For a long time, institutionalization has been viewed by the society as the most appropriate way of curbing crime. This has led to many criminals getting locked up in confined places in order to separate them from the rest in the community. The fact that over-institutionalization is now being practiced in many countries reflects some level of dissatisfaction with prevalent methods of dealing with suspected or convicted offenders. Commonly, criminals end up being physically confined in large institutional facilities.
To opponents, the practice of over-institutionalization has a wide range of detrimental consequences. This paper discusses the causes of over-institutionalization, its consequences, and some potential solutions.
Causes of Over-institutionalization
Generally, over-institutionalization is the result of a lack of confidence in the existing substitutes for punishing criminals. Fear that alternative solutions to institutionalization have little effect on offenders has certainly compelled jurisdictions to turn to incarceration as the most reliable way of dealing with offenders (Elrod & Ryder, 2011). Most members of the public strongly believe that when the society punishes criminals, they should really be punished, and for most people, this means being locked up. Alternatives such as community based program thus start with the disadvantage that the public sees them as being inherently unsafe, and if members of the society feel that a program is unsafe, to them it is unsafe.
The high cost associated with some of the alternative solutions is another concern that has led to over-institutionalization. If house arrests or community based programs have to be adopted by a nation’s criminal judicial system, it means that more employees will be required to oversee a successful implementation. In order to maintain an additional number of employees, more money will have to be allocated to the judiciary and police departments.
Another cause of over-institutionalization is possibly the desire by nations to create the impression that the security of its people is critical. Citing the weaknesses of alternatives such as a community based program, a country’s criminal judicial system and top security organs may find it extremely difficult to avoid institutionalization. According to Elrod and Ryder (2011), the quality of many alternative programs is questionable, and many offenders fail to receive any services after institutional release. This is further worsened by the fact that the number of offenders to be monitored after being released is often higher than the number of officers tasked with the responsibility of following up on them.
Consequences of Over-institutionalization
When a country relies so much on institutionalization, other issues arise that must be addressed. Notable among them are the spread of dangerous diseases such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Sadly, institutionalization creates a fertile environment for inmates to engage in immoral activities that leave victims with dreaded illnesses. According to Flowers (1990), institutionalization does more harm than good to juvenile offenders since it treats them as criminals rather than people who are in need of delicate care. It deprives them of normal familial and environmental settings that relate to proper emotional development.
It glues them with stigmatization effects of labeling and often socializes them to delinquent and criminal habits. Further, there are the differential and harmful patterns of detaining juvenile offenders with adult criminals. This notwithstanding, there are many who favor placing adolescents in correctional facilities, particularly habitual and violent delinquent offenders, for both punishment and as a deterrent to teenage crime. The objective of the juvenile justice system should be to treat juvenile offenders in a non-institutionalized manner whenever possible.
The jailing of young offenders may the worst example of the failings of the justice and correctional systems. Adolescents in jails affect youthful offenders in the society in a number of ways that make them even worse. Many juveniles held in adult jails are subjected to physical or sexual abuse, and tend to have a rate of suicide. At times, the abuse begins before the offender even reaches jail. Sexual abuse of adolescents in vans transporting them to jails and prisons in experienced in some countries.
Health problems are also a likely occurrence in the jailing system, as items that the offender may have taken for granted at home such as soap, toothbrushes, and clean towels and sheets are in short supply. Locking seasoned criminals with naïve offenders has many negative effects. Oftentimes, experienced offenders take advantage of the innocence of inexperienced offenders and expose them to greater harm. As time goes by, naïve offenders acquire wrong habits that make them even worse.
Clearly, this could be easily avoided by looking for alternatives that enable the separation of different categories of criminals. The use community based programs, for instance, can make it possible to place inexperienced offenders in places where their morals cannot be further polluted.
One of the major problems with any new correctional program is that they often appear on the scene and are proclaimed the solution to existing problems. Apparently, this has been the case with house arrest enforced by electronic monitoring. Although house arrest and electronic monitoring has existed for a long time now, there is still need to get a clear picture of what they can and cannot do. House arrest with electronic monitoring can be a very useful community corrections program, but it is not without problems.
Potential Solutions to Over-institutionalization
Among the alternatives that have been considered by several countries is the privatization of correctional facilities. According to Purpura (1997), correctional alternative are those correctional strategies other than traditional incarceration that attempt to produce results that are more beneficial to society and offenders than counterproductive prisons and jails. Potential solutions to over-institutionalization discussed in this section include extra-institutional punishment, community service, and house arrest with the possibility of electronic monitoring.
Extra-institutional Punishment
Rather than turning to over-institutionalization, the criminal justice system can adopt an extra-institutional punishment approach. According to Mays and Winfree (2008), extra-institutional punishment refers to the use of criminal sanctions administered outside a correctional facility. Any correctional program that provides punishment or treatment outside a jail or prison is a form of extra-institutional punishment. In this case, probation often serves as the mechanism by which the court releases an individual into the community and the means by which the same legal authority may remove community corrections clients from it for failing to abide by their release conditions.
Intermediate sanctions and diversion are two key terms that are associated with extra-institutional punishments. Intermediate sanctions are extra-institutional punishments that include all types of correctional programming between traditional probation and prison. These sanctions expand the scope of correction programs as well as the capacity to punish convicted offenders. On the other hand, diversion is the process of removing individuals from the formal system of prosecution and adjudication, and placing them in a less formal treatment setting.
Community Service
Another possible solution to over-institutionalization is community service. Over the years, community service as an area of community correction has seen tremendous growth. Like fines and restitution, community service has its roots in primitive legal codes and in notions such as reparations and restoration (Mays & Winfree, 2008). In its modern form, community service is an alternative to incarceration. Community service seems especially appropriate for crimes such as spray painting graffiti or other forms of vandalism. By and large, the aim of community service is to secure benefits for the community and for the offender as well.
The offender provides a service to the community such as helping to clean up graffiti. At the same time, the offender also gains something from community service. Actually, the offender seems to receive at least two major benefits. First, the sanction holds the offender accountable for the offense, which should help this person take responsibility for his or her actions in the future. Second, the offender benefits by avoiding incarceration and by not incurring a financial cost such as a fine or restitution that may be difficult to pay.
In cases that do not seem to warrant incarceration, a judge may order an offender to participate in projects that in theory should help the community. In some ways, like diversion programs, the only limits on community service projects are judicial imaginations (Mays & Winfree, 2008). For instance, the court may order offenders to work in community perks and recreation programs, or to clean up government offices. On occasion, offenders wash government vehicles.
Normally, this work is part of standard probation or as a specific condition of probation. A probation officer or some other government official, such as a parks and a creation supervisor, may administer these efforts. Other community service programs may require offenders to work in hospital emergency rooms or facilities such as clinics, libraries, senior citizen centers, and schools. Usually, the objective is for the offender to develop a sense of accountability, to recognize that his or her criminal activity has harmed the community.
Although community service would seem to be the least controversial community corrections programs imaginable, this is not the case. Three issues plague community service endeavors. First, ensuring offenders’ accountability presents many problems. Even though offenders may appear for their assignments, this does not necessarily mean that the jobs are meaningful to them or that they learn any particular lesson by having fulfilled the court order.
Second, there are questions about the supervision of offenders involved in community service projects. Simply because a judge has ordered an offender to perform a certain number of hours does not mean that the person will complete the duties assigned or even show up when ordered to. Someone will have to assume the responsibility of holding the offender accountable, and often this tasks falls to overworked probation officers.
The third and perhaps the most severe criticism of community service deals with punishment. Apparently, many members of the public do not believe that community service is a real punishment. The projects may, therefore, suffer from a lack of legitimacy because of this lack of credibility. The degree to which community service projects address the three concerns dictates the likelihood of their use. If the community based sanctions cannot adequately address these issues, judges may not order community service.
For some scholars, community service will continue to be part of the corrections continuum, if for no other reasons than prison crowding and the lack of enough finances to support the ever increasing institutional populations. The fact that much of the existing enabling legislation keeps community service from being punitive also undermines pubic confidence and lowers the threat of the sanction for offenders.
House Arrest with Electronic Monitoring
House arrest is a relatively old punishment concept that has been combined with electronic monitoring to improve efficiency (Mays & Winfree, 2008). Legal jurisdictions around the world have used house arrest with individuals not though to be flight risks. More recently, authorities in the United States have used it with offenders who might be candidates for jail or prison time. Historically, the presence of an armed guard at the offender’s home enforced house arrest. In some cases, a police or probation officer made frequent checks to ensure that the offender indeed was at home.
The advent of electronic monitoring, however, changed the playing field for house arrest. The normal procedure is to allow the offender to go to work or to have specified times when monitoring ceases, as long as the offender obtains prior approval. If no electronic reply is received by the monitoring officer, he or she has to report the subject as missing and organize to dispatch surveillance officers to the individual’s home.
Typically, surveillance officers are sworn peace officers or other probation employees with limited arrest powers. They patrol likely haunts of probation violators, check on probationers at night, and generally watch to see that those released follow rules. In this way, additional sets of eyes augment the probation officers’ technology. Indeed, newer technology, tied to global positioning systems, allows authorities to know the exact location of clients 24 hours a day.
As an alternative to incarceration, house arrest should save jail and prison bed space. In addition, freeing inmates saves money in the end. House arrest is, therefore, one way to reduce rapidly escalating corrections costs (Siegel, 2009). To justify the additional cost of electronic monitoring, most jurisdictions require program participants to pay a monthly monitoring fee. House arrest should also save institutional space and should minimize the stigma and trauma faced by jail or prison inmates.
