criminal justiceguiltinnocencecrimehuman rightsmanagerialismneoliberalismvictims
This chapter discusses the nature, structure, values and objectives of 'criminal justice', together with recent trends, primarily in England and Wales.
Do criminal justice systems reflect values shared by the dominant society?
Criminal justice systems reflect principles and values shared by the dominant society and help orient the behavior of citizens (Durkheim, 1983 ).
An important question to be answered pertains to the weight that cultures others than the dominant one is or should be given within criminal law and criminal proceedings.
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General principles of criminal law
Determining what conduct constitutes a crime usually requires an examination of the terms of the relevant provisions of the criminal code or statutory provisions (a few offenses in English law have not been defined in statute).
Despite differences of form and detail, there are several general principles of criminal law that are widely found across .
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Intention
One of the most-important general principles of criminal law is that an individual normally cannot be convicted of a crime without having intended to commit the act in question.
With few exceptions, the individual does not need to know that the act itself is a crime, as ignorance of the law is no excuse for criminal behaviour.
Thus, if a person believes that an act is perfectly legal and intentionally performs that act, the legal requirement of criminal intention is met.
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Overview
Determining what conduct constitutes a crime usually requires an examination of the terms of the relevant provisions of the criminal code or statutory provisions (a few offenses in English law have not been defined in statute).
Despite differences of form and detail, there are several general principles of criminal law that are widely found across .
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Rule against retroactivity
One widely accepted principle of criminal law is the rule against retroactivity, which prohibits the imposition of ex post facto laws (i.e., laws that would allow an individual to be punished for conduct that was not criminal at the time it was carried out).
The rule restricts the authority of judges to declare new offenses (though not necessarily to expand the scope of old ones by interpretation).
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What are police values?
Values in Policing is -* , ./'-7 -a By Robert Wasserman and Mark H.
Moore This paper explores the role that the explicit statement of police values can have on the pursuit of excellence within police departments.Values are the beliefs that guide an organization and the behavior of its employees.
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What is a criminal justice system?
Criminal law defines what behavior is deviant and what is not and has a value-imposing function.
Criminal justice systems reflect principles and values shared by the dominant society and help orient the behavior of citizens (Durkheim, 1983 ).
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What values should animate a new criminal justice system?
Absent from these important conversations, however, is a discussion about the values that should animate a new criminal justice system.
Many reformers are familiar with values such as:
liberty equality and pragmatism but an additional value is critical to the movement to end mass incarceration:parsimony. 