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.
The criminal justice system is a used to protect our society from those who try to harm it. Departments such as courts, and police officers study the behavior of criminals; they want our communities to be safe. When a crime is committed these departments work together to protect the rights of our society and our own. As stated in the textbook, a crime is the “Conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse” (Schmalleger). Our system is a balanced system, there are times where have to think about our own rights as one person, but there are also times where we have to include other people. We must think of our society and
The most important thing that a law enforcement officer can do is the right thing. We as officers of the law are suppose to be role models. I have been in law enforcement of almost two years and I have never accepted free stuff from any restaurant or local business. I my self-have always taken my top shirt of or just changed my clothes completely. I do not think that I should get any special treatment from anyone just because I am an officer and what I was sworn to do. So I would like to talk about the pros and cons of officers accepting free meals and coffee, not accepting free meals, higher standards, officers getting sued or the department getting sued, and civil liability.
Having had the opportunity to see both sides of the argument play out in the City of Memphis and as a member of the Memphis Police Department. I have become an advocate for requiring entry-level police officers to have at the very minimum an associate degree or the equivalent college credits. The college requirement can only be avoided with military experience. However, my position is not that more education makes you a better police officer or less education makes you a lousy officer. I believe that there should be a “happy medium” when it comes to police work. A good officer will be empathic, fair and in tune with the needs of the community and its members. Requiring a level of education for your entry-level officers speaks volumes about your agency and their dedication to professionalism. The benefits of having a college educated officer have shown to make a difference in the way they do their jobs. An educated police officer is less likely to utilize force when interacting with his co-workers or civilians. A department with educated officers also has shown to see a reduction in misconduct and disciplinary issues(Gómez-Mejía et al., 2016). Some years back the Memphis Police Department had relaxed their
Policing is a job that is displayed in media daily through reality crime shows, the news, and dramatized Television, but what does a police man really do. I talked with a lifelong friend and thirty-one-year cop, Rene Calderon to figure out what being a police officer is truly about. As well as being a Sargent for the HPD airport division, Rene has five brothers that are all also police officers. All together the brothers have 200 combined years in police work under their belt. In our interview we discussed the pros and cons of policing, what the long-term policing career is like, and what true policing is versus the way the medias portrays it, and the future of polcing these main points helped me get a firm grasp on what policing is truly
In chapter 4, the textbook discusses the Criminal justice system and how the system works. The criminal justice system is a system setup to punish those accused of criminal offenses. Crimes such as murder, rape, robbery or crimes that are considered felonies. Many people are found guilty of their crimes and others are found innocent. People find this a good system to properly punish those who have committed offenses. I disagree that the system is a good system that helps people. The reason for me disagreeing is that the system is not perfect. There have been cases where the jury has come to a verdict that was wrong. Cases where the jury wrongly incarcerated somebody or cases where the jury acquitted somebody when they were guilty. A system
Police departments across the country and their actions of their employees have been scrutinized a lot lately in the media. Not only the way their employees behave but the way they recruit potential employees. Police officers take an oath to protect the communities that they serve in and uphold the constitution no matter what race, gender or ethnicity. With that being said, police officers should also be made up of people of different genders, races, and ethnicities.
People often wonder why does the criminal justice (CJ) system fail to rehabilitate the inmates before they are released from prison, after all isn’t that part of the process? Isn’t it a mandatory that the inmates participate in this rehabilitation process? Inmates are often released before their sentenced in completed and this can leave the victim and family with a feeling of betrayal from the justice system, they should serve more time, after all they stole my property and my money. This feeling of needing a longer sentence for the crime that was committed is excessive, especially when the crime value may be minimal and wanting the inmate to serve seven to ten years incarcerated in excessive.
As society changes, our legal system evolves with it. Prior to the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the principle of double jeopardy meant that a person couldn’t be tried a second time. This act amended this principle, allowing serious crimes, such as murders, to be re tried if some new evidence became available.We will be asking ourselves if these amendments has greatly improved our system of justice, by focusing on why these amendments were made and whether the advantages of such a reform prevail on the disadvantages.
In the aftermath of the Rodney king beating a lot of things changed with police on the field. “In the wake of the Rodney king case; cameras became standard equipment in patrol cars all over the nation” (Marcou). In doing this police now cannot cover up an incident that they were a part of. “As far as citizens recording police, there is still much disagreement about how it should be handled” (Marcou). Nowhere in the constitution does it say the citizens cannot film stuff that is happening outside their house. “When it comes to training, officers are told “have your camera going at all times. A professional police officer has nothing to fear from being recorded and always act as if you are being recorded, because in today’s world you probably are” (Marcou). Thanks to cases like Rodney Kings, law enforcement is much more aware of misuse of force in the field.
Video Footage has the potential to expose officer misconduct and exonerate civilians whose actions have been falsely accused by officers. In the case of John Crawford III, going into his local Walmart, just wanting to spend quality time with his family roasting s’mores. Officers had over 200 video cameras showing he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but they refused to look at them. Even though he had an unloaded pellet gun that he picked up off the shelf. Why shoot, instead of tasering him. (Harvard Law Review N.A., 2015). Even with some witnesses around that still didn’t stop New York Police officers from using excessive force on Eric Garner. His death was recorded, and the officers were indicted. There are many cases where officers are accused of excessive force such as PEOPLE vs ATKINSON. In cases such as this, there are officers stating force was necessary and defendants saying that unnecessary force had been used. The use of cameras helps to determine without prejudice and protect all
Thesis: Videotaping of Law enforcement should be allowed by civilians since it is a constitutional right of the people. Police can be videotaped while working in the public as long as specific conditions are met. Implementing new video technology both on the officer directly and in law enforcement departments, will help to reduce tax payer money for wrongful prosecution and ensure civilian and law enforcements safety. Videotaping is, indeed, specified and protected by the first amendment to our constitution.
The use of force, with regards to law enforcements use of it, is a complex topic that should be looked at in all perspectives. There is tension between the police and the community they work for, on whether this is a power that the officers should have or not. There are ambiguous laws that do not give law enforcement offices much guidelines on what is exactly permissible when it comes to force, and all the different situations it could occur. The line that the use of force leis on is often a fine one. It is teetering between excessive force and never being able to enforce the laws. The use of forces is a conversation that is worth having with all the pros and cons that it brings to the discussion board.
Police Brutality goes as far back as the 1800’s and has gotten worse over the years. Police Brutality is when the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Police Brutality was first brought about in 1870 and continues to be popular topic in America. In recent years, much debate has been uplifted regarding whether or not police should wear body cameras to help the situation. To some, police cameras will not help with decreasing the violence on police brutality, although police cameras have been helping with court cases. If Body cameras are used they will help the bring those wrongfully accused to justice, and not just for police brutality. Body Cameras will help the police force because they
-Talk about recent problems in America leading to people wanting the use of body cameras on police officers