Essay on why we need the criminal justice system

Abstract

Crime is as old as mankind and as such, there were various justice systems which were established by various communities to bring those who erred to book. There is documented evidence which shows that the Egyptians and the Greek had a well established justice system to punish those who committed crime. This was with the view of minimizing or totally eliminating crime. However, even with these measures it was not possible to eliminate crime. On the contrary with the current technological advances there has been emergence of a more sophisticated clique of criminals. The criminal justice system is made up of correction, law enforcement and the courts. The fundamental role of the criminal justice system is to prevent and investigate crime. A criminal justice system should be one that is reputable, respected, effective and reliable. This criminal justice system should be able to efficiently deal with criminal cases and at the same time fight crime in the country. In other words the essence of a criminal justice system is to promote equality and fairness in the society by trying to protect prevent and deter criminal activities. In order to prevent crime, the criminal justice system scares offenders away by promising stringent actions thus bringing order in the society. Also the justice system play an important part in educating the public, allocating health funds to treat the ill associated with criminal justice. His new approach has resulted in decreased crime levels.

1. 0 Introduction.

Crime is as old as mankind and as such, there were various justice systems which were established by various communities to bring those who erred to book. There is documented evidence which shows that the Egyptians and the Greek had a well established justice system to punish those who committed crime. This was with the view of minimizing or totally eliminating crime. However, even with these measures it was not possible to eliminate crime. In addition with the current technological advances there has been emergence of a more sophisticated clique of criminals. The expansion and increase in number of such kind of sophisticated criminal gangs poses danger to the safety of the citizen. In addition, these gangs are cultural and economical stumbling block. Nowadays criminal gang have evolved to encompass guns, money laundering, drug just but to mention a few.

The criminal justice system is made up of correction, law enforcement and the courts. The fundamental role of the criminal justice system is to prevent and investigate crime. Therefore the criminal justice system ought to be effective, fair and impartial and should protect the right of all people in the society. In order to fulfill its mandate, to prevent or eliminate crime, there is a need for nondiscriminatory and effective implementation of powers associated with criminal justice.

Goldsmith once said that criminal justice serves two functions. First and foremost is the function of utilitarian or instrumental. In this case the state respond to crime by adopting measures that are crime preventing or crime reducing in order to safeguard the interest of the general public. The second function is non utilitarian or symbolic where the state embarks on readdressing injustices who illegally take advantage of other people.

2. 0 Need for a justice system.

The police can neither arrest all criminals nor prevent all crimes. However, a criminal justice system that is reputable, respected, effective and reliable should be put in place to collaborate with the police in ensuring justice, reducing and preventing crime. This criminal justice system should be able to efficiently deal with criminal cases and at the same time fight crime in the country. In other words the essence of a criminal justice system is to promote equality and fairness in the society by trying to protect the citizenry and prevent and deter criminal activities. As stated earlier, the criminal justices system is made up of correction, law enforcement and the courts. Each of this department has a particular specified responsibility and plays a crucial role in formulating rules and regulations that govern the society with respect to their needs.

One of the most important reason we need the criminal justice system is to deter criminals and thus reduce the criminal activities. The criminal justice system is designed in such a way that the administrative system is coherent to offenders. This justice system promise stringent penalties to offenders and wrong doers. Because of the threat of punishment for offenders or wrongdoers, the level of crime in the society has decrease because people fear the trauma associated with complex justice system. In other words punishment deters people from committing crime. Therefore threat forms one of the functions of criminal justice system since it brings order in the society.

Another major role of the criminal justice system is to prevent the spread of crime. Previously the goals of the criminal justice systems were action based for example arresting offenders and punishing them. This has long changed. In this time and age the criminal justice system has embarked on enlightening the members of public issues concerning crime and rehabilitation or correction of offenders. This approach adopted by today’s justice system is aimed at warning those intending to commit a crime in advance and in so doing prevent the spread of crime. This approach puts more emphasis on maintaining peace, order and protecting the citizens. As the justice system embraces the pro-active system of crime prevention rather than re-active approach, it is evident that the level of crime in the society has reduced remarkably. This observation has prompted countries to such Australia to set aside more fund for public education. The main purpose of educating the public is to inform the citizens of rules and regulation, actually in short the dos and don’ts.

