Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

Introduction

Criminal justice refers to the study and application of laws related to criminal behavior. This discipline is mostly studied by lawyers, judges as well as the police. A criminal justice system is therefore a network of activities that eventually determine the outcome of crime cases. This system was established in the ancient times and has been evolving to include more rights, new kinds of punishments and reforms in the existing policies. These changes have been due to the changing customs, economic conditions and the political ideals. In the ancient times for example, the worst form of punishment was exile. This was followed by the corporal punishment including flogging, mutilation as well as execution. The modern criminal justice system of the United States is made up of three main subsystems, which include law enforcement, adjudication and corrections. It also consists of other minor subsystems, which are equally important in the process of ensuring criminal justice prevails. These sections operate together to maintain the validity of the rule of law in the community.

Organization

The American criminal justice system is organized in such a way that each state has its own system. Some aspects of this system are developed at the state level. This includes the “courts of appeal, state prisons, parole boards and police crime labs. Other aspects are only found at the city level and these include the trial courts, local jails, and the police departments. In addition to this, other aspects exist in both the states and the county. These include the legislative bodies, the prosecution and defense offices as well as the probation offices” (Ebbe 98). The minor crimes are usually handled by the state’s criminal justice system, which consists of a number of independent local systems while the major offenses are handled by a statewide system.

Subsystems of the American criminal justice system

Law enforcement

The law enforcement body in most systems is the police force, which is the first group that an offender of the criminal justice system makes contact with. “The main function of the police force is to investigate the suspects and make the necessary arrests. If the situation requires coercion for the arrest to be successful, the police officers are granted this power in order to ensure that they have implemented the public and social order” (Haugen and Musser 56). The first police force was put in place by King Louis XIV of France in 1667, whose main function was to protect the king and his household. This function has evolved over time to include the provision of security to the whole state as well as tracking down and arresting criminals.

The primary concern of the police is to ensure peaceful co-existence in the neighborhoods and to enforce criminal law in relation to their particular assignment and jurisdiction. The most famous police department that is mainly concerned with the criminal justice system is the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the FBI. The main function of the FBI is to carry out highly rated criminal investigations while enforcing the federal laws related to investigations. These laws provide restrictions to the process of making investigations and arrests some of which include locking up the suspects in custody for more than forty-eight hours without trial, using abusive language when interrogating the suspects, torturing them into making confessions, unnecessary use of force when making arrests and conducting searches on private property without a court warrant.

Adjudication

This refers to the courts’ system, which is the avenue through which disputes are settled and justice is administered. A court is a government institution, which has the right to “pass judgment on legal disputes between parties and administer justice in the civil, criminal and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law” (Samaha 22). The courts are considered the primary means of resolving disputes owing to the fact that the judgment passed by the court cannot be overruled by any other body. It should be noted that every individual has a right to bring his or her allegations before a court of law and the person accused of a crime has the right to defend themselves before the court.

A court setting is made up of various critical people who are concerned in the administration of criminal justice, “generally referred to as the courtroom work group” (Haugen and Musser 57). These are the judges – administers the court proceedings and provides the final verdict on the outcome of the case, prosecutors – the lawyers hired by the plaintiff, and the defense attorney – lawyers hired by the defendant. The court system commonly used to determine the innocence or guilt in an individual is referred to as the adversarial system. “This is the system which allows the two parties in the case to provide their versions of the happenings and argue their case before the judge, a panel of judges or a jury” (Samaha 19). The final judgment is made based on the party that makes the most reasonable arguments in relation to the law as is applicable to the facts presented in the case.

In the court proceedings, the prosecutor explains to the court the details of the crime that has been committed and provides the evidence to the allegations made. He however does not operate in favor of the plaintiff since he is employed by the government. He only “presents the case before the court and their main function is to make accusations on behalf of the judiciary in the criminal proceedings” (Haugen and Musser 62). The prosecutor is mostly mistaken for the plaintiff, but these are two different parties in the court proceedings. The main difference between the two comes in where the prosecutor is the government representative in a criminal case while the plaintiff is the complainant in the civil cases.

The defense lawyer has the jurisdiction to counsel the defendant on the court process and legal requirements especially concerning the possible outcomes of the case and the available strategies in an attempt to win the case. However, “the final decision on the number of important points to present before the court and decisions on whether to testify, agree to the pleas or demand a jury trial lies with the accused” (Haugen and Musser 58). The basic duty of the defense lawyer is to represent their client’s interests irrespective of whether they are on the wrong or not. They are also expected to raise bureaucratic as well as evidentiary concerns besides holding the prosecution to its burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. They are expected to challenge the evidence provided by the prosecution and provide vindicatory evidence on behalf of the client. During the trial, the defense lawyer attempts to bring up a confutation to the allegations brought forth by the prosecutor.