One of the greatest dilemmas facing people who have served jail or prison sentences of any length is that reintegration into the community and their families is difficult. With house arrest, the problem of reintegration does not exist. Associated with the issue of community placement is the consideration that some treatment programs are available in the community but not in an institution. Therefore, offenders under house arrest may have access to more and better types of programming to meet their specific needs.
In many jurisdictions, most candidates for electronic monitoring are not really on their way to jail or prison. Since public opinion is often against using electronic monitoring with offenders who pose any significant risk, authorities typically use this method with low risk offenders who are not likely to reoffend or to commit a serious violation under this form of supervision. In those instances where house arrests and electronic monitoring divert offenders from incarceration, other offenders have likely filled up the saved bed space in the prisons. Therefore, electronic monitoring may expand the capacity of judicial officials’ capacity to punish. Electronic monitoring opponents argue that the technique monitors a specific place and not specific behavior.
While monitoring the offender’s place might be important for certain crimes, it may not be sufficient. Another criticism of electronic monitoring is that it is not punitive enough and many citizens and politicians feel that sending someone home to serve a sentence is not punishment enough, even if his or her freedom of movement is restricted. To many, electronic monitoring appears to be a cost effective alterative to incarceration. Since offenders are required to pay for the program, electronic monitoring often costs correctional systems little or nothing extra.
Conclusion
Faced with increasing prison populations, limited capacity, and the rising cost of running prisons, criminal justice officials have intensified their search for alternatives to incarceration. However, as they do so, they need to put in mind a number of concerns. Considering the concerns that have been raised by members of the public, it is necessary for stakeholders to reinforce alternatives to imprisonment.
Certainly, the consequences of over-institutionalization are serious and should be addressed. Thinking about the negative outcomes of locking offenders with varying backgrounds in the same place should be a strong motivation for looking for lasting solutions. As noted earlier, putting youthful and adult offenders together affects the youthful offenders in ways that make them worse. Being held in adult jails, for instance, subjects young or inexperienced offenders to physical as well as sexual abuse. In addition, health problems are likely to occur in jail confinements, creating more problems for a country. By getting inmates to share things like soap, toothbrushes, and towels, diseases can easily be transferred from one person to another. In general, maintaining the health of inmates becomes a real frightening experience.
References
Elrod, P. & Ryder, S. (2011). Juvenile Justice: A Social, Historical and Legal Perspective. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Flowers, R. B. (1990). The Adolescent Criminal: An Examination of Today’s Juvenile Offender. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Mays, G. L. & Winfree, L. T. (2008). Essentials of Corrections. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Purpura, P. P. (1997). Criminal Justice: An Introduction. Newton, MA: Elsevier.
Siegel, L. J. (2009). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
The discretion of the bureaucracy is inextricably linked to the process of implementing policy and its further influence on criminal justice. In other words, it is contingent on the analysis of the unlawful actions and consequent development of the strategies intended to mitigate the possible adverse outcomes (Gaines, 2014). Nonetheless, we should take into consideration the fact that the agencies responsible for the development of criminal justice policies are keen on planning and elaborating the policies. On a long-term scale, they depend on federal funding and their initiatives should be fully supported by several organizations to be considered legitimate.
To ultimately carry out the policy, the bureaucracy has recourse to several instruments. First, it makes the best use of public expenditures. This means that the bureaucracy expects to find a balance between the needs of the population and the requirements of the upcoming policy (Marion & Oliver, 2012). Therefore, the final spendings are based on the analysis of this balance and its careful application to the existing conditions. Second, the bureaucracy employs several economic incentives and penalties to trigger certain behavior in individuals (Marion & Oliver, 2012).
The influence of the relationships of stakeholders and the policy process can be evaluated from several perspectives. First, the stakeholders are an essential part of the collaborative justice, and this connection is designed to remove the barriers inherent in the conventional approaches to the issues existing within the framework of criminal justice (Gaines, 2014). The participation of stakeholders supports the development of all-inclusive objectives regarding criminal justice. The process of policy-making should be seen as the act of sharing and applying the information available to stakeholders. It is safe to say that the stakeholders are authoritative enough to impact the outcome of the development of criminal justice policy.
The influence of the policies on the criminal justice system is critical. This supposition can be backed by several factors. First, the policies minimized poverty rates and engaged the citizens into several activities (Marion & Oliver, 2012). This allowed the criminal justice system to improve its incarceration practices and review the basics of symbolic punishment. Second, the policies helped to revise the conditions of imprisonment and reevaluate the principles of juvenile justice (Marion & Oliver, 2012). Third, the policies permitted the criminal justice system to decrease violent crime rates and mitigate the issues connected to property crimes and immorality.
The current situation in the country shows that the bureaucracies are carrying out the initial goals of the legislatures, but the effects of these outcomes are significant and influence the citizens. On a bigger scale, the development of the bureaucracy limited people’s freedoms and concentrated the efforts of the law enforcement agencies on excessive control (Schier & Eberly, 2013). This may be explained by numerous factors that impacted the dynamic character of the bureaucracy, but the ultimate verdict is disproportionate and does not comply with the original incentives of the criminal justice policies.
The implications of bureaucracy policies are evident. Social justice balance is upset due to several unstable factors that cannot be controlled by the policies or bureaucratic apparatus itself (Moffitt, 2014). The application of the policies caused duality and does not adhere to human rights. The bias cannot be controlled, and the employment of extra policies was not recognized as an effective approach. Therefore, the government should apply critical amendments to renovate the functional priorities of the bureaucracy apparatus.
References
Gaines, L. K. (2014). Homeland security: A new criminal justice mandate. In S. L. Mallicoat & C. L. Gardiner (Eds.), Criminal justice policy (pp. 67-87). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Marion, N. E., & Oliver, W. M. (2012). The public policy of crime and criminal justice (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Moffitt, S. L. (2014). Making policy public: Participatory bureaucracy in American democracy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Schier, S. E., & Eberly, T. E. (2013). American government and popular discontent: Stability without success. New York, NY: Routledge.
The final paper will dwell on the constitutional issues connected to the Fourteenth Amendment and discuss the implications it has for society. The key objective of the final paper is to explain the issues inherent in the contents of the legislation and its ability to provide administrative equal protection to all the citizens of the United States of America. Therefore, the phenomenon of administrative constitutionalism and fairness of the legislation will be debated based on Tani’s (2015) research on the issue.
Explanation of the Basic Premises of the Author
The author is concerned with public safety and the approaches applied by the government when it comes to the provision of equal protection. The core author’s premise is that the rights of the poor and federal legislation do not correspond to the constitutional meaning of the Equal Protection Clause (Tani, 2015). Another idea is that the authority shifted from the courts to the federal agencies and it critically impacts the way criminal justice policies are currently functioning. The author underlines the unfairness of the current approach and believes that certain measures should be applied.
Summary of the Journal Article
In her 2015 research, Tani discusses the notion of administrative constitutionalism and the history of the Equal Protection Clause. She focuses on the stages of the policy’s development and outlines an interpretation of the Social Security Act. Tani (2015) stresses the critical significance of cooperation within the framework of the current legislation and discusses the limited opportunities of the poor that are commonly disregarded by the US federal agencies. The author of the article also summarizes the way that the rights of the poor are currently perceived and interpreted by society and the legislative body.
Examination of the Recommendations of the Author
Tani (2015) recommends to thoroughly review the three major areas of the US legal system – constitutional law, federalism, and administrative law. She realizes the discretion that is connected to the Social Security Act and believes that the outdated outlook should be re-evaluated and replaced with a modern incentive. The author also recommends reforming cooperative benefit programs and how the state can influence them (Collins & Ringhand, 2013).
Effects of the Author’s Recommendations on the Criminal Justice System
The recommendations provided by the author of the article can positively impact the current state of affairs of the criminal justice system. This supposition can be justified by the fact that federal agencies are fully engaged in constitutional activities (Marion & Oliver, 2012). The author claims that the effects of administrative constitutionalism are rather unconventional and should be monitored by legislative executives.
Assessment of the Journal Article
The article presents relevant evidence concerning the rights of the poor and the methodology which enables administrative equal protection. There is sufficient evidence to draw conclusions relating to the impact of federalism on society. State welfare laws are in danger and the author of the article is keen on conveying the idea that standardized legislation should be developed to eliminate the problem.
The Effect the Author’s Recommendations Have on Social Justice
The ultimate impact of the author’s recommendations on social justice cannot be predicted. Nonetheless, the author sees equal protection as an ability to trigger a positive outcome and satisfy all the parties involved in the so-called “conflict” (Gaines, 2014). In the end, the Constitution should protect the poor from prejudice and the legislative body of the United States should do everything to enable the Equal Protection Clause to function properly.
References
Collins, P. M., & Ringhand, L. A. (2013). Supreme Court confirmation hearings and constitutional change. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Gaines, L. K. (2014). Homeland security: A new criminal justice mandate. In S. L. Mallicoat & C. L. Gardiner (Eds.), Criminal justice policy (pp. 67-87). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Marion, N. E., & Oliver, W. M. (2012). The public policy of crime and criminal justice (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Tani, K. (2015). Administrative equal protection: Federalism, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the rights of the poor. Cornell Law Review, 100(825), 827-890.
The three challenges of a criminal justice agency administration (discipline, liability, and labor relations) appear to be interrelated. The liability within the system of criminal justice is always a challenge. In general, the cases of police brutality (or perceived police brutality) are typically controversial, and the guilty party is not always easy to find. An example is the death of Eric Garner, which was caused by an officer when he did not release the man who was claiming to be unable to breathe (Susman & Haller, 2015).
