1.8. The Crime Control and Due Process Models 
SHANELL SANCHEZ 
Crime Control and Due Process Model 
The criminal justice system can be quite complicated, especially in the attempt to punish offenders for 
wrongs committed. Society expects the system to be efficient and quick, but the protection of individual 
rights and justice fairly delivered. Ultimately, the balance of these goals is ideal, but it can be challenging to 
control crime and quickly punish offenders, while also ensuring our constitutional rights are not infringed 
upon while delivering justice. 
In the 1960s, legal scholar Herbert L. Packer created models to describe exceeding expectations of the 
criminal justice system. These two models can be competing ideologies in criminal justice, but we will 
discuss how these models can be merged or balanced to work together. The first tension between these 
models is often the values they place as most important in the criminal justice system, the crime control 
model and the due process model. 
1 
The crime control model focuses on having an efficient system, with the most important function being 
to suppress and control crime to ensure that society is safe and there is public order. Under this model, 
controlling crime is more important to individual freedom. This model is a more conservative perspective. 
In order to protect society and make sure individuals feel free from the threat of crime, the crime control 
model would advocate for swift and severe punishment for offenders. Under this model, the justice process 
may resemble prosecutors charge an ‘assembly-line’: law enforcement suspects apprehend suspects; the courts 
determine guilt; and guilty people receive appropriate, and severe, punishments through the correctional 
system. 
2 The crime control model may be more likely to take a plea bargain because trials may take too 
much time and slow down the process. 
Murder in the Gym: Crime Control Model Example by Dr. Sanchez 
Imagine working out at the local gym, and a man starts shooting people. This man has no mask on so he is 
easy to identify. People call 911 and police promptly respond and can arrest the shooter within minutes. Under 
1. Packer, H. (1964). Two models of the criminal process. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 113(1) 
2. Roach, K. (1999). Four models of the criminal process. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 89(2), 671-716. 
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