This chapter examines justice in an absolute sense, and also justice in the context of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is the set of rules and practices under which government institutions and agencies act in order to prevent or control crime, to deal with those who break the law, and to support victims. ‘Justice’ in the context of ‘criminal justice’ refers to the extent to which the system aims to prevent or reduce offending; ensures that those who are accused, convicted, and sentenced are treated fairly (justly); and works to support victims and communities. Justice should be guaranteed by the law, especially the criminal law, in any state and should be clearly present in all decisions about crime and social issues made by those working for the state. As such, justice is core to almost every aspect of the criminal justice system. The chapter also considers broad definitions of justice; frameworks called criminal justice models on which understandings of justice in the criminal justice system can be anchored; philosophical ideas about the concept of justice; and the main systems used to bring about criminal justice.
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Chapter
Anthea Hucklesby and Azrini Wahidin
This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the key issues relating to the criminal justice system in the early part of the twenty-first century. It aims to provide undergraduate students with an overview of the institutions and agencies of the criminal justice system and the issues that arise with the process by which individuals are convicted and punished for transgressing the criminal law. The chapter then discusses the UK criminal justice system; criminal justice in context; and the effectiveness the criminal justice system. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
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Anna Souhami
This chapter examines how youth justice systems are shaped by different ways of thinking about youth, crime, and justice. It first discusses the emergence of the youth justice system in the nineteenth century, and shows how contemporary ideas about the problems of youth and youth offending are both relatively recent constructions and intrinsically connected to broader anxieties about social disorder. It then sets out some of the principles that have dominated the youth justice system at particular moments (welfare, justice, actuarialism, and restoration) and the implications of each for how problems of youth offending and appropriate responses to it are understood. The final sections describe contemporary youth justice in the UK. They focus on the various systems that have emerged in England and Wales, and Scotland; the different contexts which have allowed these approaches to develop; and the pressures now faced by both.
Chapter
This chapter starts by presenting a brief sketch of the key stages and decisions of the criminal process which forms part of the English criminal justice system. The significance of those stages and decisions is discussed before they are then classified according to their nature and consequence. This is followed in the next section by differentiating between the criminal process and the system before moving on to orient the reader by outlining significant reforms that have shaped the criminal process in the past decades. There is a final concluding section.
Book
Edited by Anthea Hucklesby and Azrini Wahidin
Criminal Justice provides a thought-provoking and critical introduction to the challenges faced by the UK's criminal justice system, including policing, sentencing, and punishment at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Expert contributors, including criminologists and lawyers, provide students with a critical introduction to issues, institutions, and agencies that shape the operation of the criminal justice system. The book provides students from a range of disciplines including criminology, law, sociology, psychology, and social policy with knowledge and understanding of the key areas of the subject and an appreciation of contemporary debates, policies, and perspectives. Each chapter features questions, summaries, tables, diagrams, annotated further reading, and weblinks to ensure the book is as accessible and engaging as possible, and provides clear guidance on further study. An illuminating glossary of key terms is also included. In this second edition: all chapters have been completely revised and updated; a new chapter has been included on the policy landscape of criminal justice; additional material has been incorporated into two chapters on the police and policing; and a new chapter on the criminal courts has been included, as have additional chapters on innovative aspects of criminal justice, and science and psychology in criminal justice. This title is accompanied by an Online Resource Centre containing an online version of the glossary of key terms and annotated web links.
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Azrini Wahidin
This chapter explores the links between gender and crime, charts the emergence of feminist perspectives within criminology, examines the different kinds of crimes in which men and women are involved, and considers the complex and changing relationship between masculinity(ies), femininity(ies), and crime. It deconstructs how these relations have been typically understood in criminological theory, and looks at the different ways in which men and women are dealt with by the criminal justice system.
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Keith Hayward and Craig Webber
This chapter, which introduces the ways in which psychological research has contributed to the understanding of crime and the criminal justice system. It combines a general review of some of the more prominent psychological explanations of criminal behaviour with some brief examples of how this work came to be employed in criminological theory and practice. At various intervals, the chapter also adopts a more reflexive stance in a bid to develop some critical insights into the way that ‘criminological psychology’ is portrayed and perceived within the popular imagination.
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Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
This introductory chapter briefly sets out the volume’s purpose, which is to explain the legal, procedural and evidential rules governing how cases are dealt with by the criminal justice system. It then explains the philosophy of the text and its unique features; introduces the key personnel and organisations within the criminal justice system; introduces the Criminal Procedure Rules; explains the classification of offences according to their trial venue; summarizes the jurisdiction of the criminal courts; stresses the importance of the pervasive issue of human rights; and highlights professional conduct considerations in the context of criminal litigation.
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This chapter studies criminal justice policies, practices, and the people who work within the system. It begins by tracing the origins and influences of criminal justice policies. Criminal justice policies predominantly come from the government, but other organisations and individuals such as academics, the media, corporations, and lobbyists can influence them. The motivations behind these policy influencers may vary, but they all share the ultimate aim of ensuring that their preferred strategy is implemented in practice. The chapter then considers the significant impact that ‘penal populism’ can exert on policy, and how government policy is shaping the ways in which the ‘adversarial-lite’ principle is implemented. It assesses use of both of those policies in practice in the courtroom and the community to see how key principles can play out in reality. Finally, the chapter reflects on the effects of all the components upon the people who work in the criminal justice system.
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This chapter describes the key principles of the criminal justice system. These key principles behind the abstract aims of criminal justice include the rule of law, adversarial justice, and restorative justice. The chapter particularly focuses on the rule of law doctrine to illustrate its status as the ultimate authority for democratic systems of justice around the world, but it also reflects on three of its supplementary concepts: an independent judiciary, due process, and human rights. Meanwhile, the traditional adversarial contest in a courtroom between two opposing sides means such hearings can lack impartiality as the role of the judge is limited to ensuring that the rules are followed. The restorative justice principle offers a different dimension, one that prioritises repairing the harms suffered by the injured parties.
Book
Lucy Welsh, Layla Skinns, and Andrew Sanders
Criminal Justice provides a comprehensive overview of the criminal justice system in England and Wales (excluding punishment), as well as thought-provoking insights into how it might be altered and improved and research that might be needed to help accomplish this. Tracing the procedures surrounding the appre-hension, investigation, trial and appeal against conviction of suspected offenders, this book is the ideal com-panion for law and criminology students alike. As the authors combine the relevant legislation with fresh research findings and policy initiatives, the resulting text is a fascinating blend of socio-legal analysis. Whilst retaining its authoritative treatment of the issues at the heart of criminal justice, the book has been fully updated with recent developments, including terrorism legislation and the initial Covid-related restrictions introduced in early-mid 2020. In this, the book’s 5th edition: two experienced new co-authors, Dr Layla Skinns and Dr Lucy Welsh, join Andrew Sanders (Richard Young having decided, 25+ years after the 1st edition, to do other things); the text features chapter summaries and selected further reading lists to support the student and encourage further research; the content of the book has been fully updated to include coverage of new legislation, case law, research and policy developments; and the text is enriched by the new authors’ specialist research into accountability, police custody, magistrates’ courts and criminal legal aid. The theoretical structure of the earlier editions is retained, but developed further by consideration of ‘core values’ in criminal justice and the impact of neoliberalism.
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Mark Thomas and Claire McGourlay
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. English Legal Systems Concentrate starts with an introduction to the English legal system (ELS). It then looks at sources of law: domestic legislation, case law, and the effect of EU and international law. The text also examines the court structure. It then looks at personnel of the ELS. It moves on to consider the criminal justice system and the civil justice system. After that, it looks at funding access to the ELS. Finally, it looks to the future of the ELS.
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This chapter outlines the origins and functions of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), before moving on to discuss several aspects of the prosecutorial function in the criminal process, in the belief that the decision to prosecute someone in itself is a form of imposition by the state that requires justification. The principle of equality of treatment is discussed throughout the chapter, not least in relation to the differences of approach taken by different prosecuting agencies. The chapter evaluates some of the practices of the CPS and examines empirical evidence of its performance of various tasks. It notes that, as with other large organizations, formulating principles and guidance satisfactorily is not sufficient to ensure that implementation in practice. The role of the CPS in refining and defining the criminal law is examined as well as the role of the victim, review and oversight of prosecution decisions and policies and prosecutorial ethics.
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Matthew Hall
This chapter examines the position of crime victims within the criminal justice system of England and Wales. It begins with an introduction to the development of the victims' movement in the 1970s. The chapter then considers key issues such as the scope of ‘victimhood’; victim rights; the needs and expectations of victims within the criminal justice process; and the policy response to such issues. It concludes by posing critical questions of the present reform agenda.
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This chapter examines the ways in which racism and ethnic diversity influence the process and outcomes of criminal justice. The discussions include how minority ethnic groups are represented across the criminal justice process and the proportions they comprise at each stage of the process; minority ethnic people's experiences as victims, their patterns of offending, policing patterns, and rates of disproportionality; and the representation of minorities in the criminal justice professions. The conclusion examines present and future challenges for the criminal justice process in the UK.
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Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter explores the aims and scope of the criminal law; and the criminal justice system within which it is used. Criminal law refers to the behaviour that makes a person liable to punishment by the state. The Principles of Criminal Law is helpful in evaluating the criminal law through the determination of key principles. Appeals from magistrates’ courts are mostly heard in the Crown Court. The Court of Appeal analyses how the trial judge summarised the case to the jury to establish whether the conviction is ‘safe’. The European Convention is integrated into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998. The advantages of codification are outlined by the Law Commission. It is noted that most English-speaking countries have a codified system of criminal law.
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This chapter explores the criminal justice institutions. In practice, the criminal justice system contains five distinct institutions that are responsible for delivering justice: the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (known as the CPS), the courts, probation providers, and prisons. Although they are all part of one overall system, each has different aims, roles, and challenges. Theoretically, the fact that these bodies are all accountable to the separation of powers concept should bring some unity in that it gives Parliament, the independent judiciary, and central government opportunities to shape the system to align with their version of justice. The government can exert considerable influence through the work of the Ministry of Justice or MoJ. The MoJ is currently the most important governmental agency in the criminal justice system, but the larger and more powerful Home Office is also involved to an extent, mainly with the police.
Book
Alisdair Gillespie and Siobhan Weare
The English Legal System presents the main areas of the legal system and encourages a critique of the wider aspects of how law is made and reformed. The book is structured in five parts. Part I looks at the sources of law including domestic and international sources. Part II looks at the courts and the practitioners. It considers the structure of the courts and tribunals, judges and judicial independence, the legal professions, and legal aid. Part III examines the criminal justice system. It describes issues related to lay justice, trials, and criminal appeals. The next part is about the civil justice system. It looks at civil litigation, remedies, appeals and alternative dispute resolution, as well as the funding of civil litigation. The final part looks to the future.
Book
Alisdair Gillespie and Siobhan Weare
The English Legal System presents the main areas of the legal system and encourages a critique of the wider aspects of how law is made and reformed. The book is structured in five parts. Part I looks at the sources of law including domestic and international sources. Part II looks at the courts and the practitioners. It considers the structure of the courts and tribunals, judges and judicial independence, the legal professions, and legal aid. Part III examines the criminal justice system. It describes issues related to lay justice, trials, and criminal appeals. The next part is about the civil justice system. It looks at civil litigation, remedies, appeals and alternative dispute resolution, as well as the funding of civil litigation. The final part looks to the future.
Chapter
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume, which is about the principles and structure of criminal law. It begins with a discussion on the definition of crime and explains the fundamental principles of criminal law such as actus reus and mens rea, the source of criminal law in general, and procedures involved in a criminal trial as distinct from civil proceedings. The chapter explores the four main reasons for criminalising conduct, the burden of proof in criminal proceedings and the classification of crimes and courts. It discusses four theories concerning criminal punishment, reviews several recent cases, and evaluates the criminal justice system in Great Britain based on statistics and public perception.
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