The public was outraged by the case, which is understandable especially since Garner was unarmed, but the officers’ community felt unprotected and unsupported as well, which is similarly understandable given the specifics of their job. Similarly controversial is the case of corrections workers who are responsible for the people in their custody and can be sued if, for example, an inmate commits suicide (Peak, 2011).
As pointed out by Peak (2011), corrections workers were the last to form a professional union, which only proves the need for the protection of their negotiated rights. As a result, a criminal justice agency administration is torn between the need to protect the people from their employees’ misconduct and uphold the reputation of the institution and, at the same time, to protect the employees, who carry out their duties in most unfavorable circumstances, from unjust accusations.
However, it is apparent that one of the best ways to ensure employee protection from the cases of misplaced liability consists in providing them with related rules and guidelines. In other words, the primary tool of discipline maintenance is the documents from official policies on various aspects of conduct to recommendations and codes of ethics.
In case the employees are provided with clear rules and the rules are consistently enforced through the various tools mentioned by Peak (2011), it is e easier to ensure their protection from the cases of false accusation. Similarly, the same activities are directly connected to the improved protection of the population from justice system employees’ misconduct. In the end, the reputation of the agency and the justice system as such depends on the maintenance of discipline.
Thus, it can be concluded that the three challenges of a criminal justice agency administration are indeed interrelated and interconnected, which means that the resolution of issues in one of these fields is likely to improve the situation with the two others.
Criminal justice system entails regulating peoples’ conduct with the intend of protecting the society and individuals. It includes all the regulations, measures and institutions of the justice system. All the parties involved in the justice system are under obligation to apply evenhandedness and equality while enforcing law.
Unless the country in question is authoritarian such that justice is only applied to the benefit of people who command authority in that country, observing fairness is vital because it can be used to access support from the public. According to Mark (2004), the criminal justice system is intended to regulate crime by arresting, prosecuting, convicting and punishing people who break the law.
The major challenge of criminal justice system is that it must be carried out within the set processes that dictate how system agencies should use to attain the objectives of the criminal justice system without violating individual rights. Enforcing law on law breakers is very important because it reduces the recurrence of the same kind of an offence.
There are several ways that can be used to avoid the occurrence of crime. New technologies have emerged to help us avoid the occurrence of crime by collecting evidence of guilt. According to Sharkey (2005), x-ray technology can be integrated into the security systems of an airport to screen passengers to check if they are carrying any weapons and drugs.
This technology was found to be very effective but most passengers felt very uncomfortable when being screened because they knew the monitoring officer of screening was viewing their naked body.
People can help in reducing the occurrence of crime by observing simple safety measures such as not walking into lonely areas alone and ensuring they lock the doors of their homes and cars. Crime can be avoided through cooperation of justice systems and the society at large. This does not mean that citizens can also enforce law by taking the law into their own hands; that is the obligation of justice officers.
The criminal justice system is made up of three divisions namely: police, courts, and corrections. The police act as vectors of movement through which information and people are brought on board the justice system. The police make arrests and collect evidence which is then forwarded to the courts for prosecution and judgment.
In most situations the success of a case relies on the accuracy of the police in collecting evidence. The efficiency of police in maintaining law and order have been hampered by their limited possessions. There are other factors that determine how the police issues related to crime. They include political beliefs, public demands and community context. Hess (2008) argues that the continuous police presence in residential areas and city streets can help in prevention of crime.
This point is true because the police cannot change the situations in life that tempt people to break the law. Thus, governments should put more effort to reduce unemployment and poverty which are the main reasons that cause people to break the law. The police response to crime is sometimes determined by the person who committed the crime such as age, race or ethnicity and social class.
The courts act as the central location where matters are solved and justice is applied for all without discrimination. There are three people in a courtroom who are considered important and they consist of the judge, prosecutor and the defense attorney.
The judge or the magistrate is an individual nominated because he is well-informed in law and his main role is to preside over court sessions and give a conclusion at the end of the hearing to set out of a case. In most countries innocence or guilt is proved by allowing the two sides that is the accuser and the accused to give their side of the story relating to the matter at hand before the magistrate or the jury. The party that will give the most resonance and convincing argument is favored according to the law as applied to details on the case.
The prosecutor is the person who files the charges against an individual or a business entity. The prosecutor is entitled to inform the court about the type of crime and also avail the proof that subjects the accused to punishment.
The prosecutor should not be misguided by the plaintiff who represents the accused because he is a civil servant and he represents the government in all court proceedings. The defense attorney advices the accused on the legal course of action, the possible results and suggests strategies. The accused is entitled to testify and consider a plea proposal or request for a jury trial.
It is the responsibility of the defense attorney to represent the welfare of the accused raise technical and evidentiary issues and grip the prosecution to its load of proving guilt further than a sensible uncertainty. Defense counsel may dispute the facts given by the prosecution or offer exculpatory facts and battle on the behalf of the accused. In some countries the accused is allowed to state-paid defense attorney if it is clear he is at risk of losing his life.
The final decision of whether the accused is innocent or guilty is made by the third party who is believed to be neutral. David (2002).argues that he final task is performed by a judge or a panel of jury that consists nationals of that state who are neutral. There are situations where a case may end without trial especially if the accused has confessed he/she is on the wrong side of the law. This makes it for verdict to be administered easily.
It is very common for trials to encounter criticism and unevenness. These malpractices are against the ethics of criminal justice system hence the legitimacy of the court will be tainted. Chambliss (2001) says that jury process has also been under rated due to lack of regulations against unjust verdict. There are also situations where justice has been denied because the judiciary system, police and the lawyers have been induced to give unjust verdict.
It goes without saying that once the accused has been guilty he or she is handed over to the corrections. Serving a jail sentence is used to make sure the criminal cannot commit further offence. It also serves as an equalizer for the trauma the criminal injected into his victim.
The other form of punishment is monetary fines which are imposed on the criminal and then handed over to the state or alternatively to the victim as compensation for any harm or damage of property caused.
Execution has been done away with in most countries because it is considered to be brutal (FBI, 2009). Some countries apply execution only when the offence committed is threatening. House arrest and probation are also applied on minor cases where the criminal is confined in his/her residence. This is done to prevent the movement of a criminal which can cause the criminal to commit more offence.
Therefore, prisons are supposed to give criminals an opportunity to reform. It is with this regard that many prisons have been equipped with learning materials. This ensures that once their jail term is over they will be able to earn a decent living. Religious organizations are also allowed to give guidance and counseling which aids the reform process. Hence, crime prevention requires the commitment of the legislative authority, the judicial system, the police, and the general public.
References
Chambliss, J.W. (2001).Power, Politics and Crime.Boulder. Boulder: Westview Press.
David, G. (2002).Of Crimes and Criminals. In Maguire, Mike, Rod Morgan, Robert Rainer. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
FBI. (2009).The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008.Washington, D.C.FBI pp.138.
Mark, N. (2004).Fabricating Social Order. A Critical History of Police Power. London: Pluto Press.
Sharkey, J. (2005). Airport Screeners Could Get X-Rated X-Ray views. New York Times.
Journalists are professionals who go round collecting information and later forward their information which is then presented by media houses as news to the public. Journalists play a very important role in informing the general public about what happens within their vicinity and beyond because the rest of us are busy with our usual activities to make ends meet thus we never bother to find out what others are doing.
According to Ward there are some people who think that journalists are out to make money which is very wrong because the information they collect is not only useful to us but its also referred by law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system because the journalists act as the watchdog for these agencies (32).
Journalism as a career is not just about taking photos and interviewing people but it’s a calling because for a journalist to collect reliable information it takes them a lot of time and commitment. This is due to the fact that they have to go to places where other people are afraid of going.
That is why people who do illegitimate things avoid journalists because they know their activities will be unveiled if the journalists report about them. Journalists risk losing their lives when they visit places which are not safe such as battle fields. The law enforcers rely on journalists as their source of information because they are the people on the ground, thus they know almost everything about events that are taking place in their areas of coverage. The videos journalists shoot can be used in a court of law as evidence against a criminal.
Journalists are renowned for unveiling issues that would have gone without being noticed thus they should be appreciated because it costs them a lot of resources to collect information and in fact some have been killed in line of duty. They endure a lot of humiliation and suffering just to get a piece of information. Many are times when journalists assign themselves the duty of watching whether people adhere to the law.
Wahl-Jorgensen and Hanitzsch argue that the law enforcers would want to do the same thing but they can’t do it without being recognized because they don’t have the required skills, but journalists can easily integrate this task into their daily routine (14).
The law enforcers are cautioned to execute their duties with care because they can put the life of a journalist in danger because more often the people who convey information to journalists demand to remain anonymous. Therefore, the law enforcers are recommended to respond in a way that does not imply they obtained their information from the media.
The information collected by journalists is not broadcasted without eliminating certain parts because it’s not advisable to leak the entire footage to the public; some details might incite the public to act in a strange manner which could threat national security. For instance, when there is civil unrest the media houses are not allowed to display clips that show how people are killing each others because it might incite people to fight back in retaliation.
When the time comes when criminals have to be brought to the books of justice the clips and interviews that were collected by journalists are referred but the justice system exercises caution not to reveal the source of their information. This information is also used when the judges are giving their verdict and the prosecutors use the same information to press charges because their arguments would not be valid without verified facts hence they enforce law when they are sure they have enough evidence against the accused.
Cases of journalists being killed have been on the increase because in a situation where they are reporting in a country that is not in good terms with their nationality they are perceived to be spies for their governments thus they are met with a lot of hostility. Sometimes journalists have to employ law enforcers to accompany them in areas where they are likely to be resisted and in such scenarios confrontations may occur which could cause their equipments to be destroyed.
