5 Criminal Justice System, Probation and Parole · 5.1 Criminal justice system
5.1.1 Criminal justice system: components, Packer's models, police, courts and correctional administration
The criminal justice system (CJS) is the chain of agencies that deals with crime: police → prosecution → courts → corrections; Herbert Packer described two value models for it, crime control (an "assembly line") and due process (an "obstacle course"); India's system is adversarial, its criminal courts are set up by the BNSS 2023 (which replaced the CrPC from 1 July 2024), and the Malimath Committee (2003) is the main reform report.
- APPSC Paper I
- Standard level
- 18 min read
- Free
Core facts
- Four components (pillars) of the CJS: police (law enforcement and investigation), prosecution, courts (judiciary), corrections (prisons, probation, parole, juvenile institutions). Many books add defence lawyers, victims and the community.
- Herbert L. Packer (Stanford law professor): article Two Models of the Criminal Process (1964), book The Limits of the Criminal Sanction (1968). His two models:
- Crime control model: "assembly line"; aim is efficient repression of crime; presumption of guilt in practice; trusts police and prosecution; values speed and finality; factual guilt.
- Due process model: "obstacle course"; aim is protecting the individual against State power; presumption of innocence; trusts the courts; values reliability over speed; legal guilt.
- Third model: John Griffiths, the "family model" (1970), based on reconciliation, not battle.
- Adversarial (accusatorial) system: India, UK, USA (common law). The judge is a neutral umpire; two sides contest; the prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Inquisitorial system: France, Germany (civil law); the judge actively investigates the truth.
- Classes of criminal courts (CrPC 6 → BNSS 6): Courts of Session, Judicial Magistrates of the first class, Judicial Magistrates of the second class, Executive Magistrates. Besides these: High Courts and courts under other laws.
- BNSS dropped the Metropolitan Magistrates and the Assistant Sessions Judge.
- Sentencing powers (CrPC 28–29 → BNSS 22–23): High Court and Sessions Judge: any sentence authorised by law (death needs High Court confirmation, CrPC 366 → BNSS 407); Chief Judicial Magistrate: up to 7 years; JM first class: up to 3 years, fine up to ₹50,000 or community service; JM second class: up to 1 year, fine up to ₹10,000 or community service.
- Separation of judiciary from executive: Article 50 (DPSP); the CrPC 1973 (in force 1 April 1974, on the 41st Law Commission Report, 1969) split magistrates into judicial and executive.
- Police and public order are State subjects (Seventh Schedule, List II entries 2 and 1); prisons, reformatories and Borstal institutions are List II entry 4.
- Police Act, 1861 (passed after the 1857 revolt) still governs the police in many States.
- Prosecution: Public Prosecutor (CrPC 24 → BNSS 18), Assistant Public Prosecutor (CrPC 25 → BNSS 19), Directorate of Prosecution (CrPC 25A → BNSS 20).
- Malimath Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System: chaired by Justice V.S. Malimath, set up by the MHA in 2000, report 2003 (158 recommendations).
- Community policing: police and community as partners in preventing crime and solving local problems. Root idea: Sir Robert Peel (Metropolitan Police, London, 1829): "the police are the public and the public are the police".
- Correctional administration: the part of the CJS that carries out sentences with the aim of reformation and rehabilitation: institutional (prisons, Borstals, juvenile homes) and non-institutional / community-based (probation, parole, furlough, community service, after-care).
Explained
1. What the CJS does. Its goals are to prevent and control crime, detect and punish offenders, protect the innocent and the victim, and reform offenders so they return to society. The path of a case:
| Stage | Main agency | Key step |
|---|---|---|
| Report and investigation | police | FIR, arrest, evidence, police report (charge-sheet) |
| Prosecution | Public Prosecutor | decides charges, conducts the case |
| Adjudication | courts | cognizance, charge, trial, judgment, sentence, appeal |
| Corrections | prisons, probation, parole | custody, reformation, release, after-care |
2. One system or a "non-system"? The four wings are run by different departments (Home for police and prisons, Law for prosecution, the High Court for courts) and often work in isolation: police are judged by arrests, courts by disposals, prisons by safe custody. Critics therefore call it a non-system or a fragmented system. Signs: delayed trials, undertrials making up about three-fourths of prisoners (NCRB Prison Statistics India 2022: about 76%), overcrowding (occupancy above 130% in 2022), low conviction rates. Attrition (the "crime funnel"): of all crimes committed, fewer are reported, fewer recorded, fewer charge-sheeted, fewer convicted and still fewer imprisoned.
3. Coordination tools.
- CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, MHA, approved 2009): links every police station online; run by NCRB.
- ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System): connects the five pillars' databases: CCTNS (police), e-Courts, e-Prisons, e-Forensics, e-Prosecution.
- Undertrial Review Committees in each district (chaired by the District Judge) review undertrial cases for release.
- District-level coordination meetings of the District Judge, Collector, SP and jail superintendent.
