INTRODUCTION TO LAW
ENFORCEMENT AND
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Ms. Autumn Pettit
Instructor
Section I: The Evolution of Law Enforcement and
Criminal Justice
A Brief History:
Laws: A body of rules that govern
conduct with penalties for violations
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Historically, in other countries, the ruler created
the law and enforced it.
In the US laws are not enforced by the creators
but by law enforcement officials
Primitive and Ancient Law
Law enforcement can be traced back to cave
dwellers.
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Tribes and clans
Justice was retaliatory: punish the offender.
Punishment delivered by victim or victims
family.
Common Punishments:
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Flaying
Impalement
Burning at stake
Stoning
Branding
Mutilation
Crucifixion
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Egypt
Developing Court System
Judges were appointed by Pharaoh
Public officers performed police functions
Greece
Ephori
Investigator, judge, jury & executioner
Presided over Senate and Assembly
Rome
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Twelve Tables
1st written laws
Urban Cohort, Praetorian Guard
Used to protect the palace and patrol the city
Vigiles
1st civilian police force
Where word vigilante was derived
Justinian Code
Corpus Juris Civilis: Body of Law
English Law and Law Enforcement
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Anglo-Saxons and the Tithing System
Tithing system
-Group of 10 families
-Responsible for maintaining order
-Enforced two laws: Murder & Theft
-Hue & Cry
Hundreds
-Group of 10 Tithing
-Top official: reeve
-Elected a constable, 1st English police officer
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Hundreds were consolidated into Shires or
Counties
The head of the shire was the shire-reeve
-Forerunner to our county sheriff
-Both police officer and judge
-Power of posse comitatus (later
known as posse)
Norman Frankpledge System
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1066 William the Conqueror invaded
England
Modified tithing system into Frankpledge
System
Required loyalty to the king’s law and
responsibility of free Englishmen to
maintain peace
Twelfth Century
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Henry I: 1100-1135
Leges Henrici
-Made law enforcement a public matter and
separated offenses into felonies and
misdemeanors.
 Henry II: 1154-1198
-Established the jury system
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Magna Carta
-Signed by King John
-Precedent for democratic government
-Required rulers uphold the law
-forbade taxation without representation
-required due process, including trial by jury,
and safeguards against unfair imprisonment
Henry Fielding and the Bow Street
Runners
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Henry Fielding fought for social and
criminal reform
Established the Bow Street Runners
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1st detective unit in London
Volunteer force
Foot and horse patrols
Peelian Reform
Sir Robert (Bobbie) Peel
“father of modern policing”
Proposed community responsibility for
preserving law and order
Lead to the organization of the
Metropolitan Police of London in 1829
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London Metropolitan Police
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“Bobbies”
Uniformed
Primary function was crime prevention
through patrol
Were not popular
1883 appointed two women to supervise
women convicts
1905 women conducted inquiries in cases
involving women and children
Early Law Enforcement in the
United States
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Boston
1631
Six man force
Primary function was to ring bell in case of fire
In effect for more than 200 hundred years
1735 required to call out time and weather
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New York
New Amsterdam
1643 “burgher guard” formed to protect colony
1653 changed to “rattle watch”
1844 paid round clock police force
First uniform police force
Slave Patrols
Enforce Curfews
Catch runaways
Suppress rebellion
Vigilante Movement
Refers to the absence of law enforcement
Settlers taking law into their own hands
Federal Agencies
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Department of Justice
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FBI
FDEA
US Marshals
INS (now Dept of Homeland Security)
BOP
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Department of Treasury
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Bureau of Customs
IRS
Secret Service (Dept of Homeland Security)
BATF
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Department of Homeland Security
-Created after 9/11
-Oversees Secret Service, Bureau of Customs
and Border Protection, Bureau of Citizenship
and Immigration Services (formerly INS), and
U.S. Coast Guard.
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State Agencies
-State highway patrol
-Texas Rangers
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County Agencies
-Sheriff
-County Police
-Coroner or Medical Examiner
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Local Agencies
-Constable
-Marshall
-Municipal Police
Overlap
-five levels of government
Three Eras of Policing
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Political Era (1840-1930)
-decentralized organization
-intimate relationship with community
-foot patrol
-police corruption
-Pendleton Act (can not fire or promote
for political reasons)
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Minorities
-segregated and discriminated against
Women
-1883: First police officer: Marie Owen
Wickersham Commission
-Herbert Hoover
-police brutality
-called for higher professional standards
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Reform or Professional Era (1930-1980)
-crime control
-centralized & efficient organization
-professional remoteness from
community
-motorized patrol
-emphasized importance of college
educated officers.
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Women and Minorities
-Griggs v. Duke Power Company
-Equal Employment Opportunity Act
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Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment:
-Questioned preventative Patrol
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Community Era (1980-Present)
-Community Support
-Professionalism
-Broad range of services
-Problem solving approach
-Proactive
Evolution of Our Juvenile Justice
System
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Puritan Emphasis
-Children were basically evil
-Children who broke the law were dealt with
severely
-1820’s laws were passed to protect children
from punishment associated with
criminal law
-New York’s House of Refuge
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Juvenile Court
-1st juvenile court: Cook County Illinois
-Regulated treatment and control of dependent,
neglected and delinquent children
-purpose was to save the child