Key Policing Areas
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History
Description
Discretion
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Use of Force
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Arrest decision
Brutality
Police Personality
Community Policing
The Courts
“I know you’ve been sworn and I
have read your complaints”
Judge Wapner
The Judicial (Courts) System
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PUROPOSE?
Formally charge
Pre-trial Detainment?
Determine guilt or innocence
Impose a sentence
Hear appeals
The Structure of the Courts
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State Courts
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Layers of Trial Courts (Superior and inferior)
Appellate courts
Supreme court
Federal Courts
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Trial courts
Federal Appeals courts “District courts”
The Supreme Court
Who are the “players” in the
judicial system?
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Prosecutor
Defense Attorneys
Judges
The Prosecutor
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Represents the state in criminal matters
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Federal = Attorney general and U.S.
attorneys
State = District or State attorney
Prosecutorial Discretion (400# Gorilla)
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Whether or not to charge & specific charge
Decision to drop case
May enter and end plea negotiations
The Defense Attorney
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Private Attorneys (Johnny Cochran)
Sixth Amendment right to counsel
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Attorney list system
Contracting with law firm
Public defenders system (large, urban)
Roughly ¾ of state inmates were
represented by publicly funded
attorneys
Role of the Defense
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Represent their client in a vigorous,
adversarial manner
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Investigate incident, interview
client/witnesses, represent client at all
proceedings, negotiate plea with district
attorney
Conflict of interest? The Devil’s Advocate
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Low pay and conflict of interest =
burnout
The Judge
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During Trial
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Rule on questions of procedure (how to
question witnesses, rules of evidence)
May determine guilt in a bench trial
After trial or plea bargain
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Responsible for determining sentence
Is the process really
“adversarial?”
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Sam Walker’s “Wedding Cake” Model
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Celebrated cases may approach ideal of an
adversarial process
Lower “layers” = administrative rather
than adversarial
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Judge, defense, and prosecutor have a
shared understanding of what a case is
“worth”
The Courtroom Workgroup
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Term coined by Malcolm Feeley
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Judges, prosecutors and defense work together
daily
Minimize conflict and develop informal procedures
for dealing with cases
The “Going Rate”
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Seriousness of offense
Prior record of defendant
Relationship between victim and defendant
Plea Bargaining
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What is bargained?
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Charge
Sentence
Conservatives = loophole
Liberals = perversion of the system
Reality? Given the “going rate,” it is not
so much a “bargain” as standardized
administrative process
Benefits of Plea Bargaining
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State
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Prosecutor assured of guilt verdict
Save the court time and cash
More time for “serious cases”
Defendant
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Avoid pre-trial detention
No uncertainty in sentence
May get more lenient sentence
Pre-Trial Decisions
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Prosecutor must issue a criminal charge
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Formal document, lays out facts of case,
circumstances of arrest, penal code
Felony cases = bill of “indictment” or
“information”
Misdemeanors = criminal complaint
Pre-Trial Decisions
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Arraignment
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Judge makes sure defendant understands
charge
Makes sure defendant has counsel
Defendant enters plea
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Guilty
No Contest
Not Guilty
Decision regarding pre-trial detainment
The Trial
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Jury Selection
Trial Process
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Opening statement
Prosecutor
Defense
Closing argument
Verdict
Sentence
Sentencing Structures
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Indeterminate
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Tied to rehabilitation
More open ended
Determinate
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Fixed
Sentencing Disparity
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When 2 people who commit similar
crimes, and have the same prior record
receive different sentences
What stage do disparities enter?
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Jurisdictional Differences
Plea bargaining (part of “going rate?”)
Victim/Offender relationships
Sentencing judge (biased, bad day…)
Racial Disparities
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RACE
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Incarceration Rates
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Black =
White =
BUT, involvement in serious crime?
Racial Disparity in Sentencing II
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The “Liberation Hypothesis”
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More disparity when black offender and
white victim
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More disparity in less serious cases
Rape and Capital Murder
Race as part of “offense seriousness”
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Crack cocaine versus powder
Other Disparities
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Class = Difficult to detect (most in
system are relatively poor)
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Difference between white collar and street
Differences in some “celebrated cases” are
obvious
Gender
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Juvenile Justice
Adult System
Reducing Sentencing Disparity
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Sentencing guidelines
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But:
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Grid (priors and seriousness)
Do not eliminate disparity
Disparity may be “built in”
Larger Issue: Who now has discretion?