Administration of Justice Administration

¶ … Moving Targets: Placing the Good Faith Doctrine in the Context of Fragmented Policing" by H. Aviram and J. Seymour (2010)

In the United States, due process of law is guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment and applies to all citizens by virtue of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In sharp contrast to the Crime Control Model that focuses on the early identification of the guilty, the Due Process Model of crime control places a high priority on preserving accuracy in legal proceeding and avoiding the conviction of the innocent. These issues form the basis of a peer-reviewed journal article by H. Aviram and J. Seymour (2010) which is critiqued in the paper the follows. A summary of the research and important findings concerning due process and crime control are provided in the paper's conclusion.

This paper provides a review of a peer-reviewed journal article on improving crime control through due process. A discussion concerning the article's findings and the ethical dilemmas identified by the authors is followed by an analysis of how the topic relates to a biblical worldview. Finally, an examination of how the concepts and ideas presented in the article apply to justice administration is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning crime control through due process in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

Overview of Due Process of Law

According to the definition provided by Black's Law Dictionary (1990), due process of law is "an exercise of the powers of the government as the settled maxims of law permit and sanction, and under such safeguards for the protection of individual rights as those maxims prescribe for the class of cases to which the one in question belongs" (p. 500). In sum, due process of law means that defendants are afforded "their day in court" which in the United States includes (a) the right to be present in court; (b) to be heard by testimony or otherwise; (c) and the right of converting, by proof, all of the material facts that bear on the question of right in the matter involved (Black's Law Dictionary, 1990, p. 500).

Main Findings by Aviram and Seymour

In their article, (2011) report that in the United States, there are two models of crime control being debated in the United States today: (a) the Crime Control Model and (b) the Due Process Model. While the Crime Control Model places higher priority on providing an efficient criminal justice system through the early determination of guilt by law enforcement authorities, the Due Process Model emphasizes the preservation of accuracy in the criminal justice process and the avoidance of convicting the innocent (Aviram & Seymour, 2010).

The main finding by Aviram and Seymour with respect to due process and crime control concerns the need for protection from constitutional rights abuses by governmental law enforcement authorities. In this regard, Aviram and Seymour conclude that, "Under a due process paradigm, law enforcement discretion is seen as potentially biased and is therefore carefully curtailed by constitutional review and procedural hurdles as a 'quality control' mechanism" (p. 710). Not surprisingly, the use of the Due Process Model presents some ethical dilemmas, and these issues are discussed further below.

Ethical Dilemmas Identified by Aviram and Seymour

The challenges to effective crime control that today include the ethical dilemmas that are involved in administering a Crime Control Model that places a large amount of discretionary enforcement power in the hands of law enforcement authorities compared to the Due Process Model. According to Aviram and Seymour, "Everyday officers exercise tremendous discretion and make on-the-spot decisions about exercising their authority or refraining from doing so. Courts are well aware of this feature but defer to vague standards when it comes to police discretion" (p. 712). Moreover, the fundamental right to due process to establish innocence rather than being subjected to the potentially heavy-handed tactics of over-zealous law enforcement authorities is even described in the Holy Bible as noted below.

How Due Process Relates to a Biblical Worldview

The need to establish the nature of wrongdoing as part of the due process of law is described in Romans 4:15 thusly: "For the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation." Likewise, the need to present the accused with a codified account of the charges is also described in Romans 5:13 as follows: "But sin is not imputed when there is no law." Taken together, these verses suggest that due process of law is an essential element of justice administration as discussed further below.