Criminal Law And Its Effect On Society

Criminal law is a construct of the government, enforced through tangible measures. In a democratic society, the government is elected by the citizens, and as such, laws are generally conceived with the aim to reflect whatever ethical or moral standards are presently acceptable. However, in order to be truly effective, some legislation must circumvent current sociological viewpoints in order to create laws that are genuinely in the best interests of society. This results in a delicate balancing act, as lawmakers attempt to weigh the views of the majority against the need for laws to be both reasoned and objective.

Within the criminal justice system discuss the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice.

The official statistics are particularly useful in that they have been collected since 1857 and so provide us with an excellent historical overview of changing trends over time. They also give us a completely accurate view of the way that the criminal justice system processes offenders through arrests, trials and punishments. However, official statistics cannot be taken simply at their face value. They only show crimes which are reported to and recorded by official agencies such as the police. They account for only those crimes which are recognised as such by victims and those detected by the police. Sociologists have argued that there exists a ‘dark figure’ of unrecorded crime. This may be due to social agencies ignoring crimes committed by the ruling class such as white-collar and corporate crime and their views and stereotypes that they have against certain individuals, such as the working-class and ethnic minorities. Arguably, another reason why police recorded may be seem as inaccurate is due to the increased problem of reporting issues. There is evidence that a number of individuals choose not to report a crime on the basis that they have little faith in social agencies or that they feel that the crime may not be serious enough. Positivists favour the official statistics as they believe that they are functional for society, whereas interactionists and Marxists go against the police the statistics as they argue that they are bias. In this essay, I will discuss the

In Kerby’s article, she is arguing how our society is struggling with achieving justice. From her point of view and argument, she explains that many individuals of color are not treated fairly especially by the criminal-justice system. She brought up many important points throughout the article. like how people of color receive harsher punishments, longer sentences, higher rates of juliville incarceration and incarceration, more drug related arrests and how they are racially profiled by the criminal-justice system. For example, in her article from the list, number eight, she mentions, “black offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes”(Miller-Cochran, Stamper, and Cochran, 386). Kerby is

Every penny they use go towards meeting their basic needs but they are still held responsible for the excessive costs of incarceration and services within the institution. Any payment should be restitution for their victims not towards the system.

In 2007, Pasadena, California had the largest pay-to-stay jail program in the country. A pay-to-say prison is a place much like a hotel. A person can be there instead of in a cell and all they have to do is pay a nightly fee. The facilities advertise as if they were a resort “The jail has advertised its program with a pamphlet that echoes holiday resort language. “Serve your time in our clean, safe secure facility! ... We are the finest jail in Southern California,” the brochure proclaims. Pay-to-stay prisoners in Pasadena have access to an exercise bike and can watch DVD’s. The cost? Just $135 a day” (Clarke). Pasadena raked in $234,000 in 2007 from the pay-to-stay facilities with 2,226 prisoners. It’s not just Pasadena that offers this luxury of a prison but many more. “In Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the cities of Alhambra, Anaheim, Burbank, Culver City, Fullerton, Glendale, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, La Verne, Montebello, Pasadena, San Gabriel Valley, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, South Bay and Torrance offer pay-to-stay jails.”(Clarke). The city's biggest reason for offering this, money. As study shows, there are plenty of people willing to pay in California to have a more comfortable

Across the United States, city and county governments seek to gain revenue through the illegitimate jailing of indigent defendants who cannot afford to pay the large and cumbersome fines that accompany committing (seemingly petty) crimes— such as missing court dates, a requirement for classes such as anger management, the list goes on. Indeed, the practice of debtor’s prison has long been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court within the United States, yet a contemporary form of debtor’s prison has begun to take form which targets vulnerable populations. When an individual commits a crime, they are to be justly punished. If this punishment consists of a fine, that fine is expected to be paid accordingly; if the fined individual simply does not have the time or money to pay these steep fines, however, they are sent to jail indefinitely. This rise of financial burden imposed upon the liberty of low income citizens through the fining, issuing of fees, and jail time sanctioned by the criminal justice system has resulted in new, illegitimate, and ostensibly unconstitutional forms of debtor’s prisons that permeate contemporary U.S. society. Jeopardizing the liberty of vulnerable populations, based upon material inequality and extraction of necessary resources, only does one thing within a society: continue the cycle of poverty and increase the poor’s dependence upon the rich for their liberty, equality and most importantly, survival.

At the very young age of 16 years old Kalief Browder was sent to Rikers Island and accused of stealing a backpack. He was arrested a day before his 17th birthday. He missed both his 17th birthday and his senior year of high school. For the next three years of his life, he spent his time in the New York City jail complex. He spent at least two of those years in solitary confinement. He was never found guilty or even put on trial, and all charges against him were eventually dismissed. On October 6th, 2014 Jennifer Gonnerman wrote an article about him in The New Yorker. This article helped bring attention to the fact that the criminal justice system in America is unjust and in need of a major makeover. After being released from jail everything in Kalief Browder’s life seemed to be looking up, he got his GED and even started attending a community college. But he still could not cope with life after Rikers Island. On June 6th, 2015 Kalief Browder committed suicide. Browder was never able to recover from the irreversible mental and emotional damaged caused by the years he spent locked away alone in solitary confinement cell (“Schwirtz”). Solitary confinement has a long and horribly history behind it.

A victimless crime is an illegal act or offense that involves consenting adults and no party is harmed or injured during the act. Such offenses are considered illegal, but there is no apparent victim. Although there are several disagreements to whether or not a crime is victimless or not four of the most commonly identified victimless crimes, also known as public order offenses, are: drug use, prostitution, pornography through sexting, and gambling. Victimless crimes have been the topic of a heated debate, primarily centered on the question to whether or not these victimless crimes are crimes at all. Another issue that is constantly argued is whether or not victimless crimes should be free from governmental interference. Although the term is difficult to define, the government should interfere with victimless crimes because there can be much harm done not only to the individual committing these acts but also possible unwilling victims around them. Victimless crimes highlight a significant number of issues concerning crime, morality and the criminal justice system. Some of the major issues victimless crimes have are: perceptions of the public and police concerning s, including perceived seriousness and harm; the impact of victimless crimes on other members of society, including quality of life issues; the potential economic impact of the various victimless acts (both positive and negative), and the community factors that affect economic impact; and the effect of specific

The criminal justice system plays an important role in this society, it is meant to protect and serve. This “system” is also meant to maintain the peace and enforce the laws set by the government. However, the criminal justice system is not even close to perfect. It has many flaws, some of which are: police brutality, death penalty, mass incarceration, gun violence, and especially wrongful convictions. A majority of the flaws that the system has can be easily fixed and can be set straight. For example, the issue of wrongful convictions has been relevant for quite some time and has the potential to decrease its probability of occurring by focusing on the importance of scientific evidence, rid of faulty witness testimonies, and make sure that the lack of evidence and/or government misconduct, if applicable, does not determine the outcome of the case.

Introduction: In today's societies, the government and criminal justice systems very much related to ethics because they both establish and carry out definite rights and duties. They also attempt to prevent and/or hold anyone accountable that deviates from these standards. (Wright 2012)

The roots of every theory of criminal law creation are conflict perspective and functionalism. Functionalism is a theory that social consensus holds social structure together. The societal needs theory and consensus view are both theories that come from functionalism. In contrast, the conflict perspective explains that the divide between class fuels social structure. Ruling class, pluralist, and the structural contradictions theories share roots in conflict perspective.

The criminal justice system is based on laws that are arbitrary and operate to the disadvantage of the poor and come across as law for the poor rather than law of the poor. It applies on the weaker sections of the community, regardless constitutional guarantees to the contrary.

The effects of crime on victim can have a mixed feeling about making a victim impact statement. They may want to tell the judge or parole hearing officer how the crime affected their life and yet they may be anxious because you don't know how to prepare an impact statement or you don't want to bring back bad memories by describing how the crime has hurt you. The victim impact statements may include descriptions of:

Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law