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Solving The Consensus And Conflict Model

Decent Essays

The above discussion question is asking me to discuss the consensus and conflict models as explanations to the origin of criminal law. First it is important to distinguish the difference between the two models. According to the textbook “Criminal Justice Today” the consensus model is defined as a criminal justice perspective that assumes that the system’s components work together harmoniously to achieve the social product we call justice and the conflict model is defined as a criminal justice perspective that assumes that the system’s components function primarily to serve their own interests. According to this theoretical framework, justice is more a product of conflicts among agencies within the system than it is the result of cooperation among component agencies. Section a. asks me to discuss the consensus and conflict models as explanations for the origin of criminal law and to provide one example for each model. First the consensus model will be discussed in regards to the origin of criminal law. The consensus model assumes that all components of the system are working in harmony to produce justice. According to Lawrence W. Sherman the consensus model assumes more equality and appears to be a much better fit to the new political culture. He also states that building trust in the system one case at a time. Issues such as the unfair penalties of perceived crimes such as crack cocaine versus powder cocaine arrests are talked about. The author

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