SECOND EDITION The American CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM A Concise Guide to Cops, Courts, Corrections, and Victims BY JAMES WINDELL WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY Bassim Hamadeh, CEO and Publisher Kassie Graves, Director of Acquisitions Jamie Giganti, Senior Managing Editor Jess Estrella, Senior Graphic Designer John Remington, Senior Field Acquisitions Editor Natalie Lakosil, Senior Licensing Manager Allie Kiekhofer and Kaela Martin, Associate Editors Copyright © 2017 by Cognella, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information retrieval system without the written permis- sion of Cognella, Inc. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for iden- tification and explanation without intent to infringe. 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Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-63487-804-3 (pbk) / 978-1-63487-805-0 (br) Contents INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE Myths and Realities in the Criminal Justice System 3 1 Myths and the Criminal Justice System 5 2 It All Starts with Crime 15 3 What Do We Know about Crime? 25 4 Are Criminals Born This Way? 39 PART TWO The Law Enforcement Response to Crime 51 5 How Does the Criminal Justice System Respond to Crime? 53 6 Investigating Crime and the Rule of Law 65 7 Problems and Challenges in Policing 81 PART THREE The Prosecution and the Defense 101 8 Prosecutors and Charging Decisions 103 9 The Defense 119 PART FOUR Going to Court 135 10 The Court System in America 137 11 The Trial 151 12 The Jury Decides 163 PART FIVE Sentencing, Corrections, and Alternatives 177 13 The Sentencing Hearing 179 14 Corrections, Punishment, and Rehabilitation 193 15 Prison 213 PART SIX What Happens to Victims in the Criminal Justice System? 235 16 Who are the Victims? 237 17 Victimization and Recovery 249 PART SEVEN The Future of Criminal Justice 263 18 How Bright is the Future of Our Criminal Justice System? 265 INTRODUCTION When I agreed to write a textbook for introductory classes in criminal justice classes, I had been teaching criminal justice for more than 12 years. In addition, I have worked in the criminal justice fi eld in one capacity or another for nearly 40 years of my career. Th e combination of teaching and work in the criminal justice system has given me an opportunity to develop my own particular viewpoints and biases. As a student who is about to read this textbook, you should be aware of some aspects of my background which have helped to shape my perspectives, views, and prejudices, which I am sure will be evident in this book. Although I have endeavored to be impartial, fair, and unbiased in this textbook, I know this is not really possible given my experiences, the life lessons I’ve learned, the research I have done, and the reading I’ve been doing for many years. My way of viewing the criminal justice fi eld will seep into various parts of a book like this. What you should know about me and my background is that I have been teaching criminal justice classes at Wayne State University in Detroit. As a teacher on an urban campus, I recognize that the students who take Introduction to Criminal Justice classes are very diverse, coming from many diff erent racial and cultural backgrounds. However, aft er they take an introductory class, I believe they want to learn more about the American system of justice. Although, obviously, all other countries have criminal justice systems, I have opted to avoid talking about other countries and how they go about handling law enforcement and criminal justice. I could not possibly do justice to every country students might want to know about. 1 2 The American Criminal Justice System Consequently, in this book, as in my classes, my goal is to provide students with an overview of the American version of justice. Furthermore, while students want to know more about the American criminal justice system, they start out learning about criminal justice against the backdrop of their own beliefs and prejudices. Like the public in general, new students in criminal justice have false beliefs and misconceptions about how the justice system in this country works. One of my other goals, besides giving an overview of our justice system, is to dispel some of the myths that students bring with them, while at the same time reporting what I believe is more truthful and accurate. My experience in the field of criminal justice has allowed me to work closely with law enforcement, lawyers, prosecutors, probation officers, and judges. I have come to have high respect for many people in all parts of the criminal justice system. I know that most police officers, prosecutors, probation of- ficers, corrections officers, prison psychologists, and judges are hard-working and that they want to make a difference, assist people in need, and live up to high ideals in their field. Most of them, in fact, do exactly that. However, I have also seen the other side of the justice system—the side of the system where there are the problems, flaws, corruption, and the distasteful. I have seen—and sometimes worked with—the people who lack integrity, misuse their authority, and give the justice system, and some of the players in that system, a bad name. As a result, I have set out in this book to give an overview of the problems and challenges faced by the criminal justice system. Some of these problems and challenges are very serious and lead not only to criticism and mistrust of the system, but worse, they lead to imprisonment or death for some who are undeserving of such fates. I hope that students who read this book and go on to work in the criminal justice field will do so with a realistic view of the challenges before them but with a determination to take advantage of the opportunities they will have to make the criminal justice field much better than it is now. This textbook is intended to go along with class lectures and class assignments. Since it is a concise introduction to criminal justice, there is no intent to cover everything you will need to know to excel in the field. Instead, the goal is to open up a new world of learning for you. I hope you will develop an interest in the field of criminal justice and that you will want to pursue more knowledge in the parts of the field that most interest you. The sections at the end of each chapter, entitled For Your Consideration, will give you more areas you can flag for future pursuit. These areas include important events in criminal justice history, court cases, movies, television shows, websites, and books. My hope is that you will find something so intrigu- ing that you will want to do further investigation on your own. By reading this book, listening to class lectures, completing a research paper or term paper, and by doing more reading on your own, I trust that you will leave the class that uses this textbook with considerably more information, knowledge, and fascination with the field of criminal justice. Criminal justice is a critical field of study and it will touch your life—perhaps in many ways—in the future. Therefore, I sincerely hope that what you learn from this book and your first criminal justice class will make your encounters with the criminal justice system more meaningful and highly successful. But first, enjoy reading and learning. Part One MYTHS AND REALITIES IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM MYTHS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 1 INTRODUCTION Crime is a sociopolitical artifact, not a natural phenomenon. We can Neither crime nor the criminal justice system is exactly the way it have as much or as little crime as we is portrayed on television or in the movies. In fact, watching cop please, depending on what we choose shows or legal shows on TV—even the very well-done television to count as criminal. dramas—is likely to perpetuate various myths about crime and criminal justice. Some of the best shows, such as Law & Order and Without a Trace, have touches of realism about them, but —Herbert L. Packer, The Limits of the that is all you can expect. Too oft en, police procedurals and legal Criminal Sanction, 1968 shows are unrealistic in several ways. For example, here are the major ways TV crime dramas (seen weekly by millions of viewers) are myth makers or myth perpetuators: • Most cop shows and many legal shows feature a murder that must be solved; this reinforces the belief of many Americans that murder rates are high and are continually climbing. • Most TV shows that emphasize crime also strongly suggest that detectives, uniformed police offi cers, forensic techni- cians, coroners, and even prosecutors solve crimes within an hour; the reality is that many, if not most, crimes go unsolved. • Detectives are portrayed as having almost unlimited time and resources to pursue leads and follow up clues; in real 5 6 The American Criminal Justice System life, there is a very limited amount of time that detectives can devote to a single case before they have to move on to other, more pressing cases. • Forensic laboratories and the forensic technicians who work in those laboratories in TV shows are not only highly skilled and efficient, but have the latest equipment and the finest technology to aid their processing of crime scene data; the truth is quite the opposite in most cities.