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Fairness In The Criminal Justice System Essay

Due Process Model concentrates on providing suspects with a fair investigation and with removing all possible ideas that might have an unreasonable influence on defendants. The defendant's rights are one of the most important concepts throughout the criminal justice process. While in some justice systems a technicality does not necessarily represent an important factor in a person's justice process, it can be especially significant in a situation where the due process model is being supported. This means that a person is very likely to be released from charges if the authorities consider that the defendant's rights had been violated at one point during the process. Being concerned with due process is believed by many to be an essential part of the justice system, especially considering corrupt jurisdictions where particular individuals feel that they need to do anything in their power in order to apprehend criminals, even in cases when this means that they need to obtain evidence through illegal means. The due process model is largely the result of Herbert Packer's attempt to introduce a conceptual model of the criminal process. He considered that this would make it possible for people to gain a more complex understanding of the justice system and of the position they need to take with regard to it.

Packer came up with two models and it each addressed a particular school of thought. The Crime Control Model involved supporting the authorities in finding any piece of evidence regardless of the laws broken in the process. The second one, the Due Process model, emphasized the fact that criminals need to be treated fairly and that it would be in society's best interest to refrain from engaging in illegal activities...

(Hsieh 9) Even with the fact that Packer's models were extreme examples of justice being implemented, they were nonetheless important because they emphasized an intriguing aspect of the justice system -- the authorities being inclined to act outside of the legal system in cases when they were unable to produce evidence through legal means. "Packer's assumptions between crime control and due process were challenged by, first, the American and, then, the Canadian experience, which demonstrated that a due-process revolution was not inconsistent with increased crime control." (Roach 317) This made it possible for him to observe how individuals have the tendency to respect the law more in situations when they are certain that law enforcement agents are actively involved in making the justice system as fair as possible (Roach 317)
The fact that law enforcement officers often have access to limited resources means that they need to do everything they can in order to both capture criminals and to avoid becoming victims of these respective criminals themselves. This leads to some preferring effectiveness to legality and to create a justice environment that is not as honest as most people like to believe it is. Packer's crime control model is successful when considering this type of thinking. "To achieve such speed and finality and fulfill its purpose, first, the model aims to produce efficiency by disposing of criminal cases swiftly and dealing with the maximum number of cases in a criminal justice system with limited resources." (Hsieh 10) By understanding the crime control model one is more likely to observe why the due process model tends to be disregarded in many areas. A combination of highly intelligent criminals and law enforcement agencies lacking the resources to apprehend these respective criminals is probable to…

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Works cited:

Campbell, L. "FROM DUE PROCESS TO CRIME CONTROL -- THE DECLINE OF LIBERALISMIN THE IRISH CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM." Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.academia.edu/269582/From_Due_Process_to_Crime_Control_The_Decline_of_Liberalism_In_the_Irish_Criminal_Justice_System

Coulter, C. "Ahern aims to curb crime in new bail Bill," retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ahern-aims-to-curb-crime-in-new-bail-bill-1.772955

Hsieh, A. "The Exclusionary Rule of Evidence: Comparative Analysis and Proposals for Reform." (Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 28 Dec 2014)

Roach, K. "Due Process and Victims' Rights: The New Law and Politics of Criminal Justice." (University of Toronto Press, 1999)
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