Journalists are very important because they are usually the first people to arrive in a crime scene and any other natural calamity that may happen they are the first to know. When law enforcers want to notify the general public about something that concerns security such as the most wanted criminal they employ the media to broadcast their information. Thus the relationship between the media and law enforcers is a two-way traffic.
In the past decades media houses did not have freedom to express their views but since most countries are adopting democracy the journalists are free to collect the desired information (Wahl-Jorgensen & Hanitzsch 13).
In fact the media houses are keeping policy makers on their toes because in developed countries journalists are allowed to report inside the parliament to enlighten the public on what goes inside the parliament. In sincerity the scandals that have generated heated debates currently and in the recent past were brought into the limelight by the media.
The journalists evaluate such scandals thoroughly but then they have to carry out their evaluations in secrecy without attracting attention because they could be apprehended by the criminal whom they are investigating. From this analysis, it is clear that journalism major is directly related to criminal justice and law enforcement.
Works Cited
Wahl-Jorgensen, Karin and Thomas Hanitzsch. The handbook of Journalism studies. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009.
Ward, Stephen. The Invention of Journalism Ethics: The path to objectivity and beyond. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.
The Importance of the Final Report to the Prosecution of a Case
In legal proceedings, most cases feature a number of intricate facts and use complex terminolory that can be ambiguous when it comes to interpretation. Thus, my primary objective as a prosecutor is to present the final report in such a way that all the elements of evidence are clearly organized, vague points are clarified, and all the terms are explained. A concise chronology of the events can also be attached if it helps me improve the structure of the report.
If I want to add value to my arguments in court, my final report should cover the following aspects (Worrall & Nugent-Borakove, 2014):
An overview of the case. It must briefly present significant events and actions connected with the case and explain the essentials in a few sentences. This helps identify the pivotal issues and concentrate on them.
Description of the parties involved. The section deals with the personal information of the sides, their criminal litigation history, etc. It is a significant part of the report as any relevant background data can affect the attitude of the court towards the participants.
Summary of witnesses’ testimony supporting the accusation. This part is crucial for the success of the prosecution as it ensures that there exist no gaps in the proof. It can contain various charts, recordings, documents, and any other materials that clarify the case from the necessary perspective.
The analysis of anticipated defense tactics. The part concerns rebuttal of possible counterarguments, which, being performed properly, allows me to sound more convincing in court than the defendant.
Request for further sanctions. Being a prosecutor, I must clarify what sanctions I consider to be necessary in this or that case.
As it is evident from the description, each part contributes to the success of the prosecution of a case. Thus, each of them must be carefully prepared. The final report should logically and coherently combine all of them in order to form one inseparable whole.
In case some issues are overlooked, and the report is completed poorly, the consequences might be deplorable (Worrall & Nugent-Borakove, 2014):
if the parties are identified incorrectly or incompletely, the key events could be omitted;
in case the summary misses certain points, important evidence can be neglected by the court;
unless witnesses’ testimony is credible, the truth could be distorted;
the documents provided in the report must be genuine – forgeries or unattested copies not only undermine my reputation but also tell on the outcome of the case in a negative way;
unless I prepare strategies of rebuttal and present them in the report, I can fail the case because of a better-prepared opponent.
The Way Each Stage of the Criminal Justice Process Helps to Build a Successfully Litigated Action
There are common stages the cases follow, though not each of them goes through all the steps. A successfully litigated action can be built provided that the evidence is properly collected and estimated in all the stages. This is proved by the following facts (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015):
If the crime occurs, the investigation begins only when the evidence is provided by witnesses.
Arrest (if it did not happen at the moment when the crime was committed) can be made only when the investigator decides that there is enough evidence for legal charges.
Initial appearance before the judge is aimed to prove that the person was charged properly (which means that there are substantial grounds for taking him/her into custody).
Preliminary hearing determines if the evidence is sufficient for further legal proceedings based on the assumption that the person could have commited the crime.
Arraignment is the formal accusation based on witnesses’ testimony. In case the defendant pleads not guilty, the collected evidence is provided to him/her for performing the defense.
The trial takes place if plea negotiations fail. Witnesses from defense and prosecution are heard.
Sentencing hearing. All the evidence is summarized, and the decision is made.
A Criminal Investigator’s Role in Preparing a Case for Court
The criminal investigator is the one who is involved in the case at the beginning of the investigation. Criminal investigators explore the scene of the crime, trying to find clues that could give hints to important details and prove someone’s guilt. Their task is to collect testimony that would help the prosecutor in court. However, they must also research the evidence provided by the defense and find out which facts disprove it. Basically, criminal investigators try to solve cases using intelligent means (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015).
The same has to be performed if there are some gaps or inconsistencies in the accusations. The prosecutor and the investigator assist each other in order to achieve the immaculate case presentation in court. The investigator can go over the testimony with the prosecutor, identify which way is the best to present the facts, and suggest the proper arrangement for calling the witnesses in order to win the judge’s approval (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015).
The Difference between Not Quilty and Acquitted
Some people believe that if the person is proved to be not quilty, it equals being acquitted. Despite this common opiniton, these notions are different. The suspect is found not guilty if it is proved by evidence that someone esle committed the crime. However, a defendant can be found not guilty of some of the charges, not all of them. An acquittal is possible not only through issuing a not-guilty verdict. The suspect can be acquitted in case the evidence is not sufficient to prove the guilt. If the person is found not guilty, he/she cannot be charged with the same offense. The prosecutor has no chance to reappeal the trial in this case. However, he/she can appeal the judgement of aquittal (Givelber & Farrell, 2012).
To some extent, it means that the investigator failed with evidence. His/her initial task is to provide enough materials, analyzing which the prosecutor can make a perfectly convincing performance at court that would not leave space for any doubts. Despite his/her evident failure, it is not exclusively the investigator’s fault as in certain cases the prosecutor may have missed important points from the evidence while preparing for the trial.
Changes that will Take Place in Criminal Investigation in the Next 20 Years
Probably the greatest change in criminal investigation will be connected with the figerprint technology. It can be assumed that in future palmprints will also be introduced to AFIS systems as they are often found at crime scenes. They could be captured and analyzed using the system in order to get the criminals credentials immediately (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015).
The DNA technology is also among the most promising ones. Forensic investigations are moving in the direction of creating a world-wide database of DNA samples. DNA banks of all the countries will be interconnected in a global network. In this way, foreign criminals can be detected. Exting DNA hand-held analyzers can be improved in order to perform the necessary analysis at the crime scene without going to a lab.
The full potential of criminal investigation is unlimited with the development of modern technologies.
References
Givelber, D., & Farrell, A. (2012). Not guilty: are the acquitted innocent? New York, NY: NYU Press.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2015). America’s courts and the criminal justice system. London, UK: Cengage Learning.
Worrall, J., & Nugent-Borakove, M. E. (Eds.). (2014). Changing role of the American prosecutor. Albany, NY: Suny Press.
The research paper aims to investigate the impact of race, crime, and gender on criminal behavior. In the criminal justice system, delinquency may be the result of biological excellence, for instance, excessive physical strength or aggressive, fighting motherhood. An arrangement of causal factors according to relative weight, manageability, and ambivalence must come later. Immediate problem is to determine the causes, regardless of their interrelation or ability to remove them without detriment to other vital social relations. It was found that race, crime, and gender cannot be considered as sole factors of delinquency but in connection with social and economic factors.
Introduction
The questions of race, gender, and age have been the most important factors of crime theories determining the main trends and approaches to crime. Today, criminal law clings to the pretense of free will. There is in reality only one cause of crime: ill will, malice. Only it was the wrong cause on which critics bestowed so much care and effort. It is not very different from the free will of the lawbreakers (Brownlee, 1998). The will belongs to the realm of natural phenomena, all of which follow the rules of cause and effect. Punishment may be a deterrent. It may be and often is submerged and neutralized in the turmoil of vehement impulses. It may affect stimulations and shrink inhibitions. To limit the reflection on human misconduct to that one simplified causality, the free and ill will must necessarily lead to an impasse. The theory disregards the powerful causative impetuses that strike upon the will from the outside and the complex structure of each willful act. The part causality of which legislations avail themselves can under the most favorable conditions produce but part results. To the criminologist, the behavior of every human being is conditioned. In attempting to bring some sort of order to the complexity of causes, he finds two main distinctions: The paper aims to analyze the problem of race, age, and gender in crime prevention and commitment.
Problem Identification
A theory of crime states that issues of age and gender are possible factors that influence delinquency and crime rates. The paper aims to investigate the problem of age, race, and crime in the criminal justice system and analyze current data on this topic. Critics found that many “causes” consist of slowly converging developments, which appear to drag the guilty man by degrees to the fatal outcome. It may be only vice or illegitimate business or lighter delinquency which may involve the victim as well as the perpetrator in crime (Bowling and Phillips 2002). Once the victim has participated in a shady transaction he has blocked his own retreat and cannot ask the police or the court for redress. Once a man is deeply involved in a racket his relations with other racketeers undergo a profound change. Neither can resort anymore to the ordinary mechanisms of legal adjustment. They revert to the self-assumed and self-taught methods of the underworld. If they do not use physical force they go out of business (Brownlee, 1998). This is still a crime, no doubt, but genetically it is warfare among competitive groups, criminal, semi-criminal, or illegitimate, who by their very pursuits of happiness are barred from asking for the arbitration of the state. The abolition of poverty would be more far-reaching than the suppression of alcoholism. For many people, religious instruction and training in self-control would be a total solution to the problem of crime. It appears, however, that the vaster and more all-embracing the program, the harder it is to realize. Some causalities are ambivalent. So is wealth, so it might, so is a success, even the monotony of good luck and prosperity (Fagin 2006). Some causes belong to the irremediable facts of life. Many perplexities are due to the fact that age and even sex sometimes are ambiguous conditions.
