
• Deterrence
• Way to enforce constitution

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Issue 6.

• Is black rage a legitimate defense in criminal
  proceedings?
• Yes. Defendants crimes are a product of social
  racism.
• No. History of racial victimization is not a
  license to commit crime.
• What if the victim has never done anything
  overtly racist or doesnt even know the suspect?
  Unlike battered wife syndrome, where the wife
  seeks to stop suffering from the hands of her
  spouse, should black rage defense be applied
  across the board to all crimes?
• For an informative essay on Black Rage as a
  criminal defense go to http//findarticles.com/p/
  articles/mi_hb3587/is_n5_38/ai_n28690423/

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Issue 7.

• Should US court abandon the Miranda Rule?
• Yes. Social costs are too high and burdensome to
  administer in the court system.
• No. Required by the Constitution and the
  potential damage to effective law enforcement is
  not a sufficient reason to disregard a
  constitutional requirement.

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Text of the Fifth Amendment

• No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
  or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
  presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except
  in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
  in the Militia, when in actual service in time of
  War or public danger nor shall any person be
  subject for the same offence to be twice put in
  jeopardy of life or limb nor shall be compelled
  in any criminal case to be a witness against
  himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
  property, without due process of law nor shall
  private property be taken for public use, without
  just compensation.

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Court Made Rule

• Nowhere in the 5th or 14th Amendments does it say
  that when the police take someone into custody
  that they must pull out a card and recite the
  Miranda warnings. If this is required by the
  Constitution, then why not other notice and
  educational information of the Constitution be
  required to be give by the police?

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Issue 8

• Should a judge be permitted to admit evidence
  about an alleged rape victims history as a
  prostitute?
• Yes. For the purpose of impeaching her
  credibility.
• No. Contrary to intent and spirit of states
  rape shield law.
• For an informative discussion on rape shield laws
  go to
• http//www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbIDDB_FAQRap
  eShieldLaws927

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Part 3 Processional Issues
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Issue 9 Should Pleas Bargaining Be Abolished?

• Yes. To reinstate justice and restore public
  confidence.
• No. Natural part of process. Tailored reforms.

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Issue 10 Should Juvenile Ct. System be Abolished?

• Yes. Too deficient. Lacking in safeguards and
  therapeutic treatment.
• No. Retain but reinvigorate with resources.

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Issue 11 Cameras in the Courtroom?

• Yes. Cameras educate public and will restore
  public faith in the system.
• No. Can do irreparable harm to a persons right
  to a fair trial, privacy concerns, and security
  concerns.

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Issue 12 Do Three Strikes Laws Reduce Crime?

• Yes. If strictly enforced.
• No. Have not delivered and cost too much.

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Crime Prevention Deterrence
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Habitual Offender IC 35-50-2-8

• Except as otherwise provided, the state may seek
  to have a person sentenced as a habitual offender
  for any felony by alleging that the person has
  accumulated two (2) prior unrelated felony
  convictions.
• The state may not seek to have a person sentenced
  as a habitual offender for a felony offense if
  the offense is a misdemeanor that is enhanced to
  a felony in the same proceeding as the habitual
  offender proceeding solely because the person had
  a prior unrelated conviction some traffic
  felonies and some other restrictions as to
  offenses.
• A person has accumulated two (2) prior unrelated
  felony convictions for purposes of this law only
  if        (1) the second prior unrelated felony
  conviction was committed after sentencing for the
  first prior unrelated felony conviction
  and        (2) the offense for which the state
  seeks to have the person sentenced as a habitual
  offender was committed after sentencing for the
  second prior unrelated felony conviction.
•  A conviction does not count for purposes of this
  law as a prior unrelated felony conviction
  if        (1) the conviction has been set
  aside        (2) the conviction is one for
  which the person has been pardoned
  or        (3) other restrictions with respect to
  types of offenses.
• Proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Sentence not
  less than maximum for the offense or up to three
  times the maximum.

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References

• Hickey, T. (2007). Taking sides Clashing views
  in criminal justice. Dubuque, IA
  McGraw-Hill.
• Siegel, L. J., Welsh, B. C. (2012). Juvenile
  delinquency Theory, practice, and law (11th
  ed.). Belmont, CA Wadsworth.
• U.S. Const. amend. V.