Exam 1 CCJ2020, Criminal Justice exam
2, Exam 3
Why study crime? - correct answer ✔✔Functioning democracy, suppress crime, effects life
directly/indirectly, impacts how tax dollars are spent
Why do we have laws? - correct answer ✔✔To enforce the will of the people, maintain order, ensure just
treatment for all people
Conflict perspective - correct answer ✔✔
Consensus perspective - correct answer ✔✔Most people in society have shared values and beliefs. laws
naturally develop from shared norms. People hold shared labels of right and wrong. John Locke and
Thomas Hobbes
How should our criminal justice system operate? - correct answer ✔✔Packers model of criminal justice
value systems. Due process (liberalism) Crime control (Conservative)
Crime control - correct answer ✔✔Suppression of crime, efficiency, informal, speed, finality, uniformity.
Dually operates under the presumption of innocence and guilt
Due Process - correct answer ✔✔Protection of individual rights, reliability, formally, legal and factual
guilt, individualism. Presumption of innocence all the way through
Stages of the Criminal Justice Process - correct answer ✔✔Law enforcement, prosecution/pre trial,
arraignment, adjudication, sentencing, appellate review/corrections
Stage 1 - Law Enforcement/Arrest - correct answer ✔✔notification of a crime, arrest (taking into custody
of someone accused of a crime)
,Stage 2 - Prosecution/Pre-trial - correct answer ✔✔Government is bringing charges against a citizen
based on probable cause
Initial Appearance/Bail - correct answer ✔✔First appearance in front of the judge. typically 24-48 hrs
after arrest. Charges read to you, defense council assigned, bail decision. Bail is meant to make sure you
come back to court.
Preliminary Hearing - correct answer ✔✔Only court actors present. judge determines whether probable
cause exists
Grand Jury - correct answer ✔✔Group of citizens who hear a states case and decide whether probable
cause exists
Stage 3 - Adjudication - correct answer ✔✔Trial. guilt/no guilt. Plea
Arraignment - correct answer ✔✔Informed of charges. Asked to enter a plea. If you never plea guilty you
will end in trial
Stage 4 - Trial - correct answer ✔✔Only applies if "not guilty" plea throughout process
Stage 5 - Sentencing - correct answer ✔✔Assume guilt = yes
Aggravating factors - correct answer ✔✔Things that increase our culpability (ex. extensive criminal
history, use of an automatic weapon)
Mitigating Factors - correct answer ✔✔Things that decrease your culpability (ex. Minimal participant,
youthfulness, mental health disorder
Stage 6/7 - Corrections/Appellate Review - correct answer ✔✔If you think the government made an
error you can appeal. Correctional facilities administer the punishment (jails, probation departments,
prison)
,Federalism - correct answer ✔✔A system in which power is divided between the national and state
governments
Sources of Law - correct answer ✔✔Constitution (supreme law of the land), Legislation/statutes (codes
written by law makers, bills), precedent/common law (past cases foundation for future cases),
administrative rules (placed by administrative agencies)
Burdens of proof (civil) - correct answer ✔✔preponderance of the evidence (50,000 vs. 49,999)
Burdens of proof (Criminal) - correct answer ✔✔Beyond a reasonable doubt
Parties (criminal) - correct answer ✔✔State v. defendant (individual)
Parties (civil) - correct answer ✔✔Complainant (individual) v. Defendant (individual)
Punishment (criminal) - correct answer ✔✔Death, prison, jail (take away autonomy)
Punishment (civil) - correct answer ✔✔Money
Substantive Law - correct answer ✔✔Speak to me and you. tells citizens what they cannot do
Procedural law - correct answer ✔✔Speak to criminal justice actors. what they must do to secure a legal
conviction
Offense Levels and Offense Types - correct answer ✔✔Felony (more serious. punishable by 1 yr or more
in prison) Misdemeanor (less serious. punishable by 365 days in a local jail)
Discretion - correct answer ✔✔Leeway that criminal justice actors have to make decisions within the
confines of the law. Police discretion (ex. give a ticket or not) Prosecutors discretion (ex. to charge or not.
what charges to bring)
, Criminal justice v. Criminology - correct answer ✔✔Criminal justice- study of the response to crime.
criminology- the study of why crime occurs
Prior to 1700s: Supernatural - correct answer ✔✔thought to be caused by forces outside the individual;
evil forces
Classical School - correct answer ✔✔criminals make a rational choice to commit crime. individual free
will drives criminality. hedonistic- cost-benefit analysis
Rational-Choice/Cost-Benefit - correct answer ✔✔
Positivist - correct answer ✔✔Human behavior is controlled by physical and mental factors. criminals are
different from non criminals. science can discover the true causes of crime and treat offenders
Lombroso - correct answer ✔✔criminals were atavistic; biological throwback to earlier stage in evolution
(slanting forehead, long arms, coarse hair, etc.). born criminal
Sheldon - correct answer ✔✔Physical difference between criminals and non criminals. Criminals
behavior could be linked to different body types; somatotypes
Shaw & McKay = Social Disorganization - correct answer ✔✔Mapped where delinquent activity was
engaged in. large amounts of delinquents lived in neighborhoods with high poverty, high ethnic
heterogeneity, and high residential mobility. place based theory of crime
Merton = Strain - correct answer ✔✔high crime societies suffer from anomie- when people ignore the
rules and values of society. difficulty achieving goals can cause strain. crime is caused by goal blockage
(people believe legitimate means of achieving success are not available)
Agnew = General Strain Theory - correct answer ✔✔failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of
positive stimuli, presence of negative stimuli. explores other sources of strain in addition to economically
oriented goals.