Category: Criminal Justice

Abstract

This research proposal looks to further investigate the deep racial profiling that is present in law enforcement officers and to articulate and explain what these individuals that are being racially profiled go through. These racially profiled individuals range from African American males, Hispanics, and all the way to individuals from Asian background. Learning about this is very important due to the nature of how common it is. This proposal reviews 3 scholarly articles and aims to explain the research that has been brought forth to help understand the racial biases going on in our criminal justice system in this day and age. This proposal aims to understand the types of racial profiling that are experienced by minorities by our criminal justice officials.

Review of Relevant Literature

Researchers have consistently highlighted black and white differences in attitudes toward the police and documented the perception of police misconduct in some African-American areas, in particular disadvantaged neighborhoods, where forceful police strategies are at times aggressively employed (Martinez, 2007). In this essay Stewart focuses on the broader implications of Brunson’s findings and on what the findings mean for police–community relations (Stewart, 2007). Several studies have shown that African Americans are more likely than whites to believe that minorities receive harsh, unequal, and discriminatory treatment by the criminal justice system (Stewart, 2007) When individuals perceive that they are being treated unfairly, they are likely to express less support for the procedural justice process, leading to negative evaluations of the criminal justice system, negative interactions with its agents, and possibly secondary deviance (Stewart, 2007). This research shows why individuals feel the way they do about the criminal justice system and its officials due to the fact that they feel like they are not being treated fairly and are being discriminated against. There are many ways that one could obtain vicarious information. For example, one may directly observe someone being mistreated by the police or indirectly learn from family or friends (Stewart, 2007).

Furthermore, one may also learn of police mistreatment by various forms of media outlets (Stewart, 2007). Martinez explains that there are many ways minorities learn from there interactions with law enforcement officials and the way they are treated, but what is concerning is whether individuals learn more from what they observe in person in or any social media outlet, or from what their family member could share with them about how they are mistreated in society by any law enforcement agent (Stewart, 2007). Martinez refers to the qualitative research approach which allows researchers to measure the various sources of negative vicarious police experiences and understand the meaning one attaches to these experiences, which is what Brunson’s (2007) study does, which is the research Martinez was referring to (Martinez, 2007).

Brunson had examined in-depth interviews of 40 African-American adolescent males who resided in a disadvantaged urban neighborhood in St. Louis to better understand their experiences with the police (Stewart, 2007). A major focus of the study was to develop a “detailed understanding” of how these African-American adolescent males interpret their interactions with the police, as well as the interactions of family members, friends, and neighbors, and to assess how these experiences shape their perceptions of the police (Stewart, 2007). These types of interactions with law enforcement officials with minority groups at an early age can either reinforce or debunk the idea that law enforcement agents mistreat minorities as opposed white Americans.

The findings suggest that either direct or indirect mistreatment by the police led to negative evaluations by the participants (Stewart, 2007). For example, about 83% of the study participants reported being harassed and treated unfairly by the police, whereas over 90% of the participants noted that they knew of someone who had been mistreated by the police (Stewart, 2007). Like it was mentioned before, minorities are either victims of this racially motivated profiling or know of someone that has experienced these acts first hand. These numbers are extremely high and indicate that among these adolescents, police mistreatment is common (Stewart, 2007).

Overall, the findings suggest that direct negative experiences with the police, as well as learning of others’ negative experiences with the police and indirect experiences, accumulate to the point that they begin to undermine individuals’ trust and cooperation with the police (Stewart, 2007). Hearing about these racially motivated acts can affect and change a minorities impression of police officers, especially now in this day and age where everything and anything is recorded of and put on social media to be viewed by thousands, sometimes even millions of people, to see and digest. Having social media capture all the bad moments that minorities encounter with law enforcement officials further proves the fact that police in fact aren’t treating minorities correctly. As noted, there are racial differences in how African-Americans and whites view the criminal justice system in terms of fairness (Stewart, 2007).

