NCJ Number
230362
Date Published
2010
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents a graphic representation of the model of the "New Criminal Justice," with attention to the differences between the new model and the one developed by the 1967 President's Crime Commission.
Abstract
The model of the New Criminal Justice begins with the assumption that behavior can be more or less a crime. The diagram of the model thus begins by considering the community context and process that defines the behavior as more or less criminal, rather than as a criminal moving through the system. This recognizes that different communities may treat similar behaviors differently or that the same community may define behavior differently at different times. In the New Criminal Justice, understanding the local process of definition is central to understanding how cases are processed. A similar point can be illustrated regarding the findings of guilt. Under the President's Commissions model, a defendant is found guilty or not guilty through a process of trial or plea agreement. Under the proposed model, however, cases are treated as if they differed as to the degree of guilt. This can be reflected in an assessment of the defendant's cooperation or the judge's view of the therapeutic consequences of a guilty finding when compared with continuation and eventual dismissal. The major variables portrayed in the proposed diagram are the "Resource Development Process" and the "Crime/Problem Classification Process." Variables that influence these two variables are labeled "External Influences" (law, media, external funding, interest groups, and politics) and "Internal Influences" (history/tradition, local interest groups, local elites, local condition, and media). 4 figures