Overview of the U.S. Criminal Justice System and Safety Tips for International Students

2016 ◽  
pp. 264-288
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
The U.S

While most international students have a rewarding educational experience in the United States, a small percentage are arrested for criminal behavior or victimized by criminals. The author discusses safety from crime and provides safety tips to help reduce crime victimization potential. Further, since the American criminal justice system can be overwhelming, confusing, and intimidating for anyone who does not work within the system on a regular basis, this chapter provides international students and higher education officials with an overview of this system. The author also briefly discusses constitutional rights and the arrest and trial process. Finally, the author addresses some behaviors that international students should avoid to not place themselves at risk for receiving a criminal summons, citation, or arrest.

Overview of the U.S. Criminal Justice System and Safety Tips for International Students

2016 ◽  
pp. 13-37
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
The U.S

While most international students have a rewarding educational experience in the United States, a small percentage are arrested for criminal behavior or victimized by criminals. The author discusses safety from crime and provides safety tips to help reduce crime victimization potential. Further, since the American criminal justice system can be overwhelming, confusing, and intimidating for anyone who does not work within the system on a regular basis, this chapter provides international students and higher education officials with an overview of this system. The author also briefly discusses constitutional rights and the arrest and trial process. Finally, the author addresses some behaviors that international students should avoid to not place themselves at risk for receiving a criminal summons, citation, or arrest.

Comparing Plea Bargaining and Abbreviated Trial Procedures

2019 ◽  
pp. 702-727
Author(s):  
Gwladys Gilliéron
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
The U.S

This chapter compares U.S. plea bargaining with plea-bargaining-type procedures and penal orders in Continental Europe, with reference to Switzerland, Germany, and France. It first considers consensual criminal procedures across jurisdictions and why they exist, focusing on plea bargaining in the U.S. criminal justice system and abbreviated trial procedures in European civil law systems. It then examines the extent to which abbreviated trial procedures in civil law systems differ from plea bargaining in the U.S. system, the problems inherent in consensual criminal procedures, and the question of whether there are any solutions. In particular, it explains how plea bargaining and penal orders may lead to wrongful convictions. Finally, it discusses prospects for reform of plea bargaining in the United States and in civil law systems in Europe.

The Paradox of Law Enforcement in Immigrant Communities

2012 ◽  
Vol 641 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Kirk ◽  
Andrew V. Papachristos ◽  
Jeffrey Fagan ◽  
Tom R. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Willingness To Cooperate

Frustrated by federal inaction on immigration reform, several U.S. states in recent years have proposed or enacted laws designed to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States and to facilitate their removal. An underappreciated implication of these laws is the potential alienation of immigrant communities—even law-abiding, cooperative individuals—from the criminal justice system. The ability of the criminal justice system to detect and sanction criminal behavior is dependent upon the cooperation of the general public, including acts such as the reporting of crime and identifying suspects. Cooperation is enhanced when local residents believe that laws are enforced fairly. In contrast, research reveals that cynicism of the police and the legal system undermines individuals’ willingness to cooperate with the police and engage in the collective actions necessary to socially control crime. By implication, recent trends toward strict local enforcement of immigration laws may actually undercut public safety by creating a cynicism of the law in immigrant communities. Using data from a 2002 survey of New York City residents, this study explores the implications of perceived injustices perpetrated by the criminal justice system for resident willingness to cooperate with the police in immigrant communities.

scholarly journals Data & Civil Rights: Criminal Justice Primer

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Rosenblat ◽  
Kate Wikelius ◽  
danah boyd ◽  
Seeta Peña Gangadharan ◽  
Corrine Yu
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Incarcerated Population ◽  
The U.S

Discrimination and racial disparities persist at every stage of the U.S. criminal justice system,from policing to trials to sentencing. The United States incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any of its peer countries, with 2.2 million people behind bars. The criminal justice system disproportionately harms communities of color: while they make up 30 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 60 percent of the incarcerated population. There has been some discussion of how “big data” can be used to remedy inequalities in the criminal justice system; civil rights advocates recognize potential benefits but remained fundamentally concerned that data-oriented approaches are being designed and applied in ways that also disproportionately harms those who are already marginalized by criminal justice processes.Like any other powerful tool of governance, data mining can empower or disempower groups. The values that go into an algorithm, and the metrics it optimizes for, are baked into its design. Data could be used to identify discrimination in current practices, or to predict where certain combinations of data points are likely to lead to an erroneous conviction. When algorithms are designed to improve how law enforcement regimes are deployed, the question that data analytics raises is, which efficiencies are we optimizing for? Who are the stakeholders, and where do they stand to gain or lose? How do these applications intersect with core civil rights concerns? Where can we use big data techniques to improve the structural conditions criminal justice system that lead to disparate impacts on marginalized communities? How do we measure that impact, and the factors that lead to it?

Problem-Solving Courts and the Criminal Justice System

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David DeMatteo ◽  
Kirk Heilbrun ◽  
Shelby Arnold ◽  
Alice Thornewill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Team Approach ◽  
Problem Solving Courts

Individuals with behavioral health disorders are significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. The incarceration of offenders with substance use disorders and mental illness has contributed to dramatic growth in the incarcerated population in the United States. Problem-solving courts provide judicially supervised treatment for behavioral health needs commonly found among offenders, including substance abuse and mental health, and they treat a variety of offender populations. By addressing the problems that underlie criminal behavior, problem-solving courts seek to decrease the “revolving door” that results when offender needs are not addressed. Problem-solving courts use a team approach among the judge, defense attorney, prosecutor, and treatment providers, which is a paradigm shift in how the justice system treats offenders with special needs. Offenders in problem-solving courts are held accountable for their behavior while being provided with judicially supervised treatment designed to reduce the risk of reoffending. Despite the proliferation of problem-solving courts, there are unanswered questions about how they function, how effective they are, and the most promising ways to implement problem-solving justice. Problem-Solving Courts and the Criminal Justice System is the first book to focus broadly on problem-solving courts. The changing landscape of the criminal justice system, recent development of problem-solving courts, and ongoing shift toward offender rehabilitation underscore the need for this book. This book provides those in the fields of mental health, criminal justice, law, and related fields with a comprehensive foundation of information related to the role of problem-solving courts in reforming the criminal justice system. This book also provides researchers, academics, administrators, and policy-makers with an overview of the existing research on problem-solving courts, including the challenges faced by researchers when examining these courts.

Arriving at a System of Pleas

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucian E. Dervan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
The United States ◽  
The U.S

This chapter introduces the reader to plea bargaining. The chapter begins with a discussion of the mechanics of plea bargaining and the dominant forms of plea bargaining in the United States’ criminal justice system. In doing so, the chapter examines the manner in which defendants engage in bargaining and the shadow-of-trial model of bargaining. The chapter then discusses the historical rise of plea bargaining in the United States and considers whether today’s plea bargains reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s vision of the system as laid down in the case of Brady v. United States in 1970 (Brady v. United States, 1970). Finally, the chapter concludes by briefly examining several recent Supreme Court plea bargaining cases and considers whether a renewed focus on plea bargaining jurisprudence is materializing.

Crime and Criminal Behavior

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Severson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Key Issues

This entry includes contemporary definitions of crime, theoretical ideas about the etiology of criminal behavior, and information about the methods used to estimate crime rates in the United States. The focus of this entry is on adult prisoners. Key issues such as disproportionate minority incarceration, the acceleration in the number of women entering into the criminal justice system over the last 20 years, and the prevalence of persons with mental illnesses in the nation's jails and prisons are addressed. Current controversies and practices such as risk reduction efforts and rehabilitation strategies are described.

Racial Justice and Criminal Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Neighborhoods

The criminal justice system in the United States both reflects racial inequality in the broader society and contributes to it. The overrepresentation of African Americans among those in prison is a result of both the conditions in poor black neighborhoods and racial bias in the criminal justice system. The American system of criminal justice today is excessively punitive, when compared to previous periods and to other countries, and its harsh treatment disproportionately harms African Americans. In addition, those released from prison face a number of obstacles to housing, employment, and other prerequisites of decent life, and the concentration of prisoners and ex-prisoners in black communities does much to perpetuate racial inequality.

scholarly journals Mercy towards decarceration: Examining the legal constraints on early release from prison

Incarceration ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632097780
Author(s):  
Alexandra Cox ◽  
Dwayne Betts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Release ◽  
The Us ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
Release From Prison

There are close to seven million people under correctional supervision in the United States, both in prison and in the community. The US criminal justice system is widely regarded as an inherently unmerciful institution by scholars and policymakers but also by people who have spent time in prison and their family members; it is deeply punitive, racist, expansive and damaging in its reach. In this article, we probe the meanings of mercy for the institution of parole.

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