Gender Issues
Female Gender
The problem of gender is one of the most important in the criminal justice system. Davies et al (1998) underline that by when nature equipped the male with a powerful muscular apparatus she presented the female with a more resistant nervous system and greater inviolability. Being exploited organically by the generative process and the growing child, the female, in turn, exploits the concupiscence and the muscular acquisitive strength of the male. It is a perfect interlocking circle of compensatory aid ( Shils et al 2001). Sex, however, includes a sociological status. ‘Vital human activities, with few exceptions, are the monopoly of the man. Conditions are undergoing slow change navigation, aviation, law enforcement, traffic, industrial production have been male occupations. The female side is swelled by a large number of employed colored females. The diverse occupational groups have shown varying degrees of resistance to female invasion. In order to prove this assertion critics have to refer to the unemployment report. The incapacitated, the boys and girls in schools, the people confined to institutions are, in general, not able to increase the army of crime (Brownlee, 1998). From the reservoir of females occupied in home housework, however, any emergency may draw girls and young women into the realm of industrial work and competitive life. Larceny and fraud do not show an outspoken differentiation, as reflected in the gravest cases, those which reach the penitentiary. The male prison population is largely composed of robbers and burglars, the female of homicides and assaulters. In a lengthy and elaborate selective process, the prison receives the female types which are the least feminine and the least remote from the male characteristics (Levin and McDevitt 2001).
Sex as an Economic Factor
It is futile to make an exact statement on the numerical proportions of male and female crime. The underlying facts and the determinant rules are not comparable ( Shils et al 2001). The only thing critics can say is that the visible mass of female crime if put on a comparable basis does not amount to more than 10 to 30 percent of the male rate. However, since females often attain their criminal ends through the medium of male crime and since abandonment to immoral life may be a substitute for serious property delinquency, statistical figures, even if they have been registered at the beginning of the prosecution, are of little value. This conclusion certainly holds true as far as the criminal disposition of the female sex is concerned (Bowling and Phillips 2020).
In view of the fact that 70 to 80 percent of serious crimes are formally property offenses and that 85 percent can be regarded as economically determined, even the poorest female is less destitute than the male in distress. She has a potential capital left, her sex. Critics do not think primarily of the coarse methods of prostitution (Brownlee, 1998). To the police, prostitution means streetwalking and soliciting. From the sociological point of view, the phenomenon extends far beyond these narrow bonds. Indiscriminate sex relations for profit cannot be counted or ascertained by any statistical method. They are lost in the vast realm of sex escapades and fancies, without street publicity, without cash transactions, and without permanence. Genuine emotions may be involved, but an undertone of profit-making for the woman, or sometimes her male partner, is present. Countless situations revolving around the status of mistress, fiancée, even a wife are quasi-legal or legal forms of sexual surrender for profit. Arrest figures for prostitution and the data of prison admissions for the same offense do not reveal the real extent of even that small part of prostitution that comes to the attention of police and courts. When critics consider all sorts of institutions, workhouses, and probation cases from night courts, they arrive at the following high proportions. Another reflection is not out of place (Brownlee, 1998). It is surprising that some women still take the risk of committing property offenses. instead of instigating a male to commit them. It is a paradoxical, but correct assumption that their sexually higher moral standard drives them into serious delinquency. Instead of prostituting themselves, they steal (Cavadino and Dignan 2002).
Division of Labor
That division of labor which makes the male the breadwinner and renders the female the administrator of the bread won and the bearer of all the functions that have to do with health, recreation, and the bringing up of the new generation is faced with grave difficulties if the breadwinner disappears or oversteps his limits. In the first case, he dies or deserts the family group in which he has assumed a specific place, producing children and assigning his wife a position outside the economic process. His disappearance upsets the equilibrium and compels his wife, untrained and charged with the care of children, to enter a gainful occupation. In the second case, the breadwinner exploits the working power of the adolescent girl. She makes money but must give her earnings to her parents. This form of paternal capitalism grows socially more serious as, with the approach of puberty, the desire for adornment, “fun,” and companionship is awakened. The girl soon discovers that it cannot be satisfied without some money. Not infrequently running away is the normal and rescuing reaction of a frightened and overstrained animal. Often there is a slim margin between running away and being driven away, between being chased out of the house for being late or staying away or losing a job. It is interesting to note that some fathers combine material exploitation with distinct manifestations of jealousy. If the mother is living she may neutralize the father’s effort to isolate the girl under moral pretenses. If she is dead the father’s restrictive and tormenting methods are given free vent (Croall 2001).
Generation Gap
Nature has embedded in the basic personality of man another cyclically rounded course of development, the sex individuality. It is more short-lived than the body which carries it, out of which it grows and into which it is absorbed. The sex individuality is born much later than the child and it dies long before the second, final decease. This separate personality is mounted on an adult body. From the combination of youthful sexuality and grown-up organism, it derives its criminological significance. Since it develops later and departs earlier its tempo is accelerated. The evolutional, as well as the tendencies, are shortened and intensified. In the male, the process pursues a relatively even tenor of its wave. In contrast, in the female, the slowly rising and slowly declining curve is broken by separate reproductive revolutions, which appear in the shape of grave bodily and mental crises. Thus the female migratory worker was added to the female members of the fighting forces and new problems arose. From the sheltered life of farms and small towns, girls flocked to the war centers (Cullen and Newell 2002).
When a girl is sent from a lonesome farm to the state university, she is certain to find the sex ratio altered in her favor. Her matrimonial chances increase. Censuses give sex ratios, insofar as they are visible on specific days, in ten-year periods. Attention is focused on two points, ten years distant from one another. Tremendous changes may have occurred meanwhile; the numerical pendulum may have swept back while the effects of the intervening changes are still in operation. A war may start in 1941; it may long be over in 1950. The population structure will have been shaken profoundly between the Census of 1940 and that of 1950, but the picture at these two extremes of time may not differ radically (Dobash and Dobash 1998).
Postwar populations, if the fighting has been bloody and prolonged, show a plurality of females in those age groups that are socially most important. Some women are thereby deprived of the right to marry. It is characteristic of such men-deprived populations that competitive methods and attitudes enter the postwar mores. A situation prevails which is just the reverse of that artificially created debut scenery with 200 boys for 100 girls. In the twenties, when the United States had a considerable surplus of younger males because of immigration, the short and relatively unbloody war reestablished something like a sex equilibrium. But immigration has been curtailed and the casualties of the Second World War plus imported war brides will affect the sex ratio (Dobash and Dobash 1998). The surplus, still existing for all age groups in the prewar period, is already reversed in the groups of the military and industrial age. The colored race will be hit more severely because there is already a considerable scarcity of males between twenty and thirty-nine. Delinquency cannot remain unaffected. It will mainly be the criminality of the females fighting for a place in the heart and on the hearth of the scarce males (Davies et al 1998).
Social Impact on Gender Relations
A surplus of males creates an even more critical social situation. It may be produced by the most diverse causes: epidemics that decimate the female section of the population, the sex ratio of births, or migratory movements that bring about separation and dislocation of the equilibrium of the sexes. The industrial boomtown, especially in wartime, is a counterpart of the gold-rush communities. In boéstances, the visible criminality takes the form of offenses against the person and sex crimes. Boom means physical and nervous overstrain, money or hope of money, gambling, drinking, and mercenary women. Crimes of a mere economic origin, except fraud, are rare (Davies et al 1998). The successful remain; the failures vanish and carry their want and their methods of escaping their distress to other geographical sections and to distant criminal statistics.
There are a few self-chosen all-male and all-female groups, but most of them are imposed by society. Some educational institutions, such as convents, are all female. The prototype is the prison of women, yet the effects are for the time being intramural and reach outer life only after release. The far-reaching consequences of this seclusion are well known (Faulkner, 2001). There is no remedy as long as confinement means separation and mass locking up of females or males. War and hunting require the formation of short-lived all-male societies. The detrimental effects of the situation are counterbalanced by the dangerous, exhausting, and distracting nature of these activities. This used to hold true for the crew of a sailing ship; it is less true with a steamer. When in full operation, the criminal gang uses the techniques of commando raids directed against society. Women, being disruptive forces from the point of view of equality and discipline, are excluded from the work of the gang (Davies et al 1998).
Close Relations
All-male gangs breed a specific combatant’s morale. The antagonism to society and to other gangs is accepted as a basic and immutable fact. Here is a state of war. Moral values are only evolved when the cohesion of the gang is at stake. It is a counter moral, deeply rooted. The recognition for which the gang member, especially the juvenile, longs has nothing to do with control mechanisms of praise and humiliation. It is the approbation of the gang that counts and which he aspires to. The absence of the other sex in gold and lumber camps creates similar changes in mores and moral values, but here association is still voluntary and it is possible to escape the oppressive atmosphere, temporarily or for good. The all-male society of a prison is a compulsory composite of men. Here again, a fighting situation prevails and there is an ethical reversal because of this all-important fact (Hudson, 2003). Following Faulkner (2001) when prisoners were asked to enumerate the major traits of a leader in prison, their ideas were that he should be “right,” courageous, generous, modest, educated, have an interesting vocabulary, be a clever gambler, be able to fool the officials, have a reputation for holding liquor, have a large body of knowledge about crime techniques, and have strong attitudes against the judiciary, the prison administration, the parole board, and God. Sophistication in female companionship, as evidenced by suggestive letters, is highly valued. It would be worthwhile to learn how many of these ideas fade when the convict is released in case he does not return to criminal life (Faulkner, 2001).
