CC102 - Intro to Criminal Justice System

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CC102 - Intro to Criminal Justice System Chapter One - The Foundations of Criminal Justice

• major components of CJS

●Police ○Enforcement of law ○Investigation of crimes ○Arresting of suspects ●Courts ○Adjudicatory or fact-finding bodies where criminal cases are prosecuted ○Determinations of guilt rendered ●Corrections ○Responsible for the administration of a sentence handed down by a judge ○Includes management, treatment, supervision of offenders in the community and correctional facilities Critical thinking - in examining an issue, distinguishing between fact and opinion, considering multiple points of view, and being open minded to all ideas ●Critical thinking = thorough thinking ●Ask questions, engage curiosity and question statements and assertions ●Consider multiple points of view, be fair and open minded to all ideas ●Draw conclusions, examine the outcome of your inquiry in a more demanding and critical way Goals of the CJS ●To control crime ●To prevent crime ●Maintain or achieve justice What is a crime and why?●Much more complex than “a crime is whatever is against the law” ●What is or is not a crime is not set in stone but has changed over the course of Canadian history ●Crime is generally defined as an act or omission that is prohibited by criminal law Two critical ingredients of a crime ●Actus reus - the commission of an act ●Mens rea - the mental intent to commit the act Crime occurs when a person ●Commits an act of fails to commit an act when under a legal responsibility to do so ●Has the intent, or mens rea, to commit the act ●Does not have a legal defense or justification for committing the act ●Violates a provision in criminal law Social construction of crime ●It’s important to distinguish between behaviours that may be considered deviant by a large portion of society and crimes ○Crime is behaviour that breaks the law

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