Ideologies help guide our behavior and thought processes and have been largely neglected when studying crime and criminal justice professionals. Intensive interviews were conducted with homicide detectives in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia to provide a view of their working beliefs and opinions concerning a number of issues. The areas questioned included (a) working environment, (b) causes of homicide, (c) television portrayal of homicide work, and (d) the death penalty. Within each area several questions were asked. Although homicide detectives in both cities and countries gave similar responses to many questions, they differed significantly in terms of the role of guns, particularly handguns, in homicide rates, the death penalty, and their relationship to the prosecutor/crown. Therefore, although their constellation of beliefs (ideologies) surrounding the above noted topics were in many ways similar, there were distinct differences. The areas of difference can be understood within the larger legal and cultural context.
Established to provide noncriminal treatment for youths, juve nile courts in the United States have been subjected recently to mounting criticism. Emphasis upon individual rights and the dis covery that the courts have often failed to achieve their goals contributed to an upheaval in the juvenile courts culminating in the Gault decision by the Supreme Court on May 15, 1967. To gauge the effects of the decision, this study analyzed a juvenile court's records for a two-year period. Both quantitative and quali tative changes were discovered, even though no statutory changes occurred. A doubling in the percentage of cases with counsel and a reduction in the total number of cases reflect an increased emphasis upon legal fact-finding. This change in normative em phasis was brought about primarily by changes in the attitudes of court personnel and law-enforcement agencies.
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