Topic outline of criminal justice

Criminal justice refers to the system used by government to maintain social control, enforce laws, and administer justice. Law enforcement (police), courts, and corrections are the primary agencies charged with these responsibilities. See the general list of legal topics regarding any legal topics outside of the area of criminal justice.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to criminal justice:

Essence of criminal justice

The basic goals of the United States criminal justice system are: maintaining and upholding justice within American society; controlling crime; and preventing crime.In the United States, both the national and state systems enforce laws, try cases, and punish offenders, but the two systems differ in scope and purpose. For the most part, criminal laws are written and enforced by the states, although there have been many different types of criminal laws written and enforced by the federal government, and federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service, and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Most people who break laws, however, break state laws as opposed to federal laws.

Branches of criminal justice

In the United States, the two main branches of criminal justice powers are the states and the federal branch.This system is based on the same concept of federalism, in which power is divided between a central (national) power and regional (state) governments.In the criminal justice system, states have a great deal of power. This is because of the way the United States government is structured. The basic idea was to prevent a national police force with very broad powers from forming, as this could serve to undermine the individual freedoms we so enjoy.It is because of this that the U.S. constitution does not specifically include criminal justice among the federal government's specific powers.The federal system, as mentioned before, is involved in criminal justice in many ways.

History of criminal justice

Basic criminal justice concepts

Abuse defense --"Actus reus" --
Administrative law --
Affray --
Arraignment --
Arrest warrant --
Arson --
Assault --
Attendant circumstances

Bail --
Bias crime --
Booking --
Burglary

Case law --
Causation --
Chain of custody --
Citizen's arrest --
civil law --
Clearance rate --
Common law --
Concurrence --
Concurrent sentence --
Conflict model --
Consecutive sentence --
Command responsibility --
Consensus model --"Corpus delicti" --
Corrections --
Creative lawyering --
Crime --
Crime control --
Crime index --
Criminal justice --
Criminology

Death penalty --
Defense (legal) --
Defense of property --
Denial of a speedy trial --
Deterrence --
Diminished responsibility --
Diminished responsibility in English law --
Double jeopardy --
Due process

Elder abuse --
Embezzlement --
Entrapment --
Espionage --
Evidentiary hearing --
Excuse --
Execution warrant --

Felony --
Forgery --
Fear of crime

Grand jury

Hate crime

Ignorance of the law --
Inchoate offense --
Indictable offence --
Indictment --
Individual rights --
Infraction --
Innovative defense --
Insanity defense --
Islamic law

Jurisprudence --
Jury instructions --
Jury nullification --
Jury trial --
Justice --
Justification

Kangaroo court --
Kidnapping

Larceny --
Law --
Liability

Mafia --
Manslaughter --
Manslaughter in English law --
M'Naghten Rules --"Mens rea" --
Miranda Warning --
Misdemeanor --
Mistake --
Motive --
Motor vehicle theft --
Murder --
Murder in English law

Negligence

Obscenity --
Offense --
Organized crime

Pardon --
Penal law --
Peremptory pleas --
Perjury --
Plea bargain --
Precedent --
Predator --
Preliminary hearing --
Prescription --
Probable cause --
Probation --
Procedural defense --
Prosecutorial misconduct --
Prostitution --
Provocation --
Provocation in English law
Public order

Rape --
Resisting unlawful arrest --
Robbery

Selective prosecution --
Self defense and defense of others --
Sentence --
Sharia --
Shoplifting --
Social control --"Stare decisis" --
Star Chamber --
Statutory law --
Suicide --
Summary offence

Terrorism --
Theft --
Treason --
Trespass --
Trial --
Trial by jury --
Trial de novo

Violence

War crime --
Warrant --
Writ --
Writ of Habeas Corpus

Criminal justice scholars

Leaders in criminal justice