scholarly journals Out with “Fine Time,” in with Financial Waivers: Recent Developments in Massachusetts Probation Fines and Fees Policies

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 391
Author(s):  
Matheson Sanchez ◽  
Shytierra Gaston
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Recent Reform ◽  
Fine Time ◽  
Research And Policy

The criminal justice system routinely imposes financial sanctions on probation clients. These fines, fees, and restitution debts often amount to more than what many clients can reasonably afford to pay. Until recently, Massachusetts courts have incarcerated clients solely for their inability to pay these debts in a practice known as “fine time”. In 2018, the state passed a landmark criminal justice reform bill that restricted the types of cases in which fine time can be ordered. Clients that can establish that payment would lead to financial hardship can now petition the court for a financial waiver accompanied by community service. The current study seeks to explore the implications of the recent reform efforts on probation services by analyzing surveys gathered from a sample of 121 Massachusetts probation officers in 2020. Descriptive findings of officers’ attitudes toward fines and fees, responses to nonpayment by clients, and the use of financial waivers are presented. Officers’ perceptions and practices align with the recent reform efforts, suggesting support among probation personnel for policies that limit punitive responses to nonpayment of legal debts by their supervisees. Possible directions for future research and policy development are discussed.

Misdemeanor Courts, Due Process, and Case Outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 1312-1339
Author(s):  
Alisa Smith ◽  
Sean Maddan
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Due Process Rights ◽  
Sentencing Research ◽  
Research And Policy ◽  
Sentencing Outcomes

Very little research on courts and sentencing outcomes focuses on misdemeanor courts despite the fact that most crime processed through the criminal justice system is misdemeanor in nature. In fact, the overwhelming empiricism in this area is on felony court outcomes at either the federal or state levels. This research utilized a mixed methodology approach, a combination of observation, survey, and secondary data, to explore misdemeanor court outcomes across the State of Florida. In particular, this research focused on the extent of due process afforded misdemeanor defendants and how this impacted case outcomes. Findings indicate an overall lack of due process and awareness of due process rights across the vast majority of cases. This study also explored sentencing outcomes via traditional metrics associated with contemporary sentencing research. Findings suggest that misdemeanor courts processing operate much differently than felony courts. The implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Lopez-Aguado
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Gang Membership ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gang Members ◽  
Alternative Models ◽  
Research And Policy

This chapter outlines the implications of the book and makes recommendations for future research and policy considerations. I argue that relying on identifying and separating gang members not only fails to prevent violence in carceral institutions but also has serious consequences for those who are processed through these facilities. Namely, this practice positions individuals into rivalries between criminalized affiliations—exposing them to confrontation and violence and ultimately ascribing them with criminal labels that keep them cycling through the justice system. This chapter also explores alternative models, discussing instances both in this research and in previous studies in which criminal justice facilities desegregated their institutions. Finally, I argue that establishing a more just and effective criminal justice system requires reducing the emphasis institutions place on identifying and controlling gang membership.

Criminal Justice Reform in a Transitional Context: Restorative Youth Conferencing in Northern Ireland

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
David O’Mahony
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Transitional Environment

This article examines the incorporation of restorative principles and practices within reforms of Northern Ireland’s youth justice system, adopted following the peace process. It considers whether restorative justice principles can be successfully incorporated into criminal justice reform as part of a process of transitional justice. The article argues that restorative justice principles, when brought within criminal justice, can contribute to the broader process of transitional justice and peace building, particularly in societies where the police and criminal justice system have been entwined in the conflict. In these contexts restorative justice within criminal justice can help civil society to take a stake in the administration and delivery of criminal justice, it can help break down hostility and animosity towards criminal justice and contribute to the development of social justice and civic agency, so enabling civil society to move forward in a transitional environment.

scholarly journals Criminology and criminal justice in post-devolution Wales

2020 ◽  
pp. 147737082091644
Author(s):  
Robert Jones
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Future Research ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The Past ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Criminology And Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminological Analysis

This survey provides one of the first comprehensive reviews of Wales’s role in the England and Wales criminal justice system. The article explains that executive devolution has been responsible for a major transformation to Wales’s position within the England and Wales jurisdiction. Attention is given to the institutions responsible for criminal justice since devolution to Wales as well as an overview of some of the key trends and latest data, including recent research which shows that Wales, when disaggregated from England, has the highest rate of imprisonment in Western Europe. In light of the developments that have taken place over the past two decades, this survey asserts that Wales must now be taken seriously as a distinct and worthwhile unit of criminological analysis. It is argued that future research on Wales can help to develop a more constitutionally literate criminological debate across the UK as well as European regions affected by devolution.

