Criminal Law 727M3

Seminar 1:
Crime and Criminal
Justice

James Greenwood-Reeves
J.Greenwood-Reeves@Sussex.ac.uk
CW: racism, misogyny, BDSM, sexual
abuse
Outline
• Introduction
• Brief history of the CJS
• CJS overview
• Activity 1: CJS diagrams
• Theories of Criminalisation
• Activity 2: liberalism vs moralism
• Theories of Punishment
• Principles of Criminal Law
• ECHR and the CJS
• Activity 3: problem questions
• Final thoughts
Introductions
• Seminars each week (1200-1400
Tuesdays, Arundel Building 1B)
• Support hours: see on Canvas
• No such thing as “neutral”
• Assessment: 1) distance exam, 2)
essay
• Formative assessment

• “CORPORATE MANSLAG”
Some shorthands

• Some short-hands: D: defendant

CCJ: Crime and Criminal Justice V: victim
MR: mens rea CJS: criminal justice system
AR: actus reus DPP: Director of Public Prosecutions
M: moral / morality CPS: Crown Prosecution Services
J: justice CC, CA, SC: Crown Court, Court of
L: law Appeal, Supreme Court
ECHR: European Convention on Human
Rights (NOT EU)
Brief history of the
CJS
• Norman conquest: adversarial, trial by battle
• 1200s: juries, justices of the peace, coroners
• Punishment: corporal punishment, capital
punishment, deodand
• The king’s justice: common law
• Common law rights: fair trial, presumption of
innocence, etc.
• From the 1600s: transportation
• Coloniality: imprisonment
• Oxbridge and white men
Brief overview of the CJS today
• Magistrates or Crown
Court
• Adversarial system
• Appeal to Crown Court >
Court of Appeal >
Supreme Court
• Prosecution: DPP and CPS
• MoJ, legal aid, and cuts
Activity 1

• Draw a rough diagram on the theme of

”The Criminal Justice System” (5 minutes)
• Paper or electronic format
• Then we’ll share
• Feel free to pop on the seminar padlet!
Theories of
criminalisation
• i.e. how do we know what to punish?

• Legal moralism
• M. wrongs > M. condemnation, hence CJS
• Lord Devlin, “outrage” not “harm”
• Society’s “right” to “protect itself” and its M
• Problems: subjective, non-homogenous,
hegemony
 • The “liberal” approach
Theories of • Mill, On Liberty: the Harm Principle
criminalisation • Feinberg, includes offence caused?
• Wolfenden Report
• Problems: define “harm,” individualistic, harm to
self?
Theories of criminalisation

Liberalism or Moralism?

• R v Brown [1993] 2 All ER 75

• Lord Templeman: “Society is entitled and
bound to protect itself against a cult of
violence”
• Lord Mustill, dissenting: “repugnance and
moral objection […are not] grounds upon
which the court could properly create a
new crime
Activity 2
• Which is better, Legal Moralism or
Liberalism?
• Two teams: think of arguments in favour of
YOUR side (5 minutes), then let’s share
thoughts (5 minutes)
 Theories of
Punishment
• Deterrence
• Sanctions dissuade criminals
• Empirical evidence unclear

• Incapacitation
• Incarceration keeps criminals away
• …but makes them more likely to offend when
they’re released
Theories of
Punishment
• Rehabilitation
• Reduce recidivism and the causes of crime
• “Expensive?”

• Compensation
• Repay victims, “reset balance”
• What about “victimless” crimes?
• Exploits poor defendants?
 Retribution: “just deserts”
Theories of • M. vindication
• Not necessarily “revenge”
Punishment • Fails to address underlying problems?
 Principles of
Criminal Law
• Descriptive, prescriptive, or evaluative?

• Strict construction
• Autonomy
• Minimalism
• Authoritarianism
• Proportionality
• Rule of Law
Principles of
Criminal Law
• Non-retroactivity
• Shaw v DPP (1962), “conspiracy to
corrupt public Ms.”
• Knuller v DPP (1973) , no more
common law crime invention
• R v R (1992), marital rape: develop
with society?
Principles of
Criminal Law
• Fair warning: or “maximum certainty”
• Clarity and promulgation (accessibility)
• Sunday Times v UK (1979), Art 7 ECHR

• Recent decline: Coronavirus regulations?

ECHR and the
CJS
• Article 6: fair trial
• Article 7: no punishment without law
• HRA 1998
Colonialism of law
and the CJS
• Colonial “Boomerangs”
• Prison and imprisonment
• Over-representation
• Power and privilege
 A, who has drunk several glasses of wine, is admiring an
expensive porcelain vase belonging to F. F hands it to him
for a closer look but A drops it and it breaks. Should A be
criminally punished?

B plans to break in to G’s house and take any valuables

they can find. B gathers the necessary equipment to

Activity 3 break in and goes to the house. As B is inspecting the

window and working out the best way to get inside, she
has a change of heart and decides not to go through with
it. Should B be criminally punished?

C buys drugs from D for him and his friend E. E has a bad
reaction to the drugs and dies. Should C be criminally
punished? Should D?
Problem questions
• Top tips: Issue, Rule, Apply, Conclude (IRAC)

• Issue: go through one sentence at a time

• Try the more serious offence per issue first
• Rule: cite case law or legislation, not secondary sources
• Apply: does the rule apply?
• Conclude: If there’s ambiguity, say so…
• …then make a firm conclusion based on legal reasoning
Final thoughts

• Next week: seminar 2, actus reus, with Dr Lucy

Welsh
• Topic questions via Canvas, please: Discussions
or padlet
• Otherwise email J.Greenwood-
Reeves@sussex.ac.uk
• Twitter: @jrhgreenwood