Criminal Procedure Policy

Criminal Procedure

When the framers of our government authored the Constitution, the idea was to form a “more perfect union.” To accomplish this they created a document designed to separate this new nation from its British roots and protect individual liberty and freedoms. They knew the new government must provide law and order, but equally protect citizens from potential abuses of power. Law enforcement is provided a great deal of authority and power to enforce the laws of the land, it is important there are checks in place to protect citizen from invasions of liberty that would inhibit the pursuit of happiness. The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments are the key to providing these protections. It is also important to understand the two models of criminal justice and how federal authority transfers to the states (Zalman, M., 2011).

Criminal Justice Models

Without a strong criminal justice system crime would be left unchecked. If this were the case it would be impossible to have liberty, freedom, or happiness. All societies must have some form of order and provide security to its citizens. The goal in the United States is to strike a proper balance between the power of the government to control crime while also allow the freedom of citizens. In an effort to explain this balance Herbert Packer proposed two criminal justice models, the Due Process Model and the Crime Control Model (Zalman, M., 2011).

Both Models Share Common Values

These models exist together and share common values. Both models agree on the Rule of Law and that individuals can only be charged with a crime currently in place. This means the police cannot stop people and hold them for something unless there is already a law in place and they have violated this law. A person cannot be charged for violating a crime that does not yet exist even if it later becomes a law. Both models also agree police have a duty to uphold the law and must not turn a blind eye to...