Two Models of the Criminal Process (From Criminal Justice in America: Theory, Practice, and Policy, P 155-165, 1996, Barry W Hancock and Paul M Sharp, eds. -- See NCJ-160206)

• NCJ Number: 160216
• Author(s): H L Packer
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice-Hall, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Two models of judicial philosophy -- the due process and crime-control models -- polarize the issues that involve the administration of justice in a democracy.

Abstract

Each of the two models is an attempt to give operational content to a complex of values that underlie the criminal law. The value system that underlies the crime control model is based on the proposition that the repression of criminal conduct is by far the most important function to be performed by the criminal process. In order to operate successfully, this model must produce a high rate of apprehensions and convictions, and must do so in a context where the magnitudes being dealt with are very large and the resources for dealing with them are limited. There must then be a premium on speed and finality. A successful conclusion to a case is one that screens out at an early stage those cases in which the evidence against a suspect is weak and then securing convictions from the rest of the cases as expeditiously as possible. If the crime control model resembles an assembly line, the due process model looks like an obstacle course. Each of its successive stages is designed to present formidable impediments to processing the accused any further along in the process. The due process model focuses on ensuring that every suspect and defendant has the opportunity and the resources to examine thoroughly all of the evidence in a fact- finding forum that complies with the rules of fact-finding. The due process model insists on the prevention and elimination of mistakes to the extent possible. The crime control model accepts the probability of mistakes up to the level at which they interfere with the goal of repressing crime. The due process model views the process as a means of protecting the factually innocent as much as a means to convict the factually guilty. Tensions between the two models in the processing of cases are spurred by the adversarial nature of case processing. To the extent that tensions between the two models are resolved by deference to the due process model, the authoritative force at work is the judicial power. Questions for discussion and suggested student applications of chapter material