4. Packer's models compared.
| Point | Crime control | Due process |
|---|---|---|
| Image | assembly line (conveyor belt) | obstacle course |
| Main value | efficiency, speed, finality | reliability, fairness, rights |
| Trusts | police and prosecution fact-finding | court process and lawyers |
| Guilt | factual guilt; presumption of guilt in practice | legal guilt; presumption of innocence |
| Favours | plea bargaining, quick disposal | exclusion of illegal evidence, appeals |
Packer said both are ideal types: no real system is purely one. The models are about values, not institutions. Neither is "the" right model; a real system moves between them. Distractors in exams: "collective approach model", "conflict model", "consensus model" are not Packer's.
5. Adversarial vs inquisitorial.
| Point | Adversarial (India) | Inquisitorial |
|---|---|---|
| Judge's role | neutral umpire | active investigator of truth |
| Evidence gathered by | the parties | the judge / investigating magistrate |
| Trial | oral, cross-examination central | mostly written dossier |
| Burden | prosecution, beyond reasonable doubt | court's duty to find truth |
India's system has a few inquisitorial features: the court may summon any person or recall a witness (CrPC 311 → BNSS 348), and the judge may put any question to a witness (Evidence Act 165 → BSA 168).
6. Criminal courts.
- Supreme Court: criminal appeals under Article 134 (for example when a High Court reverses an acquittal and sentences to death) and by special leave (Article 136).
- High Court: appeals, revision, confirmation of death sentences, inherent powers (CrPC 482 → BNSS 528).
- Court of Session (one per sessions division, which the State Government sets up; Sessions Judge and Additional Sessions Judges appointed by the High Court): tries serious offences committed to it by a magistrate. The district judge is the Sessions Judge on the criminal side (see POL-JU-04).
- Judicial Magistrates: Chief Judicial Magistrate (one per district), JM first class, JM second class; Special Judicial Magistrates. They try most offences and handle remand and bail.
- Executive Magistrates (District Magistrate, Additional DM, Sub-Divisional Magistrate): preventive work: security for keeping the peace and good behaviour (CrPC 107–110 → BNSS 126–129), urgent orders in nuisance or apprehended danger (CrPC 144 → BNSS 163). They do not try offences.
- Special courts under other laws: Children's Court (JJ Act, CPCR Act), Special Court under POCSO, NDPS, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act; Fast Track Special Courts for rape and POCSO cases (scheme from 2019).
7. Police.
- Organisation: State police under the DGP; district under the SP; police station under the SHO. Central bodies: BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development, 1970), NCRB (1986), CBI, NIA.
- National Police Commission (1977–81, chaired by Dharma Vira, eight reports) proposed a new Police Act and a State Security Commission.
- Prakash Singh v Union of India (2006): the Supreme Court gave seven directives: a State Security Commission; DGP chosen from a UPSC-empanelled list with a minimum two-year tenure; two-year tenure for IG, SP and SHO; separate investigation from law and order; a Police Establishment Board for transfers; Police Complaints Authorities at State and district level; a National Security Commission for central police forces.
- Model Police Act, 2006: drafted by the Soli Sorabjee committee.
8. Community policing.
- Meaning: a philosophy in which police and residents share responsibility for safety: regular contact, beat officers known by name, joint problem-solving, and attention to fear of crime and disorder, not only to reported crime.
- Related ideas: problem-oriented policing (Herman Goldstein, 1979: study the underlying problem behind repeated calls); broken windows (James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, 1982: unchecked minor disorder invites serious crime).
- Indian examples: Friends of Police (Tamil Nadu, 1990s), Janamaithri Suraksha (Kerala, 2008), Mohalla Committees (Bhiwandi and Mumbai, Maharashtra), beat and village police officer systems.
- Benefits: trust, information flow, crime prevention, less fear. Limits: police culture, staff shortage, risk of local elites capturing it.
9. Malimath Committee (2003): main recommendations.
- Borrow good features of the inquisitorial system: the court's duty to search for the truth.
- Lower the standard of proof from "beyond reasonable doubt" to "clear and convincing" evidence.
- Allow the court to draw an adverse inference from the accused's silence.
- Make a confession to a senior police officer (SP rank), recorded on audio-video, admissible.
- Separate investigation wing from law and order; a National / State Security Commission.
- Victims: right to take part in the trial, a victim compensation fund.
- Reclassify offences: a separate code of social welfare offences with lighter procedure (the 2023 paper asked this).
- Sentencing guidelines, plea bargaining, witness protection, more judges, fewer adjournments.
Several were criticised as tilting towards crime control (lower proof standard, silence, police confessions) and were not adopted; others (plea bargaining 2005, victim compensation 2009) became law.
10. Correctional administration.
- Purpose: carry out the sentence humanely and use the time for reformation, then help the offender resettle.
- Institutional corrections: central, district and sub-jails, women's jails, open prisons, special jails, Borstal schools, juvenile observation and special homes.
- Non-institutional corrections: probation (instead of prison), parole and furlough (temporary release), remission and premature release, community service, after-care.
- Administration: prisons are a State subject run by the DG / IG of Prisons and Correctional Services. The MHA advises and funds: Model Prison Manual 2016 and the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act 2023, which is meant to replace the Prisons Act 1894. BPR&D has a correctional administration division. Probation officers work under the State's prisons / correctional services or social welfare department.
