NCJ Number
78658
Date Published
1977
Length
27 pages
Annotation
The 'crime-control' and 'due-process' models for the criminal justice system's approach in dealing with defendants and offenders are compared.
Abstract
The crime-control model emphasizes the standardized, expeditious processing of defendants through the court system and the uniform punishment of offenders according to the severity of their crimes. Under this model, arrest and prosecution tend to imply guilt. The due-process model focuses upon the rights of the defendant, who is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and aims at individualizing rehabilitation programs for those found guilty. The crime-control model leads to policies that emphasize the criminal justice system's arrest and punishment of the offender as the means of deterring crime and repressing criminal behavior. The due-process model tends to produce a policy of minimizing criminal justice system intervention in favor of developing and using informal community persuasive and rehabilitative social controls. Current emphasis in the criminal justice system tends toward the due process model. This has led to an expansion of community alternatives to punitive institutionalization. These alternatives include (1) halfway houses, which are temporary residences for those under the supervision of parole departments, those returning to the community after having completed their sentences, and probationers; (2) community treatment centers, used to provide a total plan to reintegrate the offender into the community; (3) diagnostic parole and parole clinics, which screen persons for parole eligibility either immediately after sentencing or after serving a short time in prison; and (4) work release programs, which permit inmates to work in the community during the day and return to the institution at night. Tables compare the models' characteristics and 29 notes are listed.