Why the Due Process Model is Superior to the Crime Control Model

Crime Control vs. Due Process Discussion

The conservative crime control model and the liberal due process model each has its respective strengths and weaknesses, as well as their extremes. On the one hand, the crime control model concentrates on ensuring that an efficient legal system is in place that is capable of adjudicating criminal defendants in an expeditious fashion in order to get as many lawbreakers off the streets as quickly as possible to enhance social stability and public safety. At its extreme, proponents of the crime control model would argue that locking up innocent people is the harsh but acceptable price that society must pay to ensure that criminals are also identified and incarcerated, thereby removing their threats to the public good. These multiple priorities mean that individual freedoms are less important that controlling criminal activities. In addition, plea bargaining is more commonplace under the crime control model since it serves to speed up the otherwise-sluggish legal process (Burke, Carter, Fedorek et al., 2020). In sum, Jones (2010) reports that the crime control model’s view is “that the proper role of the criminal process (and criminal justice) is to protect 'law-abiding citizens' from dangerous others” (p. 331).

On the other hand, the main priority of the due process model is to ensure that all criminal defendants are afforded the opportunity to fully defend themselves in courts of competent jurisdiction and that their full range of constitutional rights are protected from abuses (Burke, Carter, Fedorek et al., 2020). In other words, in sharp contrast to the crime control model, the due process model places the highest priority on fundamental individual freedoms and rights (Jones, 2010). At its extreme, the due process model would advocate releasing as many criminals as necessary in order to avoid incarcerating even a few or one innocent people (Jones, 2010).

While a balanced, “middle-of-the-road” approach is seemingly an optimal strategy, it is reasonable to conclude that the due process model is preferable since it provides a valuable framework in which individual rights are protected, an outcome that serves to reinforce the equitable application of the law to all. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that because there are far more innocent people than criminals, the due process model represents the superior approach to criminal justice today regardless of the administrative burden that it places on the courts.