- Prisons, probation and parole are treated in their own notes in this subject; this note only places them in the system.
Common traps
- ✗ "Packer's models are due process and conflict." ✓ Due process and crime control. The family model is Griffiths'.
- ✗ "Crime control = obstacle course." ✓ Crime control = assembly line; due process = obstacle course.
- ✗ "Crime control relies on legal guilt." ✓ Crime control: factual guilt; due process: legal guilt.
- ✗ "India follows the inquisitorial system." ✓ Adversarial, with a few inquisitorial powers (BNSS 348, BSA 168).
- ✗ "BNSS still has Metropolitan Magistrates." ✓ They were dropped; classes are Sessions, JM-I, JM-II, Executive Magistrates.
- ✗ "A JM first class can sentence up to 7 years." ✓ 3 years (fine up to ₹50,000); 7 years is the CJM.
- ✗ "Police is in the Union List." ✓ Police and public order: State List (List II entries 2 and 1); prisons: List II entry 4.
- ✗ "Malimath Committee reported in 2000." ✓ Set up 2000, report 2003.
- ✗ "Executive Magistrates try petty offences." ✓ They do preventive work (BNSS 126–129, 163); trials are by judicial magistrates.
- ✗ "Community policing began with the Police Act 1861." ✓ The idea traces to Robert Peel (1829); the 1861 Act built a colonial, control-oriented force.
Quick revision
- CJS pillars: police, prosecution, courts, corrections; criticised as a "non-system".
- Packer (1964, 1968): crime control (assembly line, factual guilt) vs due process (obstacle course, legal guilt).
- Griffiths (1970): family model.
- India: adversarial; judge as umpire; prosecution proves guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
- BNSS 6: Sessions, JM-I, JM-II, Executive Magistrates; no Metropolitan Magistrates.
- Powers (BNSS 23): CJM 7 years; JM-I 3 years / ₹50,000; JM-II 1 year / ₹10,000; community service.
- Prosecutors: BNSS 18, 19, 20 (Directorate of Prosecution).
- Prakash Singh (2006): seven directives; Model Police Act 2006 (Sorabjee).
- Community policing: Peel 1829; Goldstein POP 1979; broken windows 1982; Janamaithri (Kerala).
- Malimath 2003: truth-seeking court, "clear and convincing", silence inference, social welfare offences code.
Go deeper: Deeper (beyond what APPSC Paper I usually asks)
Deeper Advanced
- Packer and Indian law. Indian procedure leans to due process on paper (Article 21 after Maneka Gandhi, 1978; the D.K. Basu arrest rules; presumption of innocence) but the practice often looks like crime control (routine arrests, long pre-trial custody, confessions sought through police custody). Special laws (UAPA, NDPS, earlier TADA and POTA) are crime-control by design: longer detention, reversed burdens, strict bail.
- Beyond Packer. Griffiths (1970) said both Packer models share a "battle model" (State vs individual as enemies) and proposed a family model of reconciliation. Michael King (1981) listed six models, adding medical (rehabilitation), bureaucratic, status-passage (denunciation) and power models. Restorative justice (victim-offender mediation) shifts focus from punishment to repair.
- Funnel numbers matter. A case lost at any stage (no FIR, weak investigation, hostile witnesses, delay) means no conviction. Reform committees (Malimath 2003; the Draft National Policy on Criminal Justice, Madhava Menon committee, 2007) therefore stress coordination, not just new offences.
- BNSS changes relevant to the system as a whole: time limits (charge to be framed within 60 days of the first hearing on charge; judgment within 30 days of arguments, extendable to 45), trial in absentia of proclaimed offenders, forensic team visit compulsory for offences punishable with 7 years or more, audio-video recording of search and seizure, zero FIR and e-FIR written into the Code. Details of procedure are in CR-JS-02.
Example 1. Herbert Packer's two models of the criminal process are Solution. Packer named only the crime control and due process models; "conflict" and "collective" models are distractors. Answer: due process model and crime control model
Example 2. Which one compares the criminal process to an "obstacle course"? (a) crime control model (b) due process model (c) family model (d) medical model Solution. Due process puts legal hurdles in front of each step to protect the accused; crime control is the assembly line. Answer: (b)
Example 3. Which committee (2003) suggested a separate code of social welfare offences and a lower standard of proof? Solution. That is the Malimath Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System. Answer: Justice Malimath Committee
Example 4. Assertion (A): in India the judge acts largely as a neutral umpire in a criminal trial. Reason (R): India follows the adversarial system inherited from English common law. Solution. Both are true and R explains A. Answer: both true, R explains A
Practise this topic. Questions on Criminal justice system: components, models, police, courts and correctional administration, with answers explained.
All Criminal justice system notes · APPSC Paper I syllabus · APPSC Paper I Mock 1 with answers · Start free
Medha AI writes its own notes and checks them against the sources listed. Medha AI is an independent preparation service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to APPSC, TSPSC, MPSC, UPSC or any other commission or government body.