ABSTRACT

In 2007, following a review of the undergraduate law syllabus at Queen's University, Belfast, a new compulsory Year One module was introduced: Crime and the Criminal Process. The first semester module, taught by doctrinal criminal lawyers and critical criminologists, was designed to provide a contextual understanding of 'crime' and the criminal justice process. As Morrison affirms, if a criminal act is considered solely as a violation of the criminal law, then the only 'common element' between crimes is that each is a procedural violation. The ideological construction of criminal or deviant acts and the differential 'meaning' attributed to them extends beyond personal and social interaction. This chapter highlights the objectives of the criminal justice system, the 'crime control' and 'due process' models of criminal justice as outlined by Packer, and different branches of the criminal justice system. It explains how the criminal justice system operated, including the rules relating to arrest and summons, police investigation, charging, and prosecution of offences.