ABSTRACT
Questions about crime and questions about the control of crime are not easily separated and they may be best understood as two sides of the same coin (see Chapter 6). Patterns of recorded crime, types and numbers of offenders brought to justice, and the constitution of prison populations are largely determined by the actions of various criminal justice gatekeepers to report, detect, judge and punish criminal activities.These gatekeepers include the press and the public, and also the people and professionals working in the criminal justice system including the police, lawyers, magistrates, juries and judges.This chapter provides an overview of the key stages of the criminal justice process in the United Kingdom, and it describes the roles and responsibilities of the key actors and institutions involved: the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Probation Service and the judiciary. It looks at the historical development of the criminal justice system, the main gatekeeping decisions that underpin the working of each area, the related social constructions of criminal cases, and the principles and realities of justice that ensue from this.
