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Three Components Of The Criminal Justice System

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The three components of the American criminal justice system are the police, courts, and corrections. These components operate independently of one another and maintain different goals, histories, and operating procedures (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017). There are two commonly accepted models of the criminal justice system, the crime control model and due process model. These two models vary at the basic level, the crime control model aims to protect society at all costs while the due process model protects the rights of individual citizens (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017). Americas criminal justice system is plagued with multiple issues that drive a wedge between the people and the criminal justice system, such as inconsistencies within the law, …show more content…

Due Process and Crime Control The due process model and crime control models are fundamentally different from one another, one favors the accused and the other the victim/society. The due process model favors rehabilitation and community corrections, by improving the quality of life for all the crime rate will drop. This model of crime control will seem softer on criminals, possibly allowing criminals to go free instead of incarcerating them. However, the framers of the constitution stated clearly that citizens are considered innocent until proven guilty and guarantees due process of law (U.S Constitution amendment 5,14). The due process model is designed to protect individual liberties by focusing on the rights of the accused, even if the efficiency of the court suffers (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017).
The crime control method is the opposite side of that coin. While the due process model protects the rights of those accused of a crime, the crime control method aims to protect those law-abiding citizens, even at the expense of civil liberties (Neubauer & Fradella, 2017). The crime control method favors harsher punishments to deter crime, if the punishment outweighs the gain from criminal activity, that criminal activity should be undesirable to criminals. Unfortunately, criminals have not been known to show the best reasoning abilities, which leads to a bloated corrections system. The crime control model prefers security to freedom and

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