The Criminal Justice System : An Instrument Of Social Control

The criminal justice system consist of a system of laws and processes that protect community members and the public. It defines which actions causing injury or offence to community members are criminal, and offenders may face fines, imprisonment and/or community service as sanctions for their criminal acts.

Criminal justice is the practice of governments directed at maintaining social control, limiting crime, or arresting those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. Those accused of crime have some protections against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers.

Ever wonder why many people are in jail or why the long period of time in jail? The criminal justice system is the set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws. It’s important to know about this because it's good to know how the government is trying to decrease the rate of crime. The criminal justice system affects society negatively because of the rate and length of incarceration, creating the poverty cycle and discrimination isn’t the best way to solve or stop crime.

Economic status is a relevant aspect in the experience of punishment. To an individual who sternly believes that the American justice system entitles every person to the same standard of due process, the previously mentioned idea is blasphemous. Unfortunately, the concept is false. The American justice system does not equally accommodate the needs of criminals placed on trial. Class is relevant in the experience of punishment only because economic inequality is barely recognized in the formulation and carrying out of prison sentences. The foundation of this unjust punishment is laid down at the trial, where disadvantaged individuals find themselves the victims of stereotypes, poor legal representation and haphazard verdicts. Once imprisoned, lower class criminals become immersed in an environment which mimics the troubled circumstances that originally led them to commit crime. Having received an ineffective sentence, convicts return to their poor communities and are expected to reintegrate into society without proper treatment.

The criminal justice system has been proven to play a very important role in society. The criminal justice system is used to keep the citizens in check and to make sure that the laws that are made are being followed. It also is there to penalize anyone who disobeys the laws. In the criminal justice system, there are 3 main parts, law enforcement, adjudication, and corrections. Law enforcement is self-explainable. It consists of the law enforcers such as police officers and sheriffs. Adjudication is made up of people in the court house such as judges and lawyers. Corrections is made up of jailhouse matters such as prison officials. In these many components of the criminal justice system, there are all put in place to help correct people to do the right thing. There are punitive efforts and rehabilitative efforts. At time, the system may lean towards one category or more, which can be dangerous in terms of disciplinary action. The criminal justice system is more punitive than rehabilitative which makes the system ineffective.

In the criminal justice system, there is a controversy in the system regarding fairness or disagreement and changes need to be done. Many people believe it needs to change to improve and others believe it is unfair or dishonest in punishing people. The criminal justice system is in charge of punishing criminals and the correctional system helps inmates from committing crimes again. The goal of rehabilitation is to reduce crime in society. The criminal justice system affects all of society because it determines the punishment people will receive after being convicted of crimes.

Casey Anthony is innocent. Or is she? Human error is too prevalent when having random people determine the outcome over a suspects trial. The jury opens holes for these errors. Law enforcement agencies should be able to use their full discretion when attempting to keep the streets in their city clean. Not necessarily by their gut feelings, but the evidence presented to them. People shouldn’t have the ability to have loopholes to get out of a crime they committed like “the officer didn’t have probable cause to search me” or “he profiled me, he’s racist” even though what the officer was looking for was found, and the charges get dropped because of being deemed “unlawful”. The crime control model should be used in society in this day in age in the criminal justice system as apposed to the due process model. Crime control is a more aggressive means while Due process model emphasizes on constitutional rights and doing justice to get convictions.

In the criminal justice system there is very rarely a single linchpin that can be pointed to and held responsible for the failure to convict a seemingly guilty person. This reigns true for the very public prosecutions of both Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman. In the eyes of a vast majority of the public, fueled by media spectacle and opinion, Anthony and Zimmerman were guilty even before they ever saw the inside of a courtroom. There simply could be no other answer. The public was subsequently outraged when, after what seemed to be trials of certainty, juries acquitted each. The public sought to find someone, or something to blame. The verdict could not be accepted and many turned their focus to condemn the workings of the criminal

The authors confirm that there exists evidence supporting the fact that many criminal justice processes are unfair and could be described as biased, subjective, inequitable, serving financial morals and grows out of the criminal law. They also conclude from the study that the myth on the criminal justice system being fair is not true from the law making department down to the correctional department.

To what extent has the media shaped your understanding of crime and the criminal justice system?

The United States’ criminal justice system has been under scrutiny by countries of equal standing for good reason, what this country is doing, in an attempt to eliminate crime, is not working. Currently, in the United States, we are living in an era of “mass incarceration.” Almost 1% of men in this country and .1% of women are incarcerated (Phelps). With an incarceration rate of roughly 693/100,000 The U.S. stands far behind it’s NATO counterparts with the next highest rate of incarceration, in the United Kingdom, at roughly 145/100,000 (Wagner et al.). These high incarceration rates are reason for concern, and many researchers have begun to suggest solutions to this dilemma. In order to begin to solve this problem, we need to further

Criminal justice is an institution that protects civilians from crimes, which are composed of three main agencies that give protection. They make a criminal justice system, for example these three agencies are police, court, and correction. Law enforcement is one of the main agencies that enforce the law, and when a crime is reported the police service are the one who solve or manage the situation to determine what happened in a particular crime and can detain a person who has committed an offense. Court is a tribunal institution where people come to tribunal to resolve their disagreements after a suspect has been arrested. In the court there’s a judge the one who decide whether to charge the suspect with a crime or released with no charges. Corrections is another important agency from the criminal justice system where

The Criminal Justice System goes as far back as the days of Jesus. There were Soldiers who acted like policeman, the tribune which was the court system, and Caesar, Herod and even Pontius Pilate stood as judge. The prison system was that of dark caves and dungeons. As we journey to the twenty-first century, nothing has genuinely changed. In my essay I will explicate how the various aspect of criminal justice relate to one another as well as why it so important in society. Criminal Justice refers to the facet of social justice that concern violators of criminal law. The

The criminal justice system was put in place to serve justice to those that deserve it and punishing those that break the laws. The tiers of power include police departments to enforce the law, courts to prosecute the guilty or prove innocence, and corrections facilities to contain those that are being punished. The American Justice System has a responsibility to protect and uphold the freedoms of citizens. Although throughout history, the justice system has failed to carry out their initial purpose. Courts can no longer tell the difference between innocence and guilt, police are using their power to gain leverage over citizens, and incarceration rates in the US are higher than the next couple of countries combined. These are some effects that prove the failure of the American justice system.

The traditional method of providing justice has operated to close the doors of Courts to the poor and has caused denial of justice to millions of people. Only a person having ample of time and money is able to afford the services of the judiciary.