Herbert Packer's Due Process, Due Process And Crime Control

In 1968, Herbert Packer was a Stanford University law professor who constructed two models of criminal process, due process and crime control. The due process model was Packer’s view that criminal defendants should be presumed innocent, courts must protect suspects’ rights, and there must be come limits placed on police powers. The crime control model is a model that emphasizes law and order and argues that every effort must be made to suppress crime, and to try, convict, and incarcerate offenders. Packer’s crime control model suggested that most cases ended in guilty please or withdrawals. In contrast, his due process model suggested that cases that go to trail and are appealed were the most influential. The due process and crime control model differentiate in

213) His belief is that instead of controlling crime, we should be more interested in the value system and the fairness of justice. I think that modern society favors the crime control model because law enforcement tries to maintain order in society while trying to incorporate finding out the truth and solving a crime. They treat the arrested as if they were already guilty and emphasize on arrest, prosecution and conviction of those who have broken the law. Police are allowed to interrogate a suspect, however they must make sure that they do not coerce a false confession because “it may result in the conviction of an innocent man . . . It is a factual question in each case whether the accused’s confession is unreliable.” (Roach, 1999, p. 678) Crime control is favored in society because law enforcement emphasizes the importance of repressing crime and keeping the rest of society safe from criminals as oppose to protecting the rights of the