The lack of female companies tends to produce strange changes in the sense of reality. The missing sex is subject to a process of canonization and one which accounts for the preferential treatment of women in fact and in law. In arriving at answers to these and other questions bearing on the question of possible release, parole boards use four aids, singly or in combination: the prepare investigation; institutional reports, and the personal interview with the inmate. No jurisdiction uses prediction tables exclusively; some do not have a prepare investigation made in the field; while others dispense with the personal interview (Faulkner, 2001). All four aids, however, when employed, may be considered part of the investigation process in parole. The facts mentioned above underline that gender can be considered as one of the possible factors of crime thus there is no different correlation between gender and criminal activity (Dobash and Dobash 1998).
Race
Historical Perspective
Race is another factor which influences decision in criminal justice system. It is known that minorities and Africa-American people are seen as potential criminals because of their race and ethnic identity. There were mob actions, directed against the Catholics in England, the Protestants in France, the Mormons in Illinois, the landowner and the capitalist in Eastern Europe. Wherever the world became too narrow, the weaker competitor was pushed aside; if racial or religious disinclinations or the mark of the alien helped justify persecution, it was welcome. Yet in truth during the last two or three hundred years it was a propaganda stunt. One can say that because there is now no vital racial complexity in Europe; Europe never tried to be a melting pot, racially or religiously (Dobash and Dobash 1998).
There is probably no criminological problem which should be approached with greater mastery of facts and with more interpretative acumen than the delinquency of the colored man. In spite of the most honest effort critics expect to arrive at only tentative results. Mortality is doubtless one of the main racial characteristics although the deleterious effect of surroundings should never be lost sight of. The death rate of the colored people differs fundamentally from that of the white race. There is a peak in the middle of the life, as seen by the following figures: The connection between delinquency and internal diseases, such as tuberculosis, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes has not been studied, although the relation between infection psychoses and resulting disorders of conduct are well known. Disease is not only an economic catastrophe but it changes the habitual reaction to stimulations of social and human milieu. In a Cincinnati investigation physical impairment among 1,000 Negro factory workers was studied (Dobash and Dobash 1998).
Suicide Rate
Examining other forms of aberrant behavior, suicide rate of the colored woman is similar to that of the colored man; this means certainly that the sex differentiation is carried farther in the white race. In addition, the suicide curve of the colored woman differs profoundly from that of the white female. A peak is reached in early adulthood; from then on the decline is steady. The young colored woman seems to be subject to a crisis during her twenties. Explosive reactions directed against her own life and the lives of other people are more frequent and more uninhibited. Her insanity curve rises and falls in the same rhythm. There has not been a statistical survey of insanity according to race, sex, and age groups (Hudson, 2003).
Economic Factors
The economic situation accounts easily for the higher property criminality. There is some discrimination in court, though less than toward the male Negro. A comparison is rendered unsafe because of the fact that the white woman enjoys exceptional favoritism in court. After female delinquents have left the male sphere of influence (police, district attorneys, jurors, judges, witnesses) they are startled to be discriminated against in prisons where superintendents and matrons are of their own unbiased sex. All the adverse conditions massed around the colored woman, the fight against a new climate, against the forces of urban life, against hostile or indifferent human surroundings, and against a crushing poverty are focused in one accusing fact: the heavy mortality at a time when life has not yet run its course. In this great battle of adaptation there are many ways of losing. Death is total defeat; crime when detected and punished is another form of defeat. Both failures culminate at the same time (Hudson, 2003).
The criminality of violence, it is true, has a different meaning, although much of it has its more remote roots in the losing struggle for life. The virtual impasses into which the minority group has been pushed by the machine age, superseding their last resort, muscular strength, and by practice of discrimination, contradictory to professed political credo, has added to the insolubility of the situation. While the white race turns mental strain more and more against itself, as evidenced by the increase of suicides and wars, the colored race has not reached the stage of introversion (Davies et al 1998).
Victim and Race
Who is the victim of colored delinquency? Above all, against whom are the outbursts of violence directed? Larceny, burglary, and robbery are likely to nip the “haves,” that is, the white race, although exact data are missing. Frauds, requiring personal contact, are almost exclusively directed against members of the same race. If police can believe Southern figures, colored people were killed in more than 80 per cent of the cases by colored people. This is the significant result of a study on homicide in the City of Memphis. Although the “unknown” introduce some uncertainty, it can be stated that the colored homicide delinquency is directed mainly against its own race. The criminality of the yellow race has not been carefully investigated for two reasons. First of all, the group is numerically rather small. The native Chinese and Japanese population has not increased in the last forty years. The total Chinese population has been stagnant in spite of immigration Davies et al 1998).
Indians as a Unique Group
The unlimited hospitality of the Indian, one of his noblest properties, can be explained by this contempt of possession. There is, of course, the exception of cattle and horse stealing. Police officers have quoted the opinions of competent observers that horse stealing cannot be judged by legal standards. Like the pilfering adventures of urban gangs of juveniles, it is a predatory realization of a spirit of rivalry, more a dangerous game of chance than the violation of a recognized taboo. Part of the contest was the skillful retaking of the booty. Murder issues are often psychologically complex. Manslaughter has a different meaning in the two cultural spheres. Alcohol addiction renders assaults rather frequent, but wise superintendents have their own interpretation of a “dangerous weapon” or the “intent to kill.” and pilot many cases into Indian courts. Overcrowding, the states of tuberculosis, alcoholism, and remembrances of polygamous mores explain the relatively high rate of adultery and fornication and the illegitimacy figures. Since the Indian woman is continually busy, the grandparents assume a dominant role in the educational process, an interesting sociological phenomenon that civilization exhibits only under exceptional conditions, in the case of an illegitimate or a crippled child, or in wartime when the father has been drafted and the mother has entered a war plant. The public-school system and the changed occupation of the father, who no longer goes to war or on regular hunting expeditions but remains about the home, have undermined the authority and the sociological function of the grandparents (Davies et al 1998). Behind its outward manifestations-rather trivial as they are, to judge by the few facts critics know-stands not only a physiological battle for survival but a profound moral ailment. In curing the spiritual malady police may even begin to render the Indian more resistant against the inroads of his microscopic: enemies, tuberculosis and syphilis, and his destructive craving for the oblivion-giving poison of alcohol. The moral issue was stated clearly eighty years ago under the Lincoln administration (Faulkner, 2001).
Age Factors
Age is also considered as a possible factor of crime. Social stability seems to be linked exclusively with sociability, conformity to mores and laws. Yet it is true that the proportions of the population play a considerable role in shaking or maintaining social equilibrium. Often police find a disarrayed sex ratio; sometimes the age ratio likewise is affected by a variety of reasons. It may result from methods of birth control, which create at least a transitory unbalance of age groups. Increased or reduced mortality is a further cause. Migrations may replenish or deplete specific age groups. Birth control continues to reduce the proportion of young people. At the other end of the population pyramid, successful medical science has increased the weight of older age groups. Numerical unbalance, entailing many social disorders, is bound to make its appearance (Faulkner, 2001). Statistical figures are deceptive; the middle group shows a higher percentage (which is a transitory phenomenon and necessarily will fade away) but this higher proportion reminds us of a strong rope dancer whose pole is differently loaded and whose whole strength is of no use to him. The decrease of children and the increase of old people do not square the account from the numerical point of view. Children used to be and still are in rural areas cheap and non-organized helpers. Old people are essentially liabilities.
Urban vs Rural Populations
This general trend is modified by other tendencies. The urban differs from the rural population in age distribution as it does in sex ratio. One is tempted to say that the city in vital age groups is adult and female and that the rural farm areas are essentially male, these males being either very young or very old. Other disorders of the age distribution result from vice booms or peace or wartime booms, which invite “pleasure seekers.” Some twenty years ago a violent discussion was going on between a noted insurance statistician and the city of Memphis. The statistician had given Memphis the priority in the homicide rate of the United States (Faulkner, 2001).
Young Age
Youth is the scene of two nay three great physical and mental crises. There is first the crisis of puberty. The well-known somatic changes are closely connected with psychic alterations. Contradictory states of mind dominate the mental picture. The violent urge of wanderlust is relieved by torturing homesickness. The instinct of self-preservation is today strangely obscured, tomorrow overstressed. There is the tendency for direct and total solutions of all problems: ardent loyalty to your friends, hate for your enemies without bounds. The established authorities, including society, church, and family, are rejected and doubted, but at the same time new and voluntary loyalties are offered to questionable leaders (Cullen and Newell 1999).
During this period many mental disturbances stealthily make their appearance. The figures for suicide and fatal accidents rise. Puberty seems to mobilize all bodily and mental weaknesses of the young creature to a dangerous trial. In many individuals puberty is protracted or persists in the shape of distinct infantilisms. Critics notice adults with baby faces and a boy’s mentality. Often puberty is not terminated before the mid-twenties (Brownlee, 1998). At times it persists with the mental traits of the eternal child in spite of a long beard or a respectable chronological age. It is not so much the intelligence quotient which points to adolescence as the emotional and volitional setup. The biological change has in some respects great social significance. With the coming of puberty dispersive impulses develop. They attack the cohesion of the family (Davies et al 1998). They seem to be implanted by nature itself in all young creatures, animals and men alike. But this profound aversion to germ kindred, to the danger of self-fertilization in plants and incestuous relations in animals, in human beings not only dismembers the family group but robs the young being of a powerful shelter and plunges him into social conflicts (Cullen and Newell 1999).
