[1]
Walker's "Wedding Cake"Samuel Walker created a way to help others more easily understand the way most cases are processed by using a four-layer wedding cake. Explanations of the layers of the wedding cake, and examples of cases in Colorado that coincide with each layer, are given below.
The first layer of the cake is the "celebrated layer" where court cases are blown up in the media and followed every step of the way. An example is in Denver, a woman no contest in a case involving the death of her two children. A little more than a year ago, the woman left her 5-year-old and 2-year-old children in her car and they died of heat exhaustion. She is sentenced to a two-year deferred sentence, and either 300 hours of community service or 50 public presentations on leaving kids in hot cars[2]. The story is a top-layer case because of the coverage in the media. The case has been covered by the Denver Post and other outlets since the beginning of the case, through the arrest, and finally to the verdict.
The second layer of the "wedding cake" includes serious crimes, usually committed by experienced offenders. Crimes like rapes, burglaries, and vicious incidents with innocent victims that include weapon and violence are worth full attention and a prison sentence. An example of the second layer is the case of Michael Lollis. The offender pled guilty to three completed rapes and one attempt to sexual assault. After a DNA test, he was linked with six more completed sexual assaults. His DNA was placed in the national DNA database because of the new Colorado law that went into effect in 2007, which requires all felons to provide DNA samples. He is now facing 120 years in prison[3].
The third layer of Samuel Walker's "wedding cake" consists of lower level felonies, such as small level robberies and assaults with no weapons being used. Recently, at the Gamma Phi Beta house outside of the University of Denver, a sorority sister woke up at 5:45 am to a man standing near her bed. The man then threatened the women verbally and ran off. Nobody was injured, but many laptops from the sorority house were stolen. Many small robberies similar to this one have been happening like this around the campus and have been unsolved[4]. Crimes like this are a perfect example to the "wedding cake" theory.
The fourth layer of the "wedding cake" consists of misdemeanors. The Colorado woman who is connected to a Texas Polygamist case would be an example of the fourth layer. This woman was considered a "person of interest" in the investigation into a polygamist ranch in Texas. Texas authorities found out she was linked to a telephone number possibly related to reports of alleged abuse at the Yearning for Zion Ranch. A search of her home turned up several items connecting her with the calls regarding the YFZ Ranch and also other polygamist compounds in Texas and Arizona. Rozita Swinton has been charged with a misdemeanor for making false reports to police in Colorado Springs, a charge unrelated to the Texas raid[5]. This incident is like many other that would fall into the fourth layer of the criminal justice "wedding cake".Colorado Justice System ExpendituresIn the state of Colorado, the expenditures for the entire justice system is $2,677,286, which is 7.5% of the total expenditure for the state. This is roughly average in relation to all the states in the United States expenditure. This is how that money is broken down between the police, the courts, and corrections.
The police get the most money, coming in at $1,203,113, getting the highest percentage of the money spent on the justice system with a percentage of 44.9%.
Corrections come in second with $1,000,586 spent on them, which is 37.4% of the total expenditure.
Last, and some say the least, is the judicial and legal area of the justice system with only $473,587 spent on them. They only received 17.7% of the total expenditure.
The reason why the police received the most money is most likely because Colorado only has a small population of 4,766,000 people. The state doesn't need to spend more money on jails or courts because there aren't as many facilities (jails and courthouses) as the police have. Most of the money spent on police is spent at the city and municipality level, not at the state level. Since there are more smaller towns than bigger cities, there only needs to be a few large courthouses, say in Denver and Colorado Springs, and that is where most of the money is spent for both the judicial/legal and corrections; at the state level!
One idea that is very feasible for the corrections is to have the inmates grow and maintain a farm. Not just a little garden, but an actual farm that could give them the food they need to eat, or have them sell the food to get the necessities that are currently given to them by the state out of their budget.
One idea for the police to reduce spending is to cut down the amount of police officers. To do that, there would need to be a change in shifts for the police. Say a 12-hour rotation shift; an officer would work 4 days, 12 hours a day, and then 3 days off. Some days there would be a lot more officers on duty and some days there wouldn't be as many.
Another way to reduce spending would be to raise the monetary amount required to take a case to court. That would greatly reduce the amount of cases being brought up to the courts, relieve the pressure on the caseload, and speed up the process.
Related Colorado WebsitesThe following are websites associated with the Colorado criminal justice systems, their missions statements, and the perspective on justice that each mission statement best coincides:
Colorado Department of Correctionshttp://www.doc.state.co.us/index.htmlThe mission of the Colorado Department of Corrections is to protect the public through effective management of criminal offenders in controlled environments which are efficient, safe, humane, and appropriately secure, while also providing meaningful work and self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders with community re-entry through pro-social stabilization[6].
Their mission statement best fits with the Rehabilitation Perspective
Colorado Department of Public Safetyhttp://cdpsweb.state.co.us/The mission of the Colorado Department of Public Safety is to provide a safe environment in Colorado by maintaining, promoting and enhancing public safety through law enforcement, criminal investigations, fire and crime prevention, recidivism reduction and victim advocacy. The CDPS also provides professional support of the criminal justice system, fire safety community, other governmental agencies and private entities. Throughout, our goal is to serve the public through an organization that emphasizes quality and integrity[7].
Their mission statement best fits with the Crime Control Perspective
Colorado State Judicial Branchhttp://www.courts.state.co.us/The Colorado Judicial Branch is a fair and impartial system of justice that:
- Protects constitutional and statutory rights and liberties
- Assures equal access
- Provides fair, timely and constructive resolution of cases
- Enhances public safety
- Supervises offenders
- Facilitates victim and community reparation[8]
Their mission statement includes beliefs from both the Justice and the Due Process Perspectives.
[1] Create a Cake. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Create a Cake Website: http://www.creatacake.com.au/images/4%20tier%20cake%20with%20flowers.jpg
[2] Cardona, F. (2009, September 3). Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Denver Post Website: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13262866
[3] KDVR Denver. (2009, September 4). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Fox 31 KDVR Website: http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-serialrapist-090409,0,1010503.story?track=rss
[4] McPhee, M., & Nicholson, K. (2009, September 4). Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Denver Post Website: http://www.denverpost.com/crime/ci_13266217
[5] KDVR Denver. (2008, June 6). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Fox 31 KDVR Website: http://www.kdvr.com/kdvr-coloradowomanconnectedtote-6712030,0,4110527.story
[6] Colorado Department of Corrections. (2009, April 1). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Colorado Department of Corrections Website: https://exdoc.state.co.us/userfiles/regulations/pdf/0100_18.pdf
[7] Colorado Department of Public Safety. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Colorado Department of Public Safety Website: http://cdpsweb.state.co.us/
[8]Colorado State Judicial Branch. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2009, from Colorado State Judicial Branch Website: http://www.courts.state.co.us/