The final judgment is made by a judge who has to be a third party completely unrelated to either of the two parties. In the United States, the judge is guided by the state orders and the judgment made depends on the court level as well as the agreements arrived at between the defendant and the prosecuting parties. Some of the cases brought before the court are usually dismissed without conducting a trial. An example of this is whereby the accused confesses to be guilty before the judges and this eliminates the whole hearing process. In America, this may lead to a reduced sentence since the accused is considered to have saved the state a considerable amount of time and resources that could have been used in the hearings and trial. The court system involving the attorney is usually considered faulty since the final judgment is considered faulty in that it mostly relies on the eloquence of the attorney rather than on the facts presented in the case. The court is also prone to manipulations by the prosecution and defense lawyers meaning that not all judgments made in court are reliable.

Corrections

After being tried in the courts, the criminal offenders are handed over to the correction bodies according to the verdicts passed by the lawyers. Just like the other aspects of criminal justice, correctional institutions have also been evolving over time. In the uncivilized world, the main forms of punishment included sending the offender to exile or executing them depending on the severity of the crime. The most dreaded form of punishment was however being shamed in public and this was considered so owing to the traditions of that time that required people to maintain ethical behavior at all times. Shaming a person in public could therefore cause them irreversible harm in their social status. Prisons were first established in America by the Quaker movement who believed that the system would be effective in reforming the criminals. This was due to the belief that punishments were meant not to hurt the offender, but to give them the opportunity to reform.

In the modern world, imprisonment is considered the most common and most dreaded form of punishment for criminal offenders. After the verdict has been passed by the judges and the accused considered guilty, the judge (s) pass an imprisonment sentence that varies depending on the nature of crime that has been committed. Jails or what is commonly known as cells are chambers used to hold crime suspects who cannot be released on bond as they await their trial (Dammer and Jay 34). The main difference between a jail and a prison is that a person is locked up in prison after being declared guilty, while they are locked up in a jail immediately after being arrested and before the court hearing.

Punishment in the form of imprisonment can serve various functions. The first one of these functions is to alienate the criminals from the population hence reducing the level and possibility of criminal offenses. The other function is that of making the offender to suffer for their mistakes by confining them in prison. This is believed to cause them discomfort and make them remorseful for the wrongs they had committed. In the modern era, the main function of sending criminals to prison is to rehabilitate them and give them the opportunity to change their behavior. They are provided with training on various disciplines depending on individual interests and this is supposed to equip them with the necessary skills such that they can earn a decent living once they are out of prison. They are also taught morals in the religious institutions, which have been established in most of the modern prisons.

Prison is just one of the forms of punishment in the criminal justice system. There are other forms, which can be used either alongside imprisonment or in its place. One of these is the fines system whereby the offender is required to pay for the damages they have caused. This payment is made to the government, which in turn compensates the victim, and the remaining part is considered as government revenue. The other form of punishment is house arrest also referred to as probation or sanctions (Dammer and Jay 37). The main aim of this is to impose a restriction on a person’s movement hence reducing their opportunity to engage in acts of crime. This mostly applies to the high-ranking government officials who due to one reason or another cannot be locked up in prison.

Execution, which is considered a capital punishment, is the most controversial aspect of the criminal justice system. This is used in cases involving serious crimes such as perpetration of holocausts or massacres. The only suitable punishment in such cases is execution, which is committed by either hanging the offender or drugging them depending on their preference. Some countries especially the strict Muslim countries use this method more often even in the minor cases such adultery, which to them is a capital offense. They carry this out by ruthlessly stoning the person or worse by slaughtering them. Some systems have however outlawed this practice entirely.

Other subsystems

Besides these, there are other public and private agencies, which are important in the criminal justice system. This includes “the defendants, personal defense attorneys, bail bondsmen, private agencies providing assistance, supervision and treatment to the offenders as well as the victims of crime and the officials representing them” (Samaha 23). In addition to these, there are other administrative bodies whose functions are directly related to the enforcement of criminal law. These include taxation agencies, agencies concerned with the natural resources and the vehicle licensing agencies. These groups play a significant role in providing the security department with the necessary amenities for dealing with crimes. The other group of people with immeasurable influence on the criminal justice system includes the media houses that have the responsibility of making criminal offenses public.

Conclusion

The criminal justice system of the United States is one of the most effective since most of the jurisdictions used especially by the developed countries originated from there. This is owing to the fact that it was established long before other countries realized something of the sort existed. Being the pioneers of the modern court system as well as prison system, these departments have successfully established a standard aimed at by the justice system in most countries. An example of this is the development of the modern prisons, which are mostly meant to rehabilitate the inmates. This idea came up since the government realized that most of the criminals go back to crime after leaving prison owing to the lack of a source of income (Dammer and Jay 55).

Works Cited:

Dammer, Harry and Albanese Jay. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. New York, NY: Wadsworth Pub Co, 2010. Print.

Ebbe, Obi. Comparative and International Criminal Justice Systems: Policing, Judiciary, and Corrections.Boston, Mass: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000. Print.

Haugen, David and Susan Musser. Criminal Justice. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print.

Samaha, Joel. Cram 101 Textbook Outlines to Accompany Criminal Justice [by] Samaha, 6th Ed. Ventura, Calif.: Academic Internet, 2007. Print.