The criminal justice system is also vital for the protection of the rights of culprits and suspects as well as help in correcting their deviant behaviors. With the revolution in the justice system, many countries such as Australia have set aside more funds for health expenditure. These funds are used to cater for treatment of people who have been apprehended. For instance, initially people who tried to commit suicide or those who were drug addicts were arrested, prosecuted and jailed. However, this is not the case today. Such kinds of offenders are regarded as ill and require treatment. The state thus through the department of justice caters for the medical bills of such people. This approach has reduced the number of offenders being tried and as such there is congestion of cases in court. In addition, there is reduced congestion in prison facilities.

Community service is also a very important function of the criminal justice system. Normally both the victim and the offender have access to this service when going through the system of justice or after going through it. The community services are housing, health, financial services, education, legal and so on. The community service is a very important section of the justice department. This is because the other arms of criminal justice department; correction, law enforcement and the courts are more oriented to reinforcing law and controlling crime. On the contrary, community service is aimed at provide support to the families of those affected, offenders and victims.

Recently, the criminal justice systems punishment for has changed to community service, probation and parole from prison terms. These new sentences are beneficial to the offender and the community at large. Here petty offenders and those that have shown tremendous improvement in their character participate in community service. This helps to reduce congestion of prisoners in prison facilities and in addition, it helps to cut down the cost of crime in the society. It worth noting that community service enables one to realize his/her mistake and help them reform into better persons.

In conclusion the role of the criminal justice system is to ensure that while protecting the innocent, justice is served to all people by apprehending, prosecuting, punishing the offenders and assisting them to stop wrong doing. The justice system carries out court orders e. g. fine collection. The main goals of this system is reducing crime levels by ensuring that offenders are brought to justice and in so doing increase confidence of the public. In collaboration with other key partners, the criminal justice system is not only working to prevent crime but also discourage people from committing crime as well as meeting the victims’ needs. Therefore to control crime and promote social order it is inevitable to maintain the justice system.

References

Australian Goverment. (2006). ” Policing”. Retrieved 6 12, 2011, from www. aic. gov. au: http: www. policing. com
Australian Goverment. (2006). ” Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia”. Retrieved 6 13, 2011, from www. aic. gov. au: http://www. reserch/corrections/standards/aust-stand_2004. pdf. com
Austrarian Goverment. (2006). ” Corrections in Australia”. Retrieved 6 12, 2011, from www. aic. gov. au: http://www. research/correction. com
David, B. (2006). ” World factbook Criminal Justice Systems”. Retrieved 6 15, 2011, from www. ojp. osdoj. gov. bjs. com: http://www. pub/ascii/wfbjaus. txt. com
Elizabeth, C., & Tracey., P. (2005). How the Criminal Justice System Responds to Sexual Assault Survivors: The Slippage between ” Responsibilization” and ” Blaming the Victim”. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law , 283-309.
Goldsmith, A., Israel, M., & Daly, K. (2006). Crime and Justice: An Australian Textbook in Criminology (3rd Edition). sydney: Lawbook Company.
Hilinski, T. L. (2010). The Impact of Race, Gender, and Age on the Pretrial Decision. Criminal Justice Review , 35: 318-334.
Lozoff, B. (2010). Seven Ways to Fix the Criminal Justice System . New Age Journal , 27-33.
MacDonald, H. (2008). Is the Criminal-Justice System Racist? City Journal , 321-328.
Robertson, J. E. (2010). Recent Legal Developments: Correctional Case Law: 2009. Criminal Justice Review , 35: 260-272.

.