crim 131 lecture 1

The criminal justice system police courts corrections The crime funnel large number of real crime but only a small number of people are incarcerated a lot of crime that goes undetected therefore the police can not respond to is
Role sand responsibilities of the government constitution act: establishes federal and provincial respondibilities federal – decides which behaviours are crimes provincial – law enforcement and administration of CJS municipal – responsible for policing and enforcing bylaws
Federal government has the power to create, amend and repeal all cacnadian criminal laws also sets the quidelines for prosecution of crimes and associated punishments responsible for the RCMP (federal police force) appoints some judges manages some courts (supreme court of Canada prosecute some federal offences federal corrections (correctional service of Canada); deal with sentences of 2 years or longer (2 year or less is dealt by with the provincial government)
Federal statutes
Constitution which contains the charter; basic rights and freedoms for all citizens
Criminal code of Canada: all criminal laws and updated frequently federal statutes
CJS: An adversarial system basic premise; advocates for each party with present their case before a neutral judge principles: presumed innocent until proven guilty crown responsible for proving the innocence of the accused children under the age of 12 are not considered responsible for their actions (cannot be criminally prosecuted) individuals who are suffering with mental disorders at the time of the crime committed – can also be considered not criminally responsible an attempted crime is still a crime (general sentence is half of the completed crime)
Adversarial system: concerns encourages the crown and defense to present distorted version of the events in order to win the case not everyone can afford a lawyer; not a uniform quality of legal representation reactive rather than preventative: not focused on preventing the crime or problem solving – crime has already been committed
The role of the Discretion of CJS : ability to choose from different options when making a decision critical: influences: individuals (officer specific) education, training, work and personal experience, religious beliefs, respond differently to young VS older offenders, setting of the crime concerns: can lead to inconsistency in the application of the law and case processing disparity of the law: very different decisions that can be made when all other things may be similar of both cases

Foundations of Legal system common law: based on the notion of precedent: stare decisis rule of the law magna carta components: all citizens subject to law, law must be fair and impartial, law can only be created by elected officials, must be written clearly so all citizens can understand it, law must be applied equally to everyone, penalties must be specified for all violations categories of law public law criminal law constitutional taxation administrative private law: regulates between individuals other than the state = civil law (dispute between private citizens) contracts, torts, inheritance, divorce, custody, property ownership
CIVIL LAW
CRIMINAL LAW wronged person sues in civil court gov’t responsible for prosecution civil courts can seize/freeze assets criminal courts determine guilt/innocence wronged person seeks financial damages possible financial penalty proof based on reasonable belief/probability proof beyond reasonable doubt

Criminal law acts or omissions (failure to perform an act) (failure to report child abuse is the most common omission) prohibited by law specific penalties principles of criminal responsibility criminal defences rules for police, courts and corrections that need to be followed
Purpose of criminal law social control: keeping society in line order maintenance definition of acceptable behaviours reduction of retaliation: keeping people from taking the law into their own hands deterrence general deterrence: trying to prevent everyone from committing a crime specific deterrence: individual specific – keep them from committing a future crime punishment criminalization protection of interest groups prevention of future crime
Origins & Applications of criminal law
1. value consensus model
a. law represents consensus of society: law should serve everyone equally
i. male in se (murder, rape) – crimes that offend everyone universally ii. mala prohibita (prostitution, gambling) – only wrong because they are against the law – not a universal agreement; changing more often
b. serves everyone
2. conflict model
a. society is viewed as groups that are al in conflict with each other
i. more powerful groups define laws ii. power maintenance through laws iii. laws are unequally applied – more often to the poor and powerless
Crime : act or ommisition prohibited by criminal law no legal defence
2 components :
1. actus reus : commission of act
2. mens rea: mental intent to commit act (attempted/intended to commit)
Offence Classification: based on seriousness
1. summary conviction: less serious (loitering, indecent telephone calls) – ~ 6 months in jail/$2000 fine
2. indictable convictions: very serious (murder, sexual assault, harassment) – ~ 14 years
3. hybrid/elective: tried as summary or indictable; decided by the crown (background of the offender; can choose to present themselves in front of only judge or judge and jury)
Crime Control Model
Due Process Model
Protection of community and apprehension of offenders
Legal rights of all citizens
Victim rather than offender rights
Procedural fairness for all
Guilt is presumed
Innocence is presumed
Conservative
Liberal police Courts

Is the CJS a system?
Some difficulties in the system: multiple mandates/goals: may work across purposes instead of working together information sharing (limited resources, privacy laws that don’t allow police to share information with other) diversity and complexity of system