Misconduct In The Justice System

Legal liability in corrections is an important concept because it addresses who is responsible for what. It is important to know that staff is legally responsible for their actions and administrators are responsible for their staff. It’s important to know that inmates can also hold staff accountable if being mistreated but unfortunate to know inmates can dispute an allegation not harmful such as

Corrections, when seen as the control and punishment of convicted offenders, has been an important part of organized society from the earliest days of civilization. It has not always had a proud past, however. Important changes in correctional practice began around the time of the American Revolution when the purposes of criminal punishments were closely examined by influential reformers. Only within the past 30 years have thorough corrections experts begun to embrace the concept of professionalism, ethics, a sense of high purpose, a personal long-term commitment, a respect for the fundamental humanity of those supervised, and widely agreed-upon principles and standards that guide the daily work of correctional personnel. Today is an age in which the lofty goals of corrections professionalism will take their place alongside the more traditional components of a still-developing field.

Within the criminal justice system, officials abuse their power. The officials of the justice system have a duty to protect and perform their duties with unbiased decision making. The abuse of power jeopardizes people’s lives who are not able to sustain oneself and their families. Some people do not understand that poorer people find themselves in jail more and once a person is released, that person is subjected to return to jail for the amount of money owed to the state. There are many obstacles for the poor, especially those of color. People of color are treated unfairly in the justice system, from the arrest, the sentencing, and the release. The criminal justice system is supposed to be just but that is not the case. The criminal justice system allows for the police, public defenders, and judges to bend the laws and not be punished for their actions or that apologizes can fix the wrong that has been done. This paper will discuss the abuse of power from the justice system and the solutions to rectify the damages.

Correctional Officers play a very vital role in the criminal justice field. Their jobs are very dangerous when dealing with inmates that are in jail and prisons. ”The

During recent studies from several researchers it has been concluded that there is a fault within our criminal justice system. Researchers discovered there is a high wrongful conviction rate within the United States judicial system. After, extensive research, it was found that wrongful convictions are caused by eyewitness error, false confessions, flawed forensic science, an informant, bad lawyering, and government misconduct. Without a doubt, this issue has shocked society, due to the fact we rely on the system for pure justice. Within my findings, it is apparent that victims of wrongful convictions suffer numerous affects when

“Objectively public administrators are accountable to both their superiors and the citizenry— proximately and routinely to the former but ultimately and more importantly to the latter” (Cooper, 2012, p. 198). A situation at Corcoran State Prison was challenged with a situation wherein dual obligations conflicted. Corcoran State Prison became the center of a serious ethical scandal that consisted of illegality, injustice, endangerment, corruption, and conspiracy. Two corrections officers of Corcoran, Steve Rigg and Richard Caruso, were faced with the question of where their loyalty lies— with their superior or with the citizens they serve?

While all of the topics that we have covered throughout this course have been troubling, the topic of prosecutorial misconduct is to me one of the most distressing; the mere thought of the possibility of misconduct by prosecutors gives me the chills, and the numerous examples featured within the assigned chapter readings, in addition to the online articles, only further my skepticism in the legal system and those individuals holding official positions. There appears to be a lot of similarities between prosecutorial misconduct and the topics that we discussed as possible reasons for faulty forensic science, such as a common trust bias in police officials, lack of universal standards, and other cognitive biases such as confirmation bias and belief perseverance.

Conover’s purpose in writing this book not only to share his experience as a correctional officer but to also help readers get beyond the stereotype of the brutal guard seen on television and rumors but to see correctional officers as individuals, offering us a chance to understand

From 1973 to 2000 the imprisonment rate in the U.S has increased by a multiple of four, while the actual crime rate saw no such increase over that period. (Visher and Travis, 2003, p. 89-90) Historically, the prison system in America had always been marred with inadequacies and failures, specifically in rehabilitating prisoners. The significant increase in incarceration rates have put an even greater burden on the already inefficient prison system. In reality, the prison system does not actually function as a means of rehabilitating prisoners, and real purpose of the institute is to basically keep the “deplorables” of society away from the public eye. It serves as a tool to degrade members of society to the bottom of the social ladder and strip them of their most basic rights. For many prisoners, rehabilitation comes in the form of “corrections” which is largely characterized by the humiliation, abuse, and subjugation of inmates by correction officers. This form of rehabilitation is largely malicious and ineffective in its procedures and outcomes. Often times inmates, leave prison more emotionally and physically damaged that they were upon entrance as a consequence of the dismal conditions they were subjugated to. The current high rates of recidivism have testified to the fact that our prisons have failed as a deterrent. As a result, it must be

At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such

High standards and ethics are essential to many positions in the criminal justice system (CJS). Often coupled together, ethics and standards ensure that officers and other criminal justice (CJ) practitioners adhere to regulations and law, including moral codes of behavior and conduct (Fagin, 2017). This document will explore the impact of ethics and standards on the roles of a police officer, prison guard, and probation officer. The influence of a particular court case on a practitioner in court will also be discussed. Lastly, research will be reviewed to determine the most appropriate career path based on the student’s alignment concerning CJ ethics and standards.

The increase of professionalism in corrections facilities and among correction officers is critical and not everyone is cut out to perform such tasks. Furthermore, historical flaws among correction institutes and adapting to new ways in rehabilitating offenders have transitioned into a more professional process than earlier correction institutes. " One early reformer, Richard A. McGee, changed the nature of corrections in California by upgrading the physical plants and staffing patterns, by institutional research, and by developing alternatives to imprisonment", (Siegel & Bartollas, 2014, p. 345). Furthermore, the small transition that McGee implemented was a new movement in taking correction facilities to a new direction and creating a more professional environment among correction institutes.

A Corrections Officer has many duties to consider as they manage the activities of inmates. They are charged with the responsibilities of conducting head counts, monitoring recreational activities, and supervising their work assignments while maintaining a safe environment ensuring the welfare of those who are incarcerated in the correctional facility and employed there, as well as protect the safety of the public communities. They are investigators trained to search for illegal or prohibited goods smuggled into the institution, respond to riots, transport inmates and write reports. Although the job of an officer is challenging still the manner in which they ought to interact with the inmates should exemplify a standard of discipline that displays ethical professionalism, and respect at all times.

I. Thesis: While all of humanity should practice principles of equality, solidity, and human rights, it is extremely imperative that the corrections professionals and the criminal justice system come together at large to build a more just society. The Constitution of the United States ensures corrections professionals uphold the law in an ethical manner.

Within the American Criminal Justice System, how does employees in the correctional field rationalize the crimes committed by individuals that they have encountered during their career. In the study presented, the research will reflect the perspectives of several positions in the correctional field such as parole officers, correctional counselors, correctional case manager, and correction officers. The researchers have development survey questions that includes a list of what they consider the most common crimes seen in the criminal justice system. The employees will be given the survey with the directions to rate the crimes from 1-10 least concern to the most. The employees will also provide a detailed explanation of how they rationalize each