Cumulative Disadvantage in the American Criminal Justice System

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan C. Kurlychek ◽  
Brian D. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Case Processing ◽  
Cumulative Disadvantage ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Criminal Case Processing

Research on inequality in punishment has a long and storied history, yet the overwhelming focus has been on episodic disparity in isolated stages of criminal case processing (e.g., arrest, prosecution, or sentencing). Although theories of cumulative disadvantage exist in criminology, they are seldom adapted to account for treatment in the criminal justice system. We provide an overview of the concept of cumulative disadvantage in the life course and review evidence on the development of cumulative disadvantages across stages of the criminal justice system. In doing so, we appraise the empirical research on policing, prosecution, and the courts and consider how these largely separate bodies of scholarship are inherently connected. We conclude with a call for future research that focuses more explicitly on the ways that life-course disadvantages shape contact with the criminal justice system and how these processes work to perpetuate patterns of disadvantage within the system and in subsequent life outcomes.

Persistence and Desistance Narratives: Understanding the Role of Correctional and Probation Officers in Reducing Recidivism

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Maurice Vann
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Black Male ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Correctional Officers ◽  
Probation Officers ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Reducing Recidivism ◽  
Returning Citizens

Forensic social workers and criminal justice reform advocates must better understand how correctional and probation officers influence offender recidivism. Justice system reform efforts focusing on policing and the courts often ignore the roles of correctional and probation officers. Returning citizens' internal “persistence” and “desistance” narratives influence future criminality and successful reintegration into their communities. Correctional and probation officers may influence these persistence and desistance narratives. A narrative analysis investigating the experiences of three Black male returning citizens in Baltimore, Maryland, shows that a person's ability to make sense of their interactions with probation officers while serving community corrections sentences and their interactions with correctional officers within prisons may be one of many factors that influence persistence and desistance narratives.

A Conceptual Model of Crime Prevention

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Brantingham ◽  
Frederic L. Faust
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Primary Prevention ◽  
Secondary Prevention ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Or Groups

Crime prevention is the professed mission o f every agency found within the American criminal justice system. In prac tice, the term "prevention" seems to be applied confusingly to a wide array of contradictory activities. This confusion can be avoided through the use of a conceptual model that defines three levels of prevention: (1) primary prevention, directed at modification of criminogenic conditions in the physical and social environment at large; (2) secondary prevention, directed at early identification and intervention in the lives of individuals or groups in criminogenic circumstances; and (3) tertiary prevention, directed at prevention of recidivism. The use of such a conceptual model helps to clarify current crime prevention efforts, suggests fruitful directions for future research by identifying current lacunae in practice and in the research literature, and may ultimately prove helpful in ad dressing the seemingly endless debate between advocates of "punishment " and advocates of "treatment."

The ‘Sexting’ Quagmire: Criminal Justice Responses to Adolescents’ Electronic Transmission of Indecent Images in the UK and the USA

Youth Justice ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Stone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Electronic Communication ◽  
Child Pornography ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

Adolescent embrace of electronic communication with peers often involves sharing indecent images of each other, sometimes with abusive consequences. How should the criminal justice system respond? Use of conventional child pornography legislation can be inappropriately heavy-handed and draconian. This article considers recent developments in the United States and considers how this mode of juvenile indiscretion fits with law, policy and practice in England and Wales.

scholarly journals Impending Danger: The Meaning of Danger as a Legal Requirement for Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment in the Norwegian Criminal Justice System

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-135
Author(s):  
Martin Mindestrømmen
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Psychiatric Treatment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legal Requirement

A proposal for the revision of the rule regulating involuntary psychiatric treatment of criminally insane offenders has been accepted by the Norwegian parliament. As a result, greater emphasis will be placed on the requirement of ‘danger’ in future decisions on whether criminally insane offenders shall be subjected to sanctions. This paper gives an overview of the rule in question and makes a preliminary analysis of the legal contents of the danger requirement. Possible problem-areas that have not been addressed in the proposal for revision are identified. The need for future research is explained.

scholarly journals A MODEL FOR JUSTICE DELIVERY? The Specialised Commercial Crime Court

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony Altbeker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform

The Specialised Commercial Crime Court was established to hear cases of commercial criminality, brought to trial by the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit. The integration of the three main functions of the criminal justice system — investigation, prosecution and adjudication — is highly regarded as one of the best examples of successful criminal justice reform in South Africa. But before this particular model is replicated elsewhere, its undoubted success must be interrogated. However, it is difficult to be sure just what it is that has generated the service delivery improvements.

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