POLS 3700 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Drug Enforcement Administration, United States District Court, Sixth Amendment To The United States Constitution

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3700
• Professor: Ethan Boldt

Document Summary

Crimes: actions that violate laws defining which socially harmful behaviors will be subject to the government"s power to impose punishments. The criminal law is defined by elected representatives in state legislatures and congress, who make choices about the behaviors that the government will punish. Mala prohibita: offenses prohibited by law but not necessarily wrong in themselves. Cj system has three goals: doing justice, controlling crime, preventing crime. Doing justice concerns fairness and equity in the treatment of people who are drawn into the cj system. Doing justice forms the basis for the rules, procedures, and institutions of the cj system. The criminal justice system is designed to control crime by arresting, prosecuting, convicting, and punishing those who disobey the law. A major constraint on the system, however, is that efforts to control crime must be carried out within the framework of law.