Abstract The criminal legal system has an effect on the life of every American, and it is therefore of vital public interest to facilitate it functioning optimally. This can only be accomplished with a more comprehensive understanding of this system. Building on the work of Martin and Cohn (2004) and Wu, Lake and Cao (2015), this study sought to better understand the system through the administration of a self-report survey. This survey measured participant Attitudes Toward the Criminal Legal System (ATCLS) and Belief in a Just World (BJW), in addition to collecting demographic information. The sample included 221 participants from Southern California, including 102 males and 119 females. There were limitations, including the use of a …show more content…
Because of this, it is important to measure attitudes towards the criminal legal system, as understanding of where these attitudes diverge in society could provide an indication of where to focus efforts towards reform and improvement of the system. It is also important to explore the relationship between a belief in a just world and attitudes towards the criminal legal system, as the former had a significant impact on the validation of the latter (Martin & Cohn, 2004). In addition, exploring the relationship between these factors and past criminal behavior is vital to generating a more detailed and comprehensive view of the issues at hand. To measure attitudes towards the criminal legal system and legal socialization, Martin and Cohn (2004) proposed the Attitudes Toward the Criminal Legal System Scale (ATCLS). Across five studies, they sought to validate their scale through measuring the correlation between the results of several surveys, including the Belief in a Just World Scale (BJW), and the ATCLS scale. The goal of the first two studies was to establish reliability and validity for the ATCLS scale, and the goal of the third study was to establish test-retest reliability of the ATCLS scale. The goal of the final two studies was to replicate the results of the prior three studies with samples not drawn from student populations. These studies indicated that the ATCLS survey has
In the United States the criminal justice system is broken down into two models, the Consensus model and the Conflict model. The procedure of achieving justice is comprised on three basic levels: policing, justice, and corrections. The two models of criminal justice system are influenced by a plethora of factors. The first model is the consensus model. The consensus model is the belief that the majority of citizens in a society share the same shared values and beliefs. An example of this
The American Criminal Justice System are sets of agencies and process made by the government to control crime and to penalize those who commit it. The justice system is different based one’s jurisdiction, meaning city, state, federal or tribal government or military installation. The Criminal System is divided into two main parts, the state and the federal. The state portion handles crimes within its state boundaries. The federal portion handles crime committed on Federal property or in two or more states (“Criminal Justice” 1). The American Criminal Justice System needs reform because of its emphasizes on incarceration punishment rather than Rehabilitation. Our justice system especially enforces punishment on blacks and Latinos resulting of overpopulation of prisons like Rikers Island for petty crimes. Also, another reform needed the juvenile cases. For example, juveniles who commit petty crimes shouldn’t be sent to adult prison and shouldn’t be near more dangerous and serious inmates.
Within the criminal justice system discuss the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice.
The Justice system seeks to prevent crimes and to capture those who have committed crimes. But what are the causes of crime, maybe poverty, or greed, or is sometimes caused by the system. Is the risk worth the reward and is reward the worth risking the punishment? Power and influence is threaded deeply into the Criminal Justice System. Are all offenders caught and processed with the same demeanor and given the same punishment? The system needs to be impartial to all offenders regardless of the offender’s social position, job or yearly income. The general punishment for most crimes is incarceration in most states with a difference in duration to adjust per each crime. This is the deterrent against crime. This is what should be keeping
Many Americans falsely believe the criminal justice processes are too relaxed. This is illustrated through the conduction of a Gallup poll in which Americans were asked if the United States’ criminal justice system is currently "too tough, not tough enough, or about right" in handling crime. The majority, sixty five percent of people, said the criminal justice
The United States prison population has grown seven-fold over the past forty years, and many Americans today tend to believe that the high levels of incarceration in our country stem from factors such as racism, socioeconomic differences, and drugs. While these factors have contributed to the incarceration rate present in our country today, I argue that the most important reason our country has such a high incarceration rate is the policy changes that have occurred since the 1970s. During this time, the United States has enacted policy changes that have produced an astounding rise in the use of imprisonment for social control. These policy changes were enacted in order to achieve greater consistency, certainty, and severity and include sentencing laws such as determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing, mandatory minimum sentencing, and three strikes laws (National Research Council 2014). Furthermore, I argue that mandatory sentencing has had the most significant effect on the incarceration rate.
When we think about prisons, jails, and courthouses, our minds are meant to draw a connection to cold, hard, justice and fair punishments for guilty and deserving parties. Yet, in our judicial and prison systems around the world, this idea is nowhere close to reality. From inhumane punishments, to mass incarceration, and “trapping” people in the system based on race or financial status, justice is far from being served.
The criminal justice system used today is to follow principles that protect and establish equality for all and while the United States criminal justice system may strive to follow these right of the people, but unfortunately, this is where the system falls short of fundamental American principles. Repeatedly the criminal justice system does the adverse of what it’s supposed to do. It does not protect the many liberties the people should have. Some may argue that the criminal justice system is indeed fair for
Many individuals believe that the criminal system and its institutions are flawed. These critiques have been brought on by the ineffectiveness of prisons to reform individuals, the ineptness of the system to reduce crime rates, the lack of focus on victims of crimes, as well as the racist, classist and sexist practices existing in these institutions. Therefore, we can ask ourselves if the elimination of the current penal system and the implementation of alternatives would better allow
The criminal justice system focuses more on criminalization and incarceration than it does on rehabilitation. The United States of America wins the award for the highest incarceration rate in the world with over 2.3 million people in correctional facilities. America itself contains only about five percent of the world population, but accounts for twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (American Civil Liberties Union). With a longstanding history of mass incarceration and
Almost every day, we hear about justice being served upon criminals and we, as a society, feel a sense of relief that another threat to the public has been sentenced to a term in prison, where they will no longer pose a risk to the world at large. However, there are very rare occasions where the integrity of the justice system gets skewed and people who should not have been convicted are made to serve heavy prison sentences. When word of this judicial misstep reaches the public, there is social outcry, and we begin to question the judicial system for committing such a serious faux pas.
For the past 50 years, America’s criminal justice system has encountered several significant changes dealing with courts and policing. According to Marion and Oliver (2006), the historical Supreme Court rulings like Mapp v. Ohio and Miranda v. Arizona mold the way courts and law enforcement handle individuals charged with committing crimes. This paper will discuss the evolution of courts and law enforcement reflects the diverse and changing need for today’s population which is first importance, the urgency for cooperation and communication among criminal justice agencies and law enforcement within the country. Individuals must
Our criminal justice system is complex and multi-faceted. When people talk about criminal justice reform, they are actually referring to a number of distinct issues and problems. On a national level, the focus on reform can be seen as a recognition that the “tough on crime” legislation that was all the rage in the 1980s and 1990s – mandatory minimums, “three strikes” laws, enhanced sentences for drug crimes to name a few examples – created more problems than they were designed
Therefore, it is important for the criminal justice system to withhold some type of power over the people so that they are able to keep society safe and operate effectively. “The criminal justice system in the United States is divided into four components: police, prosecution, courts, and corrections” (Jones and Bartlett Learning). While it is important to have power to maintain control, it can easily become abused by
This class is the first in my major of Criminal Justice, and throughout this class there will be a great deal of valuable information obtained. Justice can have several meanings to it because all of us are different in our own way, and we all will have different outlook on situations. Throughout this research paper you will learn about what justice means to me, and how I think I will impact society once I achieve my bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Secondly, you will be able to compare with the remaining of the class mates to see exactly how many of our views are the same or different. Last but not least, there will be at least two