Strong and primitive instincts of this kind admit no exception or qualification. It is incidental to nature’s demands that this organic repulsion happens to turn the youthful individual against all established groupings, including the most imperious of them, society. The idea that genuine criminality may be closely connected with the organic aggressiveness of puberty and is essentially a symptom of the puberty crisis, can be maintained. The blind urge to dislike, to despise, and then to leave the “nest,” this family phobia and this tendency to build up new protective groupings are traits of pubescence. Looking at the idols of youth, Police officers see how naïve and simplified their imaginations are and how they cling to a past which police officers have left behind many hundred years ago (Brownlee, 1998). All human achievement is scorned except a few primary qualities. The highest reputation is earned by “toughness” in whatever form it may materialize, as gangster or as G-man, as “wolf” or as self-exalting saint (Davies et al 1998).
From one point of view critics (Davies et al 1998) regard crime as an expression of the vital severance that nature provides to make room in the emptied nest for new generations and to prevent incest. This process is succeeded by an ersatz tendency to herd together in new groupings for mutual protection. These wild associations, while giving some degree of protection, simultaneously plunge the young being into new dangers. To define the complex situation in a few words, human evolution pursues the path of increasing socialization. One of the main factors in society is the protective function of the intact family group.
Yet life during puberty demands something totally different. It asks for dispersion, for release from family guardianship. Far from replacing the parental custody, the substitutes engender new social perils. In this fated conflict youth is both battlefield and victim. Closely related to the disorders of puberty is the growth crisis of the young being. Critics (Davies et al 1998) have two exact standards here, stature and weight. But exactly as weight measurements betray the destructive processes that go on in a psychosis, these rough physical manifestations conceal the most complicated internal transformations. The biological problem of youth is not yet exhausted by pointing at the two great crises of puberty and growth. There is in addition a functional crisis. This third crisis dominates the actions of the youth and is therefore directly connected with his delinquency. Guidance switches from the family to the gang, the movies, and other cheap transmitters of practical wisdom. Yet these substitutes are poor helpers when real physical or social danger must be faced. And even if the family remains together with shaken moral foundations, it may happen that the father, by clinging to his standards, may drive the adolescent into delinquency. Age gives each group a specific economic value. The baby is a liability, as may be the grandfather. The male of the age group twenty to forty, if healthy and skilled, has the greatest economic worth; he is the last to be fired in periods of depression. The youngster is still in the unproductive phase of training or, if employed, is paid less than the adult, since he lacks the skill or the reliability for which people pay highly in an adult. This economic inferiority is in strange contrast to the number and the intensity of his desires. No wonder that instead of resigning or postponing the fulfillment of his wishes this age group resorts to criminal methods. There is factually no other alternative, since even by the most diligent work he is not able to arrive at a legal satisfaction of his urges. Economically handicapped, the choice lies between foregoing or delinquency. Many youngsters, although making some money, either have to give it up to their parents or feel compelled to assist their family, perhaps a widowed mother who is unable to provide alone for half a dozen children (Davies et al 1998). The section of the population fifty years and older is incessantly increasing in relative magnitude. An obsolescence of the population structure affects group life, economics, and in the long run even philosophy. It is not correct to study that period of life when the aged individual is completely impaired in locomotion and muscular reactions, let us say the age of seventy and more. It is important to include the time of transition, when the first slight changes are felt but the body is still able to follow the impulses of the aging brain. It is probable that the very old and decrepit men are not easily reported and that their cases are frequently dismissed, since it is felt that punishment is not the right sort of treatment in these extreme cases. Looking, however, at fifty years of age and over, certain tendencies can be watched and certain conclusions can be drawn (Fagin 2006).
Older Age
The criminality of the older man resembles in many ways that of the woman. He is the instigator, or he commits crimes in which craftiness or the use of physical or chemical forces plays a role. At the same time, feeling that the normal methods of defeating a competitor are not any longer at his disposal, the older man falls back on primitive means of violence. Even the weak can use force if he chooses a weaker object, a woman or a child, or if he turns to strength-saving devices, weapons, poison, and deceit. Arson is one of the crimes with a high old-age rate. The prison sex criminal, therefore, is not “the” sex criminal, but a rather insignificant residual after simple discharges, suspended sentences, fine, or jail sentence have done their eliminating work. The prison sex criminal, therefore, is not “the” sex criminal, but a rather insignificant residual after simple discharges, suspended sentences, fine, or jail sentence have done their eliminating work (Fagin 2006).
The reason for the increased rate of sex crimes in older individuals is purely biological, but little studied in this country. Contributory factors are poor housing conditions and an irregular structure of the population by sexes and by age groups. One of the main protective mechanisms, spatial distance, is often reduced in family life or in crowded housing conditions with roomers who represent pseudo family members and economic forces (Fagin 2006). The significance of old age in other respects can only be indicated. Old age fills the ranks of the victim in many criminal activities just as youth does. Old men and women, because of their venerable appearance and their deficient memory for recent events, are dangerous and dubious witnesses. Old-age criminality is instructive from another point of view. By presenting sex criminals who were honest and decent men all their earlier life and by presenting a reforming process without reformer, it allows us a profound insight into the origin of crime. The numerical weight of the older age group is increasing; criminological interest must keep pace with this biological phenomenon (Shils et al 2001).
Conclusion
The research shows that gender, age and race have only particle impact on crime. Social and economic issues are more important factors of social disobedience and crime. By criminal justice system, crowd influence must be considered in determining whether The crowd influence need not be gang loyalty or group cohesion, it may be simply friendship, or love, or urge for recognition. Group life, like many other things, is double-actioned in social value. It is a tremendous socializing force, a form of banding together, offensively and defensively. That this protective device has its dark side is obvious. It is a multiplier of the leader’s qualities; a sound instrument of survival for the weaker as long as the group leader is equal to the task of common preservation, a deadly contrivance when following the leader means following him into extinction.
References
Bowling, B. and Phillips, C. (2002). Racism, Crime an Justice, Harlow: Longman.
Brownlee, I. (1998). Community Punishment: A Critical Introduction, Harlow: Longman.
Cavadino, M. and Dignan, J. (2002). The Penal System: An Introduction, 3rd edn, London: Sage.
Croall, H. (2001). Understanding White Collar Crime, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Cullen, E. and Newell, T. (1999). Murderers and Life Imprisonment: Containment, Treatment, Safety and Risk, Winchester: Waterside Press.
Davies, H., Croall, H. and Tyrer, J. (1998). Criminal Justice, 2nd edn, Harlow: Longman.
Dobash, R. P. and Dobash, R. E. (1998). Rethinking Violence Against Women, London: Sage.
Faulkner, D. (2001). Crime, State and Citizen: A Field Full of Folk, Winchester: Waterside Press.
Fagin, J. A. (2006). Criminal Justice. Allyn & Bacon; 2 edition.
Hudson, B. (2003). Understanding Justice: An Introduction to Ideas, Perspectives and Controversies in Modern Penal Theory, 2nd edn, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Levin, J., McDevitt, J. (2001). Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed. Westview Press.
Shils, E. et al. (2001). Toward a General Theory of Action: Theoretical Foundations for the Social Sciences. Transaction Publishers; Abridged edition.
Citizens in virtually all countries depend on the media to access information concerning a crime. Critics of the media believe that journalists often exaggerate the levels of crime. However, supporters of the media believe that journalists play an integral role in the fight against crime. This paper will discuss the effect of the media on the relationship between the criminal justice system and the community. It will focus on crime policies and awareness. The influence of the media on the community’s perception of the effectiveness of police, courts, and correctional facilities will also be discussed.
Crime Awareness
The media has a great influence on crime awareness at the community level (Fox, Sickel, and Steiger 9-15). In the last five decades, the number of journalists who specialize in crime issues increased significantly. High profile or extremely violent crime cases tend to be the priority of news reports. This has always created the impression that the level of crime is much higher than indicated in official statistics. Overemphasizing some types of crime negatively affects the relationship between law enforcement officers and the community by creating the perception that the former has failed to protect the public.
The media can also improve the relationship between the community and law enforcement officers by participating in crime prevention. Journalists may uncover overlooked crimes such as domestic violence (Kinlay 71-83). Moreover, they can provide vital information to the public concerning self-protection through reality shows, social media, and movies. This includes encouraging the community to report a crime (Fox, Sickel, and Steiger 25-30). By providing information concerning crime issues, the media can improve transparency and accountability in the criminal justice system. As a result, the level of crime is likely to reduce, thereby improving the relationship between the community and the criminal justice system.
Crime Prevention Policies
Media content is always determined by economic and marketing objectives that regularly supersede traditional journalistic procedures for determining newsworthiness. Newspapers, TV, and radio stations normally adjust stories or news about crime and violence to satisfy the perceived public demand and advertising objectives (Beale 397-476). The rationale of this strategy is that emphasizing crime stories is a cost-effective method that media companies use to attract public attention to increase their market share.
Market-driven news is capable of skewing public opinion concerning the effectiveness of the laws that have been enacted to prevent crime. It allows the media to use crime as an important criterion for evaluating political leaders. Exaggerated media reports increase public concern about crime and violence by making people believe that they are vulnerable to criminal activities (Kinlay 71-83). This has led to the adoption of punitive crime prevention policies. These include long sentences, death sentences, and treating juveniles as adults.
Punitive policies have a negative effect on the relationship between the community and courts. The community always resists actions such as a denial of bail and imprisoning juveniles for several years. Moreover, witnesses may refuse to testify in court in a bid to protect the accused from excessive punishment (Kinlay 71-83). The relationship between the community and the police is also likely to deteriorate. For instance, the police might obtain court orders to conduct indiscriminate search and seizure, which is likely to hurt the innocent.
Effectiveness of the Police
The media can influence the public to develop a positive or negative attitude towards the police. In movies, police effectiveness is often overdramatized and romanticized. Nearly all crimes in movies are resolved by the police or investigators. Moreover, criminals are always arrested and punished for their actions. This depicts law enforcement officers as heroes and professionals who are capable of eliminating crime.