Although race is one of the most salient predictors of perceptions and attitudes toward the police, researchers have also noted that attitudes toward the police may be a function of neighborhood context (Stewart, 2007). Race comes into play when there is any interaction between minorities and law enforcement officials as minorities have a distorted way of looking at police officers and anything they do to them as racially motivated. Having this distorted view does not help the police officers that aren’t being racially biased, but instead hurts them as minorities may look for some type of way to make the interaction racially motivated. Because many residents of structurally disadvantaged neighborhoods feel estranged from formal institutions, they may lack the social and/or political capital to engage law enforcement in order to address various problems within their neighborhood (Stewart, 2007).

Often, the police may view these structurally depressed neighborhoods as crime-prone ecological units (Martinez, 2007). In these structurally distressed and disadvantaged areas where violence is common, residents distrust and lack faith in the criminal justice system (Stewart, 2007). Several studies have found that residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods often complain of dissatisfaction with the police, inadequate police protection, and police abuse, with the consequence being strained relationships between residents and legal authorities (Stewart, 2007). Having police officers view minority neighborhoods in such a way doesn’t help the racially motivated treatment as law enforcement officials are people and people tend to associate these problematic neighborhoods with minorities which also distorts the way that law enforcement sees minorities

References

1. STEWART, E. A. (2007). Either They Don’t Know or They Don’t Care: Black Males and Negative Police Experiences. Criminology & Public Policy, 6(1), 123–130. MARTÍNEZ, R. (2007). Incorporating Latinos and Immigrants into Policing Research. Criminology & Public Policy, 6(1), 57–64

Summary

The study A Model of School Violence Prevention article by Martha Frias-Armenta et al explores the alternative approaches to punishment in Mexican schools for bullying. The evidence was provided that that 43.2% of staff members that worked within Mexico’s educational reported their involvement in different types of school bullying within their institution. 1.3 million Middle school and high school adolescences reported in a poll that they had been subjected to some form of abuse or harassment from there other peers. Mexican school reported forbidden activities within the school premises such as the sale of illegal substances and underage alcohol consumption between students. Gangs were also reported to be prevalent and subjecting others to a negative impact on their educational environment. Staff were reliant on school procedures such as parental meetings, exclusion from study sessions or a suspension from school activity programs. Occasionally when cases were severe involvement was called from law enforcements to assist with reckless behavior. The international survey on Teaching and Learning (TALIS) presented that alongside students’ academic staff members were also affected which effected the educational authorities.

The aim of the study is to focus on the different types of ways to restore relationships between pupils. Mexican government introduced a school restorative justice program called the National Program for Social Prevention of Violence and Delinquency. An independent mediator was enrolled to facilitate meetings to repair damage between victims of bullying and the offender. There were government documents that outlined student disciplinary procedure Agreement 97 and agreement 98. Agreement 97 stated that punishment ought to be constructive and formative without risk of having negative impact on student’s personalities. This was despite previous mention of allowing for exclusion from school for a maximum of 8 days. It was stated in Agreement 98 that sanctions should be of a nature that included contacting parents, analysis individual files and subjecting students from isolation from school activities.

It was concluded in the paper that introducing restorative justice within the Mexican schools would enable those responsible for mistreatment to understand the implications their actions had and to acknowledge their responsibility to take steps to correct this behavior. In reference to the cited paper ‘Young Offenders speak about meeting their victims: Implications for future programs’ by LS Abrahams et al concluded that participants would then be able to see the emotional consequences and focus on changing their behavior. All members involved gave permission and was involved voluntarily.

Suspension was reduced due to the implementation of the restorative programs and academic performances were reduced with a safer school environment. This effected the wider communities as disputes were no longer happening outside of school in the local areas. This contradicts the government’s suggestion that the community was not considered as there was still gang members within their educational system. The process is supposed to enable the wrongdoer to fit into the community and fulfil their emotive and social desires. The study confidently explicates that the restorative Justice program applied a level of respect amongst students and teachers as they implied the restorative justice to their student syllabus. While by tradition they are used in schools it is not restricted and can be applied in the community, workplaces and jails to help resolve conflict. An influence on this paper was The cart before the horse; The challenge and promise of restorative justice consultation in schools. Journal of educational and Psychological Consultation by Songs et el.

