Week 1 CJA/204
Gary Combs
May 20, 2015
Crime is a wrong doing in our society. Laws are established in our society to keep peace and security in our neighborhoods. When a person violates a known law then a crime has been committed. This is when the models of due process and crime control come into play. “Herbert Packer, a Stanford University law professor, constructed two models, the crime control model and the due process model, to represent the two competing systems of values operating within criminal justice. The tension between the two accounts for the conflict and disharmony that now is observable in the criminal justice system.” (Houghton, Miffilin, & Harcourt, 2015) These models differ greatly. The crime control model is based on conservative beliefs and the due process model is based on liberal values. The times in our society has determined which model is relevant and being used at the time. In the 60's the times were liberal and due process prevailed. In the 70's into the early twenty -first century criminal control models conservatism has prevailed. Both models are prevalent in our society. The criminal justice system is a collaboration of legislative, judicial and executive branches of our government. Both our federal and state legislative branches define crimes, set punishments and fund our correction departments. Our judicial branches impose sentences. They make the person stand accountable for the crime. Our executive branch from the President of the United States to the governor of your state appoints judges and approves funding for programs to decrease crime. Every person has the choice to commit a crime. Many theories are out there. Poverty, addiction, psychological, sociological and many more. Not all people raised in poverty become criminals. Many are valuable members of our society. Addiction is a strong pull to the life of crime. Addiction makes it hard to hold a job and be a valuable member of society. The person becomes fixed on the next hit and will do anything to get it. Many people are psychologically unstable. Just recently here in Ohio we had a veteran with PTSD that had gone untreated by the VA open fire from his bedroom window and just missed hitting a toddler in his car seat. Luckily no one was hurt. But now he will be put through a criminal justice system and hopefully in the end get the help he needed at the being. Sociologically people believe that criminals breed criminals. I am not so sure that a person is brought up to be a criminal. Can you predispose your child to be a criminal? I guess it is possible if no morals or values are taught to the child. The components of our criminal justice system are the police department, court, and corrections. The police department enforces the laws. They must maintain order. They work with prosecutors to bring criminals to justice in the court system. The court system is there to bring justice to our criminals. However, their job is huge. They must make sure that every person brought before them is given a fair and just trial or in my words treated fairly. Corrections is how the punishments are carried out. This could be probation, community service, fines, jail, prison, etc. “It has been understood that a criminal justice system has two primary and possible conflicting goals: preventing and controlling crime, and achieving justice. In the United States this was made most clear by the title of