Criminal “Justice”
Playing outside, coloring, and dressing up are common activities of a normal seven year old girl. When you are seven years of age, you are still a child of innocence barely starting school. But imagine being seven years old and having your purity, innocence, and childlike wonder taken away from you.
In 2001 a man named Mark Hulett raped a little girl countless times over a four year period, beginning when she was seven. In 2005 Hulett was convicted to the crimes he committed. He was sought to have a sentence of eight to ten years minimum, which is clearly not enough time for his hideous crimes. As a result, the judge, Edward Cashman, sentenced Hulett to sixty days in prison. This is an outrage! This man took a little girl’s childhood! This poor child had to grow up and experience things of evil that no child should! More or less at the age of seven! I firmly believe that this is an
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In America if you are accused of a crime you are innocent until proven guilty. This is an important benefit of the criminal justice system as it places the burden of proof where it should be, on the accusers. While some may argue that if you're facing a criminal trial due to an accusation of a crime, someone present, be it the victims, prosecuting attorney or public, must think that you're guilty, the presumption of innocence is a pivotal benefit of the criminal justice system. According to Legal-dictionary, this presumption "...keeps judges and juries focused on the ultimate issue at hand in a criminal case: whether the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the alleged acts." The fact that everyone accused of a crime has a right to an attorney is a definite pro of the criminal justice system. If the accused cannot afford an attorney the court will appoint one to him, often referred to as a public
There are three significant issues concerning law enforcement, namely enacting the law, police discretion, and assessment of criminal behavior. Different entities create and enact laws that are specific for the societies those laws represent.
Before proposing a reform to the American criminal justice system, we must first examine the problems that plague the process of justice on all levels. American society plays an important role in shaping the criminal justice system. Their beliefs and values determine the type of deviants and the consequences of the crimes. Often their beliefs contradict each other.
The problems surrounding the criminal justice system range from a variety of issues in different areas of the system. But i believe they are all connected back to a societal problem, that has to do with a outdated philosophical notion “redemptive violence”. I will break down each aspect, which i find most troubling. I will cover problems between policing and peacekeeping, corrections options, and the issue of redemptive violence which is a major issue in the philosophy of the criminal justice system. These issues represent problems that have always been key topics when discussing problems of ethics in criminal justice. Policing and Peacekeeping are roles that have long been debated in usefulness to stopping crime. Corrections comes with the reality of incarceration having little chance of success but more likely a higher rate of recidivism. I well also touch on briefly the issues of attorney discretion. While the issue of redemptive violence ties them all in, As i well show this philosophy is the “root of all evil” in the issues facing the criminal justice system.
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
Rodney Hulin was only 16 years old when he was charged with arson and sent to an adult prison for eight years. During his time in prison he spent a year with a clean record but then was transferred to another person without reason or notice to his parents. He was 17 at the time and during his first week in prison he sent his father a letter saying “"Dad, I'm really scared, scared that I will die in here. Please pray for me. Pray that I will get my job changed, sent to a hospital, get out of here alive, and that I will get out on parole...I want to live with you when I get out, if I get out alive" (XXX). The father did not know what was going on but found out his son was raped and sodomized two days after he received his first letter. From being transferred to the new jail on
In order to keep a safe society, it is important to establish a nation with
In the case of Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), the Supreme Court ruled that a law may not punish a status; i.e., one may not be punished to being an alcoholic or for being addicted to drugs. However, of course, one may be punished for actions such as abusing drugs. The question becomes; What if the status “forces” the action? What if a person, because of his/her addiction to drugs, is “forced” by the addiction to purchase and abuse the illegal drugs? Would punishing that person be unfairly punishing a status?
This research paper discusses the issues of people who suffer from mental illness being placed in jails instead of receiving the necessary treatment they need. The number of inmates serving time in jail or prison who suffer from mental illness continues to rise. In 2015 the Bureau of Justice reported that sixty five percent of state prisoners and fourth five percent of federal prisoners suffered from mental conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals who suffer from these problems require special mental health treatment for their needs to be met. Many of our prisons and jails lack the necessary resources to care for these inmates and because of that inmates who do not receive the treatment they need are at a higher risk of becoming a repeat offender. Despite the research and findings that show that the criminal justice system is unable to deal with issues dealing with the mentally ill there has been limited solutions put in place. Given the challenges the criminal justice system faces it is important to address the problem and come up with better solutions. This research paper will discuss the various techniques and solutions that scholars have propped and their effect on the issue of mentally ill criminals and how the criminal justice system should approach the problem.
or she did not nee to record it. If the Government do succeed in the
This paper will describe my understanding of the text and of the lectures provided in the class. Unlike most classes, where I understood only my view of the text, this class was geared so each student would understand each other’s view. 3 An organization is a collective that has some boundary and internal structure that engages in activities related to some complex set of goals. Members of organizations attempt to meet their psychological, ego and emotional needs within the organization. Criminal justice organizations are particularly unique compared to other public or private sector organizations because of the governmental granted authority. Management within these organizations can be defined as the process by
The Criminal Justice System in the United States of America was established with noble intentions. The basis of the system can be traced back from the first book of the Bible Genesis, and the story of Cain and Able. The criminal justice system was established to be morally suitable for a growing diverse society. Moral dilemmas within the system arise from concerns related to principles of officials’ right and wrong behavior. These principles are often embedded into a culture of the human character, in other words, viewed as essential to the criminal justice system. This biblical story mentioned above has defined the way justice has been administered for thousands of years. The quote "Eye for an eye" continues to be the standard
Examples of Justice #1 Justice, as defined by the Webster dictionary is just behavior or treatment, or the quality of being just, impartial, or fair. Everyone has their own idea of justice and what it truly means, so it’s rather difficult to come up with a universal definition of “justice” and whether it is being accomplished within the criminal justice system today. There are many cases out there where justice has blatantly been overlooked or disregarded all together and the result is injustice within the criminal justice system. However, people tend to focus more on the injustices the system commits and would rather ignore justice the system does deliver. As part of this assignment we are required to provide examples of justice, what a criminal
Before going into college to study Criminal Justice, I had the same opinion as most people had when it came to criminals or deviant behavior. The classic “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime,” phrase was mentioned many times throughout my youth, whether it be for something as simple as an explanation for grounding me or to explain why doing the wrong things will give you a one-way ticket to prison. My life was surrounded by crime. I managed to separate myself from the “wrong-doers” with the help of my mother, but I still spent most of my life around law enforcement. To me, police officers were always the ones doing everything right. In my mind, if someone died at the hands of a police officer it was probably their fault, if they were beaten they deserved it, the police were only doing what they had to do to make our communities a safer place.
Belize continues to receive international criticism and attention with the recent spree of violent crimes. The effectiveness of the criminal justice system continues to be targeted by media, families and victims of these crimes. However, the reality of justice in Belize is a slow, painstaking, and emotional process that leaves many families dissatisfied. Belize’s criminal justice system is lacking any restorative approaches to finding closure for victims. “Let the punishment fit the crime” is the approach our criminal justice system has been implementing for decades. The effectiveness of it is questionable and a recidivism rate of 23 percent is testament to it. Fines, custodial sentences, restitution, or probation are possible remedies available to judges while presiding over cases. These punishments may deter the occurrence of a crime, but the offender may seldom understand what where the impacts of his actions.
We are all faced with articles and news reports detailing crime occurring all over the world, crime that affects all types of communities, crime relating to religious, gender and age differences to name but a few. I have always paid close attention to the punishments handed out to criminals, in which I always seem to find myself debating on whether these punishments have been fair or are un just.