Criminological Theory

By incarcerating offenders the state based justice system ignores offenders needs and histories (Elliott, 2011, p. 72). The state assumes offenders are rational. This rationality is tied to the system looking at the individual level or the “bad apples” of responsibility (Zimbardo, 2008; Elliot, 2011, p. 72). However, a rational decision maker is unable to always predict potential alternatives and consequences (Zsolnai, 1997). Therefore, the individual level of responsibly ignores other systematic factors that influence offending. It is arguable that the Western system examines beyond the individual level by incorporating specific sentencing principles for Aboriginal people (see R v Gladue, 1999). However, society still has mass

In addition to its theoretical contributions to how we understand criminal justice policy change, however, it is also important to identify significant factors in the policy process for criminal justice policy as well as the settings in which policy is most likely to change. A better understanding of the policy process can facilitate our ability to anticipate rapid and, perhaps, hurried policy change, which may contribute to the passage of policy that is ineffective in addressing public fears and that distracts law enforcement from true threats to public safety.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is the largest most encompassing Criminal Act to have ever been passed in United States History. The act not only addressed criminal activities it also allowed for 9.7 billion dollars to be spent on prisons, 6.1 billion dollars to be spent on crime prevention programs, 2.6 billion dollars to fund DEA, INS, and other Justice Department entities. Obtained valuable input from experienced police officers as well as made a way for 100,000 new police officers to be hired nationwide. The Act also addressed issues regarding the governments dealing with those who committee crimes but are not in the United States legally. To understand how an Act this massive is able to pass into law this paper explores both the pre-decision and decision process which lead to adoption this Federal Act.

When it comes to incarceration numbers, the UK has the highest rate of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe – it has incarcerated 148 out of every 100,000 of the population (Beirne & Messerschmidt, 2009: 77). It has not always been this way as it once belonged to the lower incarcerators: the UK had only 30 prisoners per 100,000 at time of the second World War (Christie, 2009: 27). Only in recent decades have the numbers started to rise more quickly. Since the late nineties the UK has become stricter: ‘tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’ was Tony Blair’s slogan to promote the Labour Party’s new, stricter, more punitive policy on dealing with crime, which was not much unlike the policy of the US at the time, and the events

Justice today faces many unique challenges; some of which are investigating crimes and bringing criminals to face justice. The uniqueness of some crimes require the expertise and deduction to detect criminals and to correctly identify and categorize the crime committed. The criminal law process is lengthy, it requires many hours of research, and law interpretation. A law professor of Stanford University Herbert Packer (1925-1972) constructed two models that represent the values that operate in the criminal justice system, both values have pros and cons but their bottom line is the safety, good order, and justice.

Mears (2013) argues most criminal justice policies enacted in the past few decades have been based, not on research and data, but on skewed pubic opinions and biased political aspirations. Without scientific backing, it is difficult to understand if these policies are in fact relevant and effective. Mears states current criminal justice policies are not practical and policy makers should rely more on research and theory instead of public rhetoric and inaccurate crime statistics. Also, when focusing on criminal justice policy changes, policy makers must stop believing there is one fundamental solution to fix all problems in the system and stop overreacting to extreme cases.

The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.

Scientific management states that increasing productivity and prosperity can be accomplished by overcoming the inertia of poor work habits and ineffective techniques (Giblin, 2014). Taylor argued for using science and time-motion studies to show the effectiveness of scientific management. Evidence based crime policy builds on this is it seeks to make scientific research an instrumental part of developing crime control policies.

It can be seen, historically that a disillusionment with the criminal justice system and its effectiveness grew into a ‘get tough’ mentality. It is now blatantly evident that this approach, although outwardly retributive, was statistically doing more harm than good (Rehabilitation and the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) Model, 2012). Recidivism rates were continually rising and prisons were becoming

His main focus however, remained to address the key structuring relationship between crime and capitalism, with certain elements of economic and cultural power at play. The foundation of the underlying relationship then however, transformed quickly into a flawed criminal justice system. Reiner’s interpretation of this criminal justice system, or perhaps the criminal ‘justice’ system as he so-called it towards the end of the book, was quite insightful. In Chapter 4 for example, which is titled “How Do They Get Away With It: The Non-Criminalization of the Powerful” and for which the title speaks for itself, Reiner attempted to distinguish between the ‘justice system’ of the powerful versus the powerless. Drawing intrepidly on the famous trickle-down theory, he pointed out the causes of the flaws in the criminal ‘justice’ system, claiming that “the rich get richer and the poor get the blame” (Reiner, 102).

In Chapter thirteen, the authors, focus on the importance of applied criminal justice research. In order to learn whether a specific program succeeded or failed, evaluation is necessary to be administered. There are two main evaluation studies: evaluation research- a research purpose that assesses the effects of applied methods, and problem analysis- a method that aims to help public representatives plan and choose different actions or programs. These evaluation studies play a significant role in developing justice policy. Moreover, to

In relation to the offender, ‘Nothing works’ (Martinson, 1974), became the dominant orthodoxy within criminology. All governments have to address the issue of law and order. However, for Conservative party ‘law and order’ became a slogan. But their economic failures effected the raising crime rates through unemployment (Field, 1990; Sampson and Laub, 1993). Ron Clarke 1980, offered in approach to crime prevention which did not entail ‘softness’ towards offenders and removed responsibility for failure to control crime from the police force. 1990s New labour time the nature of debate was how to bring more toughness in law. End of labour government, people was in fear. 1997- 2010 ‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. Reassuring policing- that crime is been looked after. They wanted to show that by catching more criminals, people should not think crime rates are going high. Supported police (pay up by 40%). 2010… the conservative (coalition governments): ‘zero tolerance’ policing. Turned police officers into ‘social workers’ rather than ‘crime fighters’. Major cuts on police budget. However, this is all about Penal populism- an appeal to ‘the people’. A policy to win votes rather than reduce crime. Pragmatist- quick solution- politicians believes that if there is problem occurring then quick solution is the best way to solve it rather than

Bohm, R. M., & Haley, K. N. (2014). Introduction to criminal justice (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

While both policy monitoring and policy evaluation present different benefits to criminal justice policy, policy monitoring presents the greatest value to

Schmalleger, F. (2015). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the 21st Century (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice