1 Flashcards
(15 cards)
How many local police forces are there?
43
Which government department is responsible for the police and counter-terrorism?
The Home Office
What are the stages of the full code test?
- Evidential stage
- Public interest stage
- Threshold test
What does the police need in order to use their powers successfully?
Legitimacy and accountability
Define legitimacy in the police service.
A process whereby the police services gains a moral grounding through the public consenting to their authority and regime.
What is the policing remit?
- Crime control and investigation
- Crime reduction
- Order maintenance
- Peace-keeping
- Emergency response
- State security
Which act was the starting point of the modern police service? Who created it? In what year?
The Metropolitan Police Act 1829.
By Sir Robert Peel - Home Secretary.
The ‘new police’ were unpopular, how were they seen by the different classes?
Working class - saw them as an oppressive force.
Middle and upper class - saw them as a threat to liberty from ‘government spies’.
What does PACE stand for and what year was it created?
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Define Plea Bargaining
An informal process used in the CJS where the defendant agrees with the prosecutor to plead guilty to a lesser charge or a reduced sentence than originally intended or the most serious charges being dropped.
What are the two types of crime that a Pubic Defender deals with in the US involving plea bargaining?
‘Normal crimes’ - e.g no violence, little damage etc - public defender can get a plea bargain.
‘Unusual crimes’ - e.g burglary with violence - public defender cannot get plea bargain as this would look bad in court.
How many guilty pleas where there in England and Wales in the Crown Court in 2007-8?
68%
How many guilty pleas where there in England and Wales in the Magistrates Court in 2007-8?
67.5%
What are cracked cases and why are they a problem for the CJS?
A cracked case is where a case is resolved without a trial because a trial date has been set and the defendant pleads guilty on the day, there is no evidence from the prosecution or the defendant changes their plea from not guilty to guilty at the last moment.
This is bad for the CJS as the trial would have been prepared, court time would have been booked. Meaning there was an inefficient outcome costing the CJS time and money.
What are the two types of negotiated justice/plea bargaining? Give definition
Sentence bargaining - defendant pleads guilty in hope of a lower sentence.
Charge bargains - defendant is charged with two or more offences. Pleads guilty to the lesser charges and in return the prosecution drops the more serious charge.
