Police English – Two Modles of the Criminal Process

Police English

Two Modles of the Criminal Process

Chung-Wei Lu
Police English – Two Modles of the Criminal Process

Packer (1964) lays out two competing values that inform the laws and

institutions of criminal justice: crime control values and due process values. These

two values support two models of the criminal justice process, noting the gulf

between the crime control model which sees the regulation of criminal conduct as the

most important function of the criminal justice system and the due process model of

criminal justice administration with its emphasis on rights of the individual. He also

articulates the two models give operational content to a complex set of values

underlying criminal law, and the polarity of the two models is not absolute. However,

we see the tension between the two accounts for the conflict and disharmony that now

is observable in the criminal justice system.

Values Underlying the Models

Crime Control Values

The value system underlying 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 justice system. The crime control model places heavy

reliance on the ability of investigative and prosecutorial officers to elicit and

reconstruct a reasonably accurate account of what took place in an alleged criminal

event

Due Process Values

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Police English – Two Modles of the Criminal Process

The value system underlying the due process model rejects the premise of the

crime control model and substitutes for it a view of informal, non-adjudicative fact-

finding that stresses the possibility of error. The due process model focuses on having

a just and fair criminal justice system for all and a system that does not infringe upon

constitutional rights. Further, this model would argue that the system should be more

like an obstacle course, rather than an assembly line. The protection of individual

rights and freedoms is of utmost importance.

Personal Position on Two Models of the Criminal Process

Due Process Should Prevail

Criminal justice is the system that the government implements to ensure order,

minimize crime, and protect its citizens, all while protecting individual rights. With

such a broad spectrum of tasks that this ensues, subjectivity on the role of criminal

justice is inevitable. There are many different perspectives regarding which parts of

criminal justice should take precedence over others. Crime control and due process

are both implemented by the criminal justice system, and due process should be, in

my opinion, prioritized over crime control based on the nature of America and the

ideology that the country was based on although both the two perspectives are

absolutely essential to the criminal justice system. The individual should be protected

and should have his/her rights respected at all times, above everything and I believe

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Police English – Two Modles of the Criminal Process

that it should still be its main purpose for which the government was created. The

following arguments are the reasons why the due process should prevail :

Wrongful Conviction Is Difficult Inevitable

According to the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), there are 2,465

exonerations between 1989 and 2018, which cause more than 21,645 years lost (NRE,

2019). As we see, there are countless wrongful convictions that have revealed

disturbing fissures and trends in our criminal justice system to erode public

confidence and trust in the rule of law. Many wrongful convictions show us how the

criminal justice system is broken and how urgently it needs to be fixed. In each case

where the defendant has been proven innocence beyond doubt, an overlapping array

of contributing factors has emerged from mistakes, misconduct and to factors of race

and class. To avoid such outcomes, providing due process protections against

wrongful convictions through legislation is a fundamental way to reduce system

errors.

Due Process Is the Balance to the Power of Government

In Two Treatises of Government, John Locke argued that all human beings are

endowed with what he called natural rights. These rights are given to people by a

power

higher than the government, and people cannot be deprived of them. Governments

exist, according to him, is to serve individuals. People surrender certain rights with
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Police English – Two Modles of the Criminal Process

the understanding that they will receive as much, or more, in other benefits, such as

safety, order, and preservation of property rights. Locke conceded that the

government must have the power of physical force to protect people and their

property from the physical violations of others. However, this power was to be

balanced against the need to preserve individual liberty. John Locke’s philosophies

had a great influence on Thomas Jefferson when he drafted the Declaration of

Independence (Pearson, p6). The Constitution of the United States of America reflects

a distrust of a strong centralized government. The new government defined in the

Constitution consists of three independent branches: the executive, the legislative, and

the judicial. The Constitution divides power among these three branches of

government and provides checks and balances. It sets up a federal court system and

gives power to the states to set up court systems as they deem appropriate. The

original ten amendments, called the Bill of Rights, were added to the Constitution in

1791. The Bill of Rights delineates certain guaranteed freedoms of citizens like trial

by jury and the right to be secure in one’s home from unreasonable search and

seizure, which are the vital due process clauses.

Conclusion

Both crime control and due process are imperative for both society and the

criminal justice system to function. However, I believe that due process takes priority

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over crime control since due process is the balance to the power of government and

also a good way to avoid the wrongful conviction.

References

The National Registry of Exonerations - Exoneration Registry,

www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx.