The Criminal Justice System

Since the policy was enacted in the early 1990s, three strikes laws have been one of the most controversial issues facing the American criminal justice system. In general, advocates believe that locking up criminals will protect society. Critics believe that three-strike policy can only be effective with offenders that are on their last strikes (Worrall, 2008). However, other critics explain how three-strike laws don’t significantly reduce crime because most criminals mature out of the criminal lifestyle (Worrall, 2004).

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. The system is not one single criminal justice system in the United States but nevertheless many similar, individual systems. How every particular system works in each area depends on who is in charge of the city, county, state, or federal. Different authorities have different laws, agencies, and ways of managing criminal justice processes. There are two primary systems which are, state, criminal justice systems handle crimes committed within their state boundaries and the federal, criminal justice system handles crimes committed on federal property or in more than one state. Most criminal

The American Criminal Justice system is arguably one of the most fair systems in the world. However, like anything it has its flaws. There are many flaws but the largest three, in my opinion, would be the fact that we have the highest incarceration rate of any other country, the high penalties for drug users, as well as the jury system. The high incarceration rates and the penalties for drug users affect each other but they are still issues on their own. In fact, many of issues within our system coincide within each other.

The judicial processes that have been adopted by the current criminal justice system of the United States of America include mandatory minimums that diminish the importance of certain factors in a case such as the context of the situation and the power of judges to decide on an appropriate sentence; furthermore, they result in more serious, yet overlooked, implications of racial bias and unfair plea bargaining. Mandatory minimums are strict sentences that a judge must abide by when determining how much prison time the accused is to receive as punishment. Although the majority of offenses to which mandatory minimums apply to are drug offenses, there are a variety of offenses including immigration, firearms, and fraud that are linked to a minimum sentence. The concept of enacting mandatory minimum sentences to particular offenses has such a great influence on court verdicts that in the fiscal year of 2010 alone, “27.2% of cases involved a conviction of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum [and] 53.4%...remained subject to the mandatory minimum penalty at sentencing” (USSC, 121). When the government first instituted mandatory minimums for drug offenses with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, it was meant to resolve the problems of drug distribution and abuse, but these sentences bring about more problems than resolutions. As the time approaches to impose a sentence for a case involving a mandatory minimum, the judge has no choice but to assign the accused at least that amount

Today the United States of America is globally ranked nineteenth in the top one hundred countries today for their criminal justice systems. Our country's police,courts, and correction systems are one of the best in the world. Each one of these systems has special functions and parts in America’s 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

The American criminal justice system has set up laws and by breaking the laws would be considered a crime, and depending on the crime that is broken have different types of degrees. And these crimes can be broken into three different categorize and whether or not it will be classified as a felony, misdemeanor or an infraction. A victimless crime is a crime that goes against societies values, norm but the people involved with these criminal acts do not feel victimized, compared to if they were being robbed or murdered. In order to make an educated opinion on a topic one must understand the history, controversy surrounding the topic and the different possible reforms being argued on what steps to take on the future of the society. Then with the information given one can take a firm stance on this controversial topic.

Criminal justice study, a subcategory of social science, gathers information traditionally from three sources: survey research, government statistics, and one-off studies of particular people, places, or events (King, 2013). However, the astonishing pace of technology advance has changed this pattern. In next 50 years, the exponentially increasing magnitude of information sources will extremely affect both our research and practice in criminal justice. On the one hand, criminal justice course needs to handle problems created by high technology, e.g. the application of new technology in law enforcement and relevant criminal procedure issues. On the other hand, the high technology also provides new tools for the expanding of the discipline, e.g. the application of big data methods in the discipline. Criminal

Garland argues that a new predicament has occurred over the last 30 years within the criminal justice system that encompasses one of the six adaptive responses. One of the six is believed to effect the various implications for administrative and political actions.

The criminal justice system, in the United States, is fragmented with regards to the many different courts which exist, and the roles that they play in the administration of justice. Before any police officer can make an arrest, or any court try a case, there must be laws to enforce. Law on the books refers to the written law and rules society must live by in order to be acceptable members of that society (Neubauer & Fradella, 2008). This differs from the law in action, which is how those laws are actually enacted, and enforced with regards to the real people of any given society.

In the text, Karmen (2015) discusses the many ways that the criminal justice system does not always act to support crime victims. The following news stories help to illustrate how, at every phase of the criminal justice process, victims may be further victimized.

Governments or leaders do not issue human rights. These rights are ingrained in the majority of cultures throughout the world. For instance, the majority of humans believe that killing is wrong and that human life matters, the right to life. Legal rights protect people that stand in contact or under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Having an attorney present during a trial or being treated in a humane manner act as legal rights. Moral rights relate closely in context to human rights. These remain as rights an individual possesses as a result of being human. These three genres of rights hold prevalent in the everyday function of the criminal justice system. They often overlap each other, creating ethical debate. Gay marriage was

The Criminal Justice System consists of three main components; police, corrections, and the courts, which play a role in maintaining a proper and functional system. These three core functions have their own limitations and use of discretion. At times discrimination occurs within each individual function. Policing is law enforcement, which obtains the backbone and gatekeepers to The Criminal Justice System. This is where discretion takes place the most. Indeed, discrimination can start with policing, and that is what stands out to the eye of the public. To understand the community, our obligation, is to be aware of how minorities, policing, and society interact. It is important to realize what the community thinks and feels, for the sake

The United States criminal justice system is essential to the functioning of American society. A central component to the criminal justice system in our country is the U.S. courts. The U.S. courts uphold those rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens under the Constitution while also enforcing the laws and precedents set forth by the United States government. Over the course of the last several months I have been given the opportunity to sit in and observe the workings and proceedings that take place in The Dutchess County Courthouse. The Judge whose courtroom I observed in over the course my internship was Justice Stephen Greller. Justice Greller was elected to the bench in 1985 and is currently serving his 30th year as a Judge. Needless

The criminal justice system can be very tough for some. It is a system that is made up of three core components: courts, police and corrections. These components are intended to prevent and punish all criminal behavior throughout one’s community.