The Criminal Justice Model

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The criminal justice system can be very interesting when looking further and further into all the different details. There are several different models that are in the criminal justice process. The first example would be funnels. Another example would be cakes and the other is net. All three of these models explain the criminal justice process in different ways. A funnel is one of the most common models of the criminal justice system. It is basically wide at the top, tapering down to a narrow end. It shows how each type of crime is processed throughout the system decreasing as each step comes to an end. With each stage of the funnel, less and less crimes are processed through the system. Many cases tend to be dismissed while others are referred for treatment or counseling. Probation is more likely the case when the courts don’t take the case any further down the system. “Joel Samaha notes, the U.S. Constitution requires the government to support every deprivation of privacy, life, liberty, or property with facts.” (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Process-of-Criminal-Justice.topicArticleId-10065,articleId-9909.html) Other ways of expressing the funnel effect is that there are way less inmates than suspects and defendants. This really helps get a visual on how the courts really decrease the amount of criminals actually taken fully into the criminal justice system. The next most common model of the criminal justice system would be a cake. If you can just imagine a four layered wedding cake, you can be able to visualize the different stages of the system. At the base of the cake you have all of the criminals that commit a misdemeanor. This is where all of them are grouped. The next level up is where all of the “lesser felonies” are pooled. By “Lesser felonies” I mean that these are felonies but they are grouped different than more

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