The criminal justice system is that subsystem of the national legal system which determines the circumstances in which and the procedure according to which individuals may be punished by the state for conduct that is defined as a crime.
For the sake of convenience, a distinction is normally drawn between the substantive aspects of the criminal justice system and its procedural aspects. The study of criminal law generally focuses on substantive law; namely, the principles of law according to which criminal liability (guilt) is determined, whilst the law of criminal procedure, together with the law of evidence, focuses on the manner in which this is done, together with the way in which offenders and suspected offenders are to be treated by the
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In criminal law, we study crime purely from a legal perspective. Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behaviour from psychological and sociological perspectives, seeking to understand the underlying causes and effects of such behaviour, as well as how to control or prevent it.
2. THE SOURCES AND ORIGINS OF SOUTH AFRICAN CRIMINAL LAW
South African criminal law is essentially a common-law system of law, although the range of available crimes has been significantly extended through the creation of statutory offences and, in some cases, legislation has replaced the former common law. South African criminal law has never been codified, however.
As with most South African common law, South African criminal law stems principally from Roman-Dutch law, together with (in this case) a large measure of influence from English law and, to a lesser extent, German law. Roman-Dutch law was largely an amalgamation of the Germanic customary law of the Netherlands and Roman law, pursuant to the ‘reception’ of Roman law in Western Europe, between the 13th and 15th centuries. Canon law (the law of the Christian Church) also played a significant role in the shaping of Roman-Dutch criminal
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The court also played the dominant role in conducting the trial, questioning the witnesses and interrogating the accused. Methods of interrogation commonly included the use of torture to extract
Introduction and Summary: Chapter 11 focuses on the individuals with mental illness and the criminal justice system. Every year there are hundreds of thousands of individuals with mental illness who are arrested. The past decade a lot of the state hospital and mental health facilities have been shut down for lack of funding. Many of the seriously mentally ill are roaming the streets. The serious mental illness regarding this chapter would include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression.
My paper aims to discuss the three different factors of criminal behaviour, what causes it and why. My essay will examine and focus mainly on the genetic makeup of a person, the environment in which they are raised in and gender differences.
Criminology has within its scope the process of reacting toward the breaking of laws, breaking laws, and making laws. The objective of all criminology is the development of a body of
Critical criminology is the study of the relationship between crime and power.
Assignment Nine Critical criminology is the idea that the media and the criminal justice system are the things that shape the publics view on crime. These sources influence our ideas of who commits crime and who is victimized by crime. These sources use their influence of crime to continue to control how the public sees crime and uses that to further their own agenda. Whereas, left realism is the idea that the depicted visions of crime are somewhat true. Some people are more likely to be victimized, however the media and criminal justice systems over exaggerate these crimes in order to instill higher levels of fear.
Ethics is described as the moral believes by which a person will conduct a specific activity. It is these moral believes between the client and legal professional that need to agree to decide the outcome of the case. This essay will handle with legal ethics regarding to being a fit and proper person, the clients needs, professional conduct, professional responsibility and the legal system in South Africa. Before being admitted as a legal professional a person needs to be regarded as being a fit and proper person to practice the noble and precise field of law. The requirement of being fit and proper is seen as one of the most important characteristics of the legal profession but is not to be found in legislation nor is it defined.
In the criminal justice system, there are three major components. They are the police, the courts, and the corrections. Each one of the components has a role to play in the system. The police are in charge of arresting and investigating crimes. The courts are charged with the responsibility of punishing offenders while the corrections implement the court rulings.
Origin and History of the Criminal Justice System The Criminal justice system is a system that was made to control crime and make punishments to whoever break a law or rule. The beginning of the criminal justice system of the United States goes all the way back when the United States still belonged to the Great Britain. Americans were under Great Britain laws and rules and most of the laws were unfair. After the Revolutionary War and the United States became independent and they needed to create their own types of system to run their country.
There are many different modes of criminological thinking and two of those are Cultural criminology and administrative criminology. Both of these concepts are vastly different to each other which Mike Presdee delves into in Cultural Criminology: The long and winding road (2004). According to Presdee (2004), administrative criminology “denies and rejects the importance of culture and lived experience in the commission of crime, preferring instead to concentrate on the pseudo-scientific analysis of criminal behaviour” (Presdee, 2004:276). Administrative criminology has been fabricated as overdetermined descriptive criminology which is disconnected from any sort of social or human interaction.
There are three components that make up the criminal justice system – the police, courts, and correctional facilities – they all work together in order to protect individuals and their rights as a citizen of society to live without the fear of becoming the victim of a crime. Crime, simply put is when a person violates criminal law; the criminal justice system is society’s way of implementing social control. When all three components of the criminal justice work together, it functions almost perfectly. For a person to enter the criminal justice system, the process must begin with the law enforcement.
According to Andrews and Bonta (2010) the psychology of criminal conduct ( PCC) can be defined as an approach to scientifically understand the criminal behavior of individuals through a systematic approach. Additionally, the psychology of criminal conduct is considered to be interdisciplinary, and considers all aspects of science that will assist in the further comprehension of an individuals criminal behavior, and the causes of criminal behavior (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Andrews and Bonta ( 2010) stated that the psychology of criminal conduct can be considered a subfield of criminology and psychology due to common beliefs and common interests with both disciplines. Furthermore, the psychology of criminal conduct can be described as using
We encounter evidence of both consensus and conflict models at all stages of the system. Causes and social impact in Criminology Alongside, there is also criminology in which has a different stance than criminal justice. Criminologists are dedicated to studying not only the causes of crime but the social impact as well. It is the study that attempts to better understand what motivates the criminal to act in such a criminal manner.
Torture was used as a device in order to extract confessions, prolong death, force confessions, punish suspects, satisfy personal hatred, or even frighten opponents. Today, interrogations are used in order to obtain the data needed. Interrogation is the act of questioning a suspect either formally or aggressively. The more aggressive side of interrogations involve techniques that put the suspect under a series of distress. Medieval torture techniques influence today’s interrogations.
This essay will discuss crime as both a social problem and a sociological problem. Crime is seen as a typical function of society. Crime doesn’t happen without society. It is created and determined by the surrounding society. According to the CSO, the number of dangerous and negligent acts committed between the years of 2008 and 2012 rose from 238’000 in 2008 to 257’000 in 2012.