How the criminal justice system operates

Assignment Content

The criminal justice system operates under the assumption that you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, society is complex and consists of competing perspectives, such as the desire to express individual freedom while also maintaining the need for order and preventing/controlling crime. This produces a constant tension between the perspectives.

Consider the content discussed in Chapter 1 of Introduction to Criminal Justice.

Imagine that you are talking to a friend about pursuing a job in the criminal justice system.

Write a 300- to 500-word response describing the conflict between due process and crime control models. Address the following:

• Describe the differences between the formal and informal social control.
• Define the 2 models: crime control and due process.
• Describe the conflict between the models.
• Which one do you think your local community represents?
• How might the emphasis on human services impact the conflict between due process and control?