Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs

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of which are linked to greater potential for criminal behavior.

      And, of course, personality disorders and mental illnesses may create a greater likelihood of criminal behavior. For example, a large percentage of people in prison have an antisocial personality disorder, which generally means they’ve engaged in a pattern of behavior that violates the rights of others.

      Society fights crime with three levels of police: Local, state, and federal. Each level has different responsibilities, but they all join forces when it comes to fighting organized crime.

      Policing the streets

      Of the 18,000 police agencies in the United States, most of them are local agencies, which means they’re city police or county sheriffs. These agencies handle most of the emergency calls for police services. In addition to responding to 9-1-1 calls, however, local police patrol the streets and enforce traffic laws. In fact, the only interaction most people have with a cop is getting pulled over for a traffic violation.

      Although local agencies can range in size from one officer to thousands, most departments have the following categories of cops:

       Patrol officers respond to 9-1-1 calls and drive the streets to try to discourage crime with their presence.

       Sergeants typically supervise five to ten officers.

       Detectives conduct criminal investigations. Rather than just responding to a 9-1-1 call and writing a report, a detective typically is assigned more complex cases that require longer-term investigations. A smaller police department may have just a general detective unit, while a larger department may have detectives who specialize in specific types of crime, such as homicide.

       Management includes lieutenants, captains, and the chief of police or sheriff.

      In Chapter 16, I discuss the functions of all these cops in detail.

      Getting the feds involved

      Although the federal government has over 65 different federal agencies with law enforcement personnel, the vast majority of federal officers work for agencies I’m sure you’ve heard of, including the following:

       Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

       Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

       Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

       Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which has taken on the responsibility of immigration and customs enforcement

       Secret Service

       U.S. Marshals Service

       Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

      These agencies enforce federal criminal laws, which are criminal laws passed by the U.S. Congress. (Local police agencies typically enforce local or state laws.) Each of these agencies focuses on its area of specialty, with the FBI having broader authority to get into more types of crime. An officer with a federal agency is usually called a special agent and conducts complex, long-term investigations. Special agents don’t respond to 9-1-1 calls or enforce traffic laws. If you’re intrigued by life as a fed, look at Chapter 17 where I give you a brief overview of the major federal law enforcement agencies.

      Working together in task forces

      Because organized crime frequently crosses the territorial boundary of one police agency, local, state, and federal cops often come together to form task forces, which fight a specific type of crime. Most commonly, officers from different agencies work together on drug or gang task forces. For example, when a drug mule carries dope from one city into another, the task force has authority in each town to conduct surveillance and make arrests.

      One of the greatest benefits of task forces is that they encourage information sharing between different agencies. When agencies combine their information about a particular organized crime group, they often create a much better picture of the threat and are then able to devise a strategy to investigate and eliminate that threat. Because so many different police agencies are working toward the same goal of public safety, cooperation among them is crucial, and task forces help to foster that cooperation.

      When police catch a criminal, that person enters a large, complex system that is set up to make sure that individual’s constitutional rights are protected at the same time that society as a whole is protected.

      Prosecuting crime

      After police make an arrest, a prosecutor must determine whether or not to file criminal charges. (At the local level, a prosecutor is usually known as an assistant district attorney or county prosecutor. At the federal level, prosecutors are called assistant U.S. attorneys.) After reading a police officer’s report, if a prosecutor decides to file charges, he drafts a charging document, sometimes called an information or an indictment, which lists all the criminal charges against the defendant.

      At the arraignment, the defendant hears the charges against him and has the chance to apply for a court-appointed attorney. (Most defendants can’t afford to hire their own lawyers.) Thereafter, the prosecutor and the defense attorney engage in plea negotiations. The vast majority of criminal cases are resolved by negotiations and don’t go to trial. But if the lawyers can’t agree, they do go to trial, where a jury decides whether or not the defendant is guilty. (A defendant can choose to waive his right to a jury and let a judge decide the case.) I discuss the responsibilities of prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges in Chapter 19, and I walk you through all the steps of a typical criminal trial in Chapter 20.

      Determining punishment

      If a defendant is convicted, the judge decides what punishment to impose, although many states have reduced a judge’s discretion by passing laws that require mandatory sentences for certain serious crimes. Low-level offenses often don’t result in any jail time. Rather, a defendant may just receive a fine, some community service, and probation. But serious offenses can result in lengthy sentences.

      A person sentenced to do time can go to either a local jail, usually run by a county sheriff, or a prison, run by a state or the federal government. Jail is usually reserved for shorter sentences, and prison often involves sentences of a year or more.

      After serving their time, convicted persons are often placed on probation or parole, which means they have to comply with certain conditions imposed by the judge or else be sent back to jail or prison. Here are some typical probation conditions:

       Pay all court costs and fines

       Complete community service

       Attend all ordered treatment, such as drug treatment, anger management, or sex offender treatment

       Obey all laws (of course!)

      Giving

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