The police and the media have a symbiotic relationship (Fox, Sickel, and Steiger 85). The media mainly depend on the police to access reliable information about the crime. Police officers, on the other hand, depend on the media to protect their image by overstating the number of resolved crimes. Positive media portrayal has enabled the police to pacify the public to accept increased surveillance and use of force during the investigation.
In countries where the media and the government have a poor relationship, journalists tend to portray the police as ineffective officers. This involves emphasizing malpractices, such as accepting bribes and harassment by the police (Beale 397-476). The media also ignores the efforts made to apprehend offenders to create the perception that law enforcement officers are ineffective. In this context, the media creates mistrust between the community and law enforcement officers. For instance, individuals are not likely to report a crime if they are expected to bribe the police to get assistance.
Effectiveness of Courts
Court proceedings usually take a long time to be concluded. TV and radio stations cannot afford to allocate adequate airtime to court proceedings since they have to fulfill their entertainment and advertising objectives. Journalists tend to summarize court conclusions without telling the public how judges reached their decision. This means that the community is not likely to believe that justice was done if they depend on media reports rather than the full court proceeding (Kinlay 71-83). For instance, people are likely to be dissatisfied if they hear that a murder suspect has been released.
However, the release might be fair if the court fails to find adequate evidence to punish the suspect. In this respect, reliance on media reports can significantly decrease the faith of the community in courts. Individuals are likely to withhold evidence, fail to report a crime, and resort to self-defense if they do not believe in courts. This lack of cooperation can significantly jeopardize the functions of courts and law enforcement officers.
Correctional Facilities
The community is likely to support correctional facilities if the media depicts them as effective institutions that discourage deviant behavior. Nevertheless, the media always focus on the oppression, poor hygiene, and violence in jails. The public believes that jails should not exist because the media depicts them as oppressive institutions (Fox, Sickel, and Steiger 104). This has led to a poor relationship between the community and correctional facilities. For instance, individuals often resist attempts made by the government to construct more prisons. Moreover, the community hardly supports prisons through monetary contributions.
Conclusion
The media plays a key role in informing the community about criminal activities. This role has enabled the media to influence the relationship between the community and the criminal justice system. The community is likely to cooperate with law enforcement officers if the media depicts them as effective professionals. Similarly, the community is likely to trust courts and correctional facilities if the media portrays them as institutions that ensure justice. Therefore, the media should focus on fair and transparent reporting to improve the relationship between the criminal justice system and the community.
Works Cited
Beale, Sara. “The News Media’s Influence on Criminal Justice Policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness.” Law Review 48.2 (2006): 397-476. Print.
Fox, Richard, Robert Sickel and Thomas Steiger. Criminal Justice in an Age of Media Frenzy, Sydney: Murdoch University Press, 2007. Print.
Kinlay, Alicia. “Televised Court Proceedings: The Relationship between the Media, Punitive Public Perceptions, and Populist Policy.” Flinders Journal of History and Politics 26.4 (2010): 71-83. Print.
The criminal justice department is one sector of public administration that has had to go through a period of transformation as far as the usage of technology in the fulfillment of its role to the public. The changes in this regard have been informed by the fact that over the years criminals have improved the ways in which they conduct their business to further become technology-savvy.
This essay seeks to illustrate the evolution of technology in the criminal justice department. To this end, various forms of literature shall be consulted in order to provide a proper groundwork for the discussion. Proper exemplification shall be provided from the different time-frames of the evolution and its relevance with today’s practices in the criminal justice department illustrated.
Development of the criminal justice department and the role of technology in the development
The development of the criminal justice department has been divided into three main eras depending on the relationship between various stakeholders and the public security authorities (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). These two categories are the political, professional eras and the community policing era.
The political era
This was a period of 80 years spanning from 1840 to 1920 (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). The era was named ‘political’ because of the links between the criminal justice and the political class. In this area, administration officers particularly the police started incorporating new technological components in their duties (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). These were the gun and the bludgeon. The two weapons have been retained in the force to date albeit with vast improvements.
During this period, changes happened in the communication aspects of the criminal justice department. This was notable through the 1870s usage of the telephone in easy dispersion of messages from one center to another as well as the setting up of police telephone booths in the following decade (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). Fingerprinting technologies were incepted and were incorporated in investigative procedures.
The professional model era
This was the period between 1920 and 1970. In this period reforms took place to ensure that all state agencies were separated from the influence of politicians (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). This was with the aim of instilling professionalism within the department. Technology found a role in this regard with the usage of the polygraph lie detector (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). Crime laboratories were established in various states which served to train in the elements of fingerprint and handwriting classification.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation established a professional investigative laboratory which was well equipped with state of art forensic equipment (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). By the 1930s the police force and other state agencies tasked with the role of implementing law and order had fully embraced the usage of motor vehicles and communication using two-way radios (Muraskin and Robert, 2002).
Going into the 1940s radar speed monitoring systems were developed and they found early usage by the traffic department. In 1960s, the federal government started advocating for the implementation of new technologies within the police force (Muraskin and Robert, 2002). These reforms were particularly started in 1964 after president Lyndon B. Johnson assigned the Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice the role of investigating the particular needs by law enforcement agencies in fulfilling their duties properly.
The commission came out with a report that provided over two hundred recommendations, of which eleven were touching on police technology. One of these recommendations was that it was necessary for the criminal justice department to embrace computer technology as part of its modernization strategy (Pattavina, 2005).
Immediate steps were taken by the Johnson government to address the issues raised and within a few years hundreds of millions of dollars were invested into the upgrade of existing state and local federal agency technologies. The embrace of technology was gradual but by the early 1990s over half of all police departments in t country were using computers (Muraskin and Robert, 2002).
Even more interesting is that by this time computers were now being regarded as useful tools in performing all departmental duties including investigation and crime analysis aside from the record keeping functionalities of the systems (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). Computer-mediated information databases particularly found prominence with the advent of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
The NCIC stored records of all criminal activities in such a way that easy access was granted in the process of conducting an investigation (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). Computers also played a critical role in the establishment of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) which played the role of locating the identities of all persons within huge interlinked databases (Muraskin and Robert, 2002).
The community policing era
Having started in the 1970s, this is the newest of all the criminal justice technology development eras and it covers current reforms in the field (Maguire and Radosh, 1996). The advent of community policing called for the installation of proper systems to facilitate the communication between members of the public and the administrative authorities. Some of the introductions made include the establishment of an online system for reporting offenses (Pattavina, 2005).
This system has been well embraced by members of the public mainly because of the anonymity it accords individuals reporting criminal activities. The police department has also started using a computer-mediated dispatch system which hastens the process of attending to calls of public distress (Pattavina, 2005).
A decade ago, the sheriff’s office at Pinellas County in Florida had a very weak information systems that was made of a number of independent databases all operating at the same time but with each only capable of doing a certain number of functions. Operations within the department were however happening at a very slow pace owing to the administrative challenges that were linked to these inefficient systems. With recent system modifications the institution has grown to be one of the displays of efficiency within the country.
All the databases have now been linked together and average time taken in the process of searching for information has been reduced from over half an hour to less than ten minutes. Consequently, the criminal justice officers in the region now have enough time to do their field duties.
The future of criminal justice technology
For most institutions a constant review of its technological systems and upgrading to suit the current industry standards is advisable provide the organization can afford the changes. The criminal justice department is one organization which requires the best technologies particularly because of the sensitive nature of the country’s security which falls under its mandate (Muraskin and Robert, 2002).
The police and the security agents need to work on ways of improving and maximizing the impact of all the programs that they establish; most of which are aimed at reducing the time taken to respond to distress calls and increase the speed with which information can be transmitted from one region to another (Pattavina, 2005).
Unfortunately, the installment of the new systems comes with a hefty financial burden on the institution. However, weighing the benefits against the expenses shows that benefits greatly outweigh the challenges that come with the initial investment.
It has also been noted that very little effort and resources have been committed to the function of creating public awareness. Individuals have also complained of complexities being associated with new technological acquisitions (Muraskin and Robert, 2002). It is therefore imperative that in future proper consideration be accorded to the function of ensuring that newly installed technologies completely serve the purpose for which they were acquired. This can only be achieved through committing of funds to public education.
Advances in computer and communication technologies have brought in new changes in the way that criminals conduct their activities. For instance in recent days drug traffickers have obtained communication devices that cannot be tapped into using the devices owned by law enforcement agencies (Muraskin and Robert, 2002). In the future more changes need to be made as pertains to the technologies at the disposal of criminal justice authorities in order to ensure that they can appropriately deal with their adversaries.
Conclusion
Changes in technology are among the few elements that impact on the efficiency of institutions which if not well embraced may result in the downfall entire organizations. This is even more so for the criminal justice department which if faced with some small amount of laxity results in irreversible security issues such the deaths of innocent citizens and the failure of criminals to face justice.
This essay has served to illustrate how the United Criminal Justice Department has incorporated newer elements of technology in the period spanning from 1840 to current times. It has been noted that this is one of the public sector that took to technological changes at a very slow rate, sometimes taking the intervention of politicians to appreciate the importance of these changes. However, research has helped find out that with the entry of the 21st century, the department has made headway as far as leading other institutions in updating the technologies they use.
Reference List
Maguire, B. & Radosh, P.F. (1996).The Past, Present, and Future of American Criminal Justice. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield
Muraskin, R. & Robert, A.R. (2002).Visions for change: crime and justice in the twenty-first century. Sage: Prentice Hall
Pattavina, A. (2005). Information technology and the criminal justice system. California: SAGE