This school of thought is followed both by groups which argue that the conflict model is the reality of criminal justice, but the consensus model is the ideal; and groups which argue that the conflict model is both the reality and the ideal.
One example of conflict within the system is that between the police and prison officials. The model argues that police desire to put criminals into prison whereas prison officials who are concerned about overcrowded facilities may desire to release criminals from prison.
Jerome Skolnick has argued that clearance rates demonstrate the reality of the Conflict Model by encouraging police to focus on appearing to do their job, rather than on actually doing their job. This is a comparable argument to that regarding standardized testing, and "teaching to the test". Skolnick noted one incident where police coerced a man to confess to over 400 burglaries so that they could have a high rate of crime solving (clearance).Jerome Skolnick