Literature Review

This literature review will observe whether recent research displays restorative justice to be effective in youth offenders. Restorative justice contains three partakers: victims, youth offenders and community. The use of restorative justice applications have been an cumulative area within the youth justice system, predominantly in England and Wales where support has been received by the Youth Justice Board. There has been evidence of progressive results relating to the application of restorative justice practices. These are inclusive of victim and offender gratification, and offenders recognising an improved logic of control over their future behaviour.

Youth restorative Justice can be practiced in three different ways. Youth offending panels, restorative conferencing and police led restorative cautioning. It can be argued that a youth offenders reasons for crime committing, comprehension of breaking the law, and the consequences their subjective and emotional development partakes in their capability to make choices around their conduct will not be the same as an adult who commits an offence. The process of restorative justice is inarticulate, youth are placed in an environment which consists of a facilitator and often a d group of adults whom are educated or verbally skilled. This could put pressure on the offender to communicate in a way that’s meaningful to adults. As youth offenders may already have low levels of education and behavioral issues, these risk factors will contribute to poor language and communication skills (Riley and Hayes, 2017).

It is also deemed restorative justice for youth offenders is deemed as a positive feature. They would not need to be located in jail. They would not also need to be removed from their own communities, decreasing the probabilities of them reoffending. Some youth offenders appreciate the discretion of restorative meetings, as the panel are not able to discuss the content of meetings externally of the panel. Another advantage found is that it’s a good opportunity for early intervention. Contradictory of Riley and Hayes is the importance of coming face to face with their victim and a panel of inviting but unacquainted strangers gives the youth offender a perception that their wrong is not accepted and will not be tolerated.

A critic of restorative justice is that youth offenders believe that restorative justice may only work for less serious offenders. There are also concerns that restorative justice programs may only work for minor youth offenders and not for violent crime. As youth tend to commit less crime than adults it is considered that restorative justice is more effective with youth offenders as the nature of their crimes tend to be less serious and able to be dealt with by less formal responses to crime. With this in hindsight it can be considered that cases such as murder or domestic violence would not be effective as it may cause more emotional trauma for the victim facing their perpetrator. Considering this and the success rate of restorative justice restorative justice should not always be excluded from particular types of crime and should be done on the victims request and with a higher level of risk assessment. This is argued by woman’s aid who suggested that due to domestic abuse having an long term effect on victims it can be potentially harming having the victim feel re-victimised. In contracts to International Restorative Justice programs, New Zealand responds to crimes such as rape with restorative justice programs for their youth

In whichever form it takes, the advocates of restorative justice for youth have over the time, voiced an amount of claims concerning the effectiveness of restorative justice processes, predominantly claiming a number of constructive results. It is claimed that restorative justice is a win-win method for all participants. Victims, youth offenders and communities are all thought to be at advantage with the service. Victims are directly benefitted through reparation but also because there is the chance for them to describe to the offender the effect of the wrongdoing, a method that can support healing. Communities benefit by a reduction in crime levels, as restorative justice is meant to decrease reoffending rates. As a final point, youth offenders are at beneficial to the service as they are more likely not to reoffend and are then able to maintain law abiding lives. These benefits for restorative justice are questioned, if systems are applied in a manner that it not correct to the ethos of restorative justice but are rather tainted by other ethos (van Stokkom, 2015).

Restorative conferencing has strong influences to Braithwaite’s theory of reintegrative shaming. According the Braithwaite there are two forms of shaming. When a particulars behavior is labeled criminal they become socially excluded. The theory of reintegrative shaming has focus on forgiveness and repentance, this idea plays on a person’s conscientiousness in the hope that a relationship of respect is built (Bolitho, 2011).

It is evident that it is not the reintergrative shaming phase that leads to accomplishment in restorative justice, perhaps merely the positive emotive power of the procedures, and that this leads the specific to search for more, alike, experiences. Mediation and reparation has been used between offenders and victims in the UK since the 1970s. Together with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998and the Youth Justice and criminal Evidence Act 1999 the introduction of restorative justice was introduced as a response to juvenile offending.

There is robust evidence that supports the benefits of restorative justice system. The past two decades has seen an undisputed success in the criminal justice system in youth justice. There has been a fallen figure of youth being presented to the youth justice system and the number of youth serving custodial sentences has plummeted. Subsequently there has been a suppression in cautions and sentences by 82% in the past ten years applying to the number of youth (Devlin & O’Mahony, 2006).

Given that restorative justice is not restricted to a particular type of offence it provides the opportunity to divert young people from the criminal justice system when they have displayed antisocial behavior and committed minor offences. By diverting offenders from the criminal justice system and into restorative justice statistics show that it contributes to a lesser level of offending and saves considerable amounts of money. In 2008 a report published by Joanna Shaplands revealed that every £1 spent on restorative justice saves the criminal justice system £8. Shapland report also concluded that although funds were saved it did not directly have an impact on the value for money in terms of reduced reconviction. Dr Theo Gaurielides argued that more research should be conducted looking at the types of crime committed when undertaking restorative justice procedures (McIvor, 2013).

The early justice system involved restorative justice in police stations where cautioning was used as a punishment to crime and youth offending. It is now becoming increasingly popular to use restorative justice in courtrooms in the UK.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 prepared provision for restorative justice as part of a Supervision and Activity Requirement. This permits restorative justice to form a portion of an community order. The Criminal Justice Act has been amended to The Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, revoking the Supervision and Activity Requirement and changing them with a solo original Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. The Rehabilitation Activity Requirement gives better flexibility for those providing probationary services to determine the rehabilitative schemes provided to offenders. In December 2013 the Crime and Courts Act 2013 came in to effect, providing judges the power to defer giving a sentence in order for restorative justice to proceed with the participation from all parties. The court are also able to adjourn cases, and in some cases may consider it appropriate to do, to facilitate facilitate restorative justice procedures.

The Crown and Courts Act introduction ensures that restorative justice is accessible at the entire steps of the criminal justice system for the first time in the UK. The criminal justice system imposed that an offender must mandatory complete restorative justice is served as part of their punitive outcome in court. Restorative Justice within the criminal justice system is apparent at all stages but should not affect the sentence in which he/she receives. If a juvenile is before the court it is up to the sentencing court to decide what weight of participation the offender must contribute to when sentencing.

The courts may impose one of the following types of restorative practices. A circle meeting known as a victim/offender conference which will involve many people such as a trained facilitator, family members or supporters of the victim/offender. The meeting can also be attended by professionals such as social workers. This meeting will outline steps to reparation. When members of the public have been affected then a community conference type restorative meeting is held with those affected by a particular crime or offender. A community conference is facilitated the same as a victim/offender conference but differs due to the amount of people involved. Another form that may be imposed by the court is a shuttle restorative justice meeting. The involvement of a trained facilitator carefully relies messaged between the victim and offenders who do not meet in person. This may be via a recorded video, voice recording or written. This stage may lead to a circle type meeting in the future.

Using Restorative Justice in the criminal justice system has helped victims move on in their lives and given offenders the tools to turn their life from negative to positive. Giving them the opportunity to hear the impact of their crimes from their victims and take responsibility. Restorative justice is essentially committed to putting victims at the forefront of the criminal justice system, in order to have their say and reflect upon the experience they encountered, assisting the criminal justice system in the reduction of crime within the United Kingdom. Recent restorative justice strategies include introducing more restorative justice processes into the criminal justice system such as we’ve introduced restorative police cautioning , as well as aspiring to offer 75% of all victims of youth crime participation in restorative processes. Restorative justice also looks to develop an evidence headquarters for the use of restorative justice through funding a number of pilots on topics like the relationship between restorative justice and prevention of re-offending, in addition to developing and introducing constructive, practical and valuable guidelines for people working in restorative justice (Devlin & O’Mahony, 2006).

Bibliography

1. Riley, M., & Hayes, H. (2017). Youth restorative justice conferencing: facilitator’s language – help or hindrance?. Contemporary Justice Review, 21(1), 99-113. doi: 10.1080/10282580.2017.1413358 (Riley & Hayes, 2017).
2. Devlin, R., & O’Mahony, D. (2006). Restorative youth conferencing: involving victims in criminal justice. Criminal Justice Matters, 64(1), 18-47. doi: 10.1080/09627250608553183 (Devlin & O’Mahony, 2006)
3. Maglione, G. (2016). Embodied victims: An archaeology of the ‘ideal victim’ of restorative justice. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 17(4), 401-417. doi: 10.1177/1748895816677172 (Maglione, 2016)
4. Bolitho, J. (2011). Restorative Justice: The Ideals and Realities of Conferencing for Young People. Critical Criminology, 20(1), 61-78. doi: 10.1007/s10612-011-9150-z (Bolitho, 2011)
5. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/774866/youth_justice_statistics_bulletin_2017_2018.pdf
6. van Stokkom, B. (2015). Just emotions: rituals of restorative justice. Restorative Justice, 3(2), 303-306. doi: 10.1080/20504721.2015.1069541 (van Stokkom, 2015)
7. McIvor, G. (2013). Joanna Shapland, Gwen Robinson and Angela Sorsby,Restorative justice in practice: evaluating what works for victims and offenders. Restorative Justice, 1(1), 154-157. doi: 10.5235/20504721.1.1.154

Part 1: Compare and contrast the due process and power models of criminal justice. Illustrate your answer with examples and evidence from the module materials. Word Count:

This essay will explore two models of criminal justice, the due process and power; explaining the similarities and differences between them.

The due process is a model that prioritizes the individual suspect, it is a requirement that legal matters should be a fair application of the law before a conviction is to be secured. The power model of criminal justice takes into account that while a conviction usually follows the law and due process the individual suspect may have circumstances or vulnerabilities, this model emphasizes the differences in power between suspects and communities.

There are vast differences in the two models of criminal justice, when dealing with a child offender the due process model is a more methodical set of rules that should be followed to gain a conviction, whereas the power model brings into account the vastly disproportionate amount of BAME community prisoners and the social and political influences on youth.

An important example when comparing the two models is the case of the James Bulger murders. The murder of two year old James Bulger by two ten year old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables was a widely publicized case and trail, this was because the legal age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years old, due to this the two boys were tried in an adult court. In this case the due process model was argued to be served because of the presence of the two boys in court, the two boys sat through the witness statements, cross examination and formal evidence with the trail lasting 3 weeks. They were found guilty at the Preston court on 24 November 1993 and became the youngest convicted murderers of the 20th century. This case is important in comparing the power and due process models of criminal justice because the legal age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is far younger than the rest of the world and the youngest in Europe, an argument is that if this case had happened in another country with a higher age then it may have turned out differently. The power model of criminal justice would have taken into account the children’s age and consequential mental development during the trail, asking the question if the child really knew what he was doing was wrong. Legal areas in the trail were brought into question by the European Court of Human Rights, a due process breach was found because Thompson and Venables were tried in an adult court but were too young to understand the meaning of a trail, leading to an unfair trail. “As a result of the ECHR ruling, Thompson and Venables were released from prison under license in 2001, aged 18, with new identities.” (The Open University, 2019)

A proposed similarity between the two models is the perception of fair treatment. Due process is found to be fair because it follows