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Chapter 7: Competing Perspectives on Due Process and Criminal Control Models

  • Page ID
    69538
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    Learning Objectives
    • Compare crime control and due process models
    • Explain how cases are processed in the system
    • Identify alternative justice approaches
    • Understand roles within the courtroom
    Key Terms
    • Crime Control Model
    • Due Process Model
    • Presumption Of Innocence
    • Presumption Of Guilt
    • Criminal Justice Funnel
    • Wedding Cake Model
    • Adversarial System
    • Prosecutor
    • Defense Attorney
    • Plea Bargaining
    • Rehabilitation
    • Restorative Justice
    • Nonintervention
    • Equal Justice

    Summary

    This chapter explores competing models of justice, focusing on efficiency versus fairness. It introduces frameworks such as the criminal justice funnel and wedding cake model. The chapter also examines courtroom roles and alternative approaches such as rehabilitation and restorative justice.

    clipboard_e5f3b6ffc11e1a68e5f071e9ce09fa0e3.png
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Photo courtesy of Study.com

    The due process model and crime control model offer competing perspectives on criminal justice, with crime control prioritizing efficiency, swift punishment, and crime suppression (presumption of guilt, expanded police power), while due process emphasizes individual rights, fairness, and protecting the innocent (presumption of innocence, formal procedures, attorney access). The tension lies in balancing public safety and order with protecting freedoms, with crime control favoring deterrence through strictness and due process advocating for rights like Miranda warnings and legal representation to prevent wrongful convictions.

    In his seminal work, “Two Models of the Criminal Process,” published in 1964, Herbert Packer characterized the criminal justice system as a continuous processing assembly line of endless criminal cases. This foundational conceptualization delineates the sequential stages and gradual attrition of cases within the criminal justice system, emphasizing the ways in which cases might be diverted at any stage of the process and thereby prevent them from reaching the end of the assembly line.


    This page titled Chapter 7: Competing Perspectives on Due Process and Criminal Control Models was last modified on Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:44:22 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Antoniette Aizon.