The Wedding Cake Model of Criminal Justice

The Wedding Cake Model of Criminal Justice is in a sense an image divider that separates (top)celebrated cases, serious felonies, lesser felonies, and misdemeanors (bottom) from one another based on how often they occur and how they are handled within the criminal justice system (14). Considering my findings and previous knowledge of criminal justice and the system itself, the more uncommon crimes that require the most attention are placed on the top, and as you travel down the cake to the largest tear you will find lesser offenses that occur almost every day and are handled by lesser agencies such as municipal courts. In other words, compare the model to a stack of papers on one’s desk. The papers on the top require the most attention, most time put into them, and usually are handled first, where as the one’s on the bottom were already looked over and do not require immediate action. In my opinion, all crimes do require immediate action whether felony or misdemeanor; however, misdemeanors are viewed as less important, if you will, due to the fact they’re often dropped or solved by a fine.

Beginning with the top layer, lies the celebrated cases. These cases are those of which receive the most media attention due to how unusual they are or because of the individuals involved (usually celebrities). The celebrated cases lie on the top of wedding cake model because they are uncommon, demand immediate action, and require other factors such as media, expert witnesses, and other courtroom policies such as cameras, that lesser offenses often wouldn’t (15). The second layer of the model includes what are known as serious felonies- “rapes, robberies, and burglaries” (15). These serious felonies include cases in which the criminal justice system sees worthy of everyone’s full attention and hasty actions. Usually these cases practice regular justice procedures (without expected media or courtroom regulations) and are handled right away because the defendant may be a repeat offender or because of the level of violence the crime possessed. These serious felony cases are likely to end with jail time consisting of no bail or a plea bargain agreement that is established before hand. On the third layer of this “cake” lies the lesser felonies- drug cases or less serious felonies “committed by young or first time offenders” (15). Lesser felonies are more common, require less attention and hands on action, and usually end with a plea bargain as well, little jail time, or probation. The final layer consist of misdemeanors or crimes that are mala prohibita and just disturb the peace- disorderly conduct, public intoxication, shoplifting, etc. Misdemeanors are handled by the lower criminal courts and most end with the person(s) involved paying a fine, probation, or community service. Since misdemeanors represent a large category of the crimes in the criminal justice system, they are the largest and bottom layer of the wedding cake. 

In the sense that the cake model is read top to bottom from ranking of the crime is interesting, but it’s also interesting how the cake can be read by the size of each tear (smaller the tear less often the crime occurs, larger the tear, the more often the crime occurs). The top tear, also the smallest, consist of crimes that are unusual or low in number, rare in the sense they often involve celebrities, and require the most and immediate attention. An example of a celebrated case that we should all be focusing on today is obviously the Penn State scandal and the Zimmerman case. These cases both fit the criteria of how much attention and preparation is put into cases that involve celebrities, well-known individuals, or cases that capture the media’s attention due to how little they occur. As you travel down the cake, however, the tears become larger and the largest tear (at the bottom) consist of the crimes that happen the most, yet require the least attention and action of higher criminal agencies. I totally agree with the Wedding Cake Model of Justice and it’s really surprising how things to this nature work out in certain ways. Meaning, no matter what it is in life, all things have ranking priorities; anything from a to-do list or homework assignments. In short, seeing the criminal justice system being so organized despite it’s copious flaws, is really interesting to me.

Works Cited

Siegel, Larry J., and Joseph J. Senna. "Crime and Criminal Justice." Essentials of Criminal Justice. 5th ed. CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. 14-16. Print.

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