Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice

Female police officers have been saddled with a stigma ever since they were finally allowed to join their fellow male officers on the force in the 1970’s. It is said that when a female officer is being harsh, she is often called anything other than firm. However, when a male officer is harsh, he is considered firm and just being a man. Female police officers are dubbed incapable of being able to perform their duties equivalent or superior to a male officer simply because she is

There are many stereotypes that women in the law enforcement field have to face. In order to recruit more women into policing, law enforcement agencies should attempt to overcome the idea that policing is a "male-oriented profession". This paper will cover parts of the history of women police officers, some views and stereotypes of the female officer, job related issues, life outside of the workforce and job satisfaction.

In recent years, recruitment and retention of police officers has been a pain point for many departments across the nation. Odd and inflexible hours, uncompetitive pay, para-militaristic organizational structures, and a negative public perception have all worked to diminish the pool of applicants interested in careers in law enforcement. Add to the mix the sexist “brotherhood” police culture, emphasis on masculinity and aggression, and the nearly non-existent opportunities for advancement for women, and over half of the eligible workforce has been discouraged from even considering a career in law enforcement. In 2013, women comprised just over 57% of the labor force, but accounted for only 13% of sworn police officers (USDOL, 2013; Crooke, 2013). Not only are women sorely underrepresented in the field of law enforcement, but those who are employed experience discrimination at the hands of their supervisors and coworkers, and as a result, the attrition rate for women is often much higher than that of their male counterparts. Departments should pledge dedication to recruiting and retaining more female officers, as research indicates that not only do females perform just as well as males in patrol positions, but they also have a unique set of advantages to offer agencies when employed in law enforcement. In order to improve the recruitment and retention of females into policing roles, departments must determine the biggest deterrents for women who are considering the pursuit

Sexual harassment is always a legal topic in the work environment because the ramifications are so severe, but at the same time very abstract to describe what can constitute sexual harassment. This paper will take into consideration different elements of the law including Employment Law and cases tried before the U.S. Supreme Court. It will also offer suggestions for corrective action pertaining to the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Chapter 9 focuses on special topics, which reviews the five present and controversial issue in the criminal justice system. Out of all 5 of these issues I think that the use of confidential informants in war on drug is the most harmful to our nation’s correctional system and should be eliminated. The reason I think that the use of confidential informants should be eliminated drug war on drugs is because the use of CI’s frequently have negative consequence on the war on drugs (Austin & Irwin, 2012). The first example, is that CI’s are not appropriately screened and supervised, which causes innocent individuals to be arrest. In my opinion, I think that if CI’s are going to be used then they should be supervised at all time because the lack

Christopher E. Smith, Police Professionalism and the Rights of Criminal Defendants, 26 Crim. L. Bull. 155, 158 (1990)

Available research in the Critical criminal justice issues: Task force reports, shows that the crime associated with drugs has not diminished despite increasingly punitive local, State, and Federal Government interventions and social control (1996). On the contrary, these social issues have shown an increase in the midst of an increasing and costly “war on drugs”. It is obvious that the current correctional system is not correcting anything. The rising number of incarcerated and recidivism does not show that incarceration alone lowers the crime rate. Many of those in jail doing terms could have been handled in other methods over incarceration. A large portion of the population imprisoned is there because they had committed a low-level crime. How can the seriousness of drug abuse warrant a reliance on incarceration as a solution knowing the social significance of incarceration? This paper will address offenders who are convicted of low-level crimes connected to drug abuse, the social implications of the social problem, research data showing the individual and social implications, how society has responded; and the outcome from those responses, a discussion of alternative responses to the problem, and the effectiveness of those alternatives.

Like employment discrimination, sexual discrimination is something both male and female officers’ face in the workforce, internally and externally. However, it is the female officer that is the more common victim to this rather than their male counterpart. An example of internal sexual discrimination would be a male officer telling there counterpart that “women have no right being in part of an organization that strongly relies on men to get the job done.” This may also be known as a form of sexual harassment toward a co-worker which is unacceptable in any job. An example of external sexual discrimination would be when a female officer arrives to the scene of a crime and the victim refuses to cooperate with them because of the fact that they were expecting assistance from someone of more masculinity, like a male officer. Ethically, if any of these scenarios were to happen to either gender of law enforcement, the best thing to do once more is set aside all emotions for the time being.

This research paper consists of brief history of how female correctional officers came to be in the system and the court cases that hindered and helped their process. It also consists of the stereotypes and struggles the officers are faced with in this line of work; such as weaknesses and home life association. Sexual harassment and discrimination is a problematic topic that is unavoidable. Statistics will also be mentioned and explained throughout the paper. Being a female correctional officer is extremely difficult and is not encouraged, but it is possible.

Many of today’s prisons employee a large number of female corrections officers. Unfortunately there still remains a stigma when it comes to women working in close quarters of male inmates. Upon first consideration the problem that comes to mind is that female corrections officer lacks the ability to handle or control unruly male prisoners. As this proves true in a recent situation in were a female corrections officer was brutally beaten by inmates. Officer Benavidez of the Arizona State Prison Complex was brutally attacked by two prisoners. Investigating Officials believe Officer Benavidez was targeted in retaliation by inmates due to a tip she provided, leading to the discovery of a hit list and drugs. The report claims she was quickly over

Criminal justice administration mainly focuses on crime prevention and punishing any illegal activities. Criminal justice administration is wide and it entails law enforcement and the judicial administration. Some of the jobs that relate to criminal justice administration include; security coordination, juvenile delinquency administration, law enforcement and being a courtroom official. Additional crime is also part of criminal justice administration. This field entails terrorism prevention, immigration policies and social policies. Other duties that criminal justice entails include; police officer, community relations advocate and correctional officer. For an officer working with the criminal justice administration, his work involves law enforcement (Bharti, 2008).

The role of women in law enforcement has been traditionally limited to working with juveniles or rape cases. This is because of the “masculine” stereotype or that it is a “man’s job” presumption. This creates obstacles for women seeking a job in the law enforcement world which limit the number of female recruits and their effectiveness. Some barriers such as department quotas hiring requirements, attitudes of policewomen and men are large factors

Gender inequality still plays a huge role in today’s society. Women comprise only a small percentage of the local law enforcement agencies across the nation. Women have been a part of law enforcement since the 20th century but have only been noticed within the last 40 years. Back in the 1970’s women rarely held positions in law enforcement and if they did it was mainly clerical/desk positions. Even though the amount of women in law enforcement today has increased, women still only make up roughly around 13 percent of the law enforcement work force (Public). Women can make such an impact in the Law Enforcement field if given a fair chance but they may face many problems when doing so. Some say that women don’t belong, while others suggest

In order to propose an effective intervention aimed at increasing the number of female corrections officers who self-report experiencing sexual harassment from other male officers, one must first look at the strategies that already exist to help with this problem. It is also important to note that the existing interventions try to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace, not increase the number of reports made about the harassment. Additionally, a few strategies seem to exist for workplace sexual harassment in general, but none is specific to sexual harassment in the corrections setting. However, it is still important to address the existing interventions in order to make the new intervention as effective as possible.

For many years, more and more women are starting to have an interest in entering the world of law enforcement. Women want the same rights as men and want to show the world that they can do any job they want to participate in. They are choosing not listen to the stereotypes that society puts on their gender. With females entering in as police officers, the criminal justice field is starting to get more attention with this continually increasing number of females. In the field of law enforcement, the role of women is becoming a hot topic due to their different gender roles and challenges they have to face, but with every pro of women in law enforcement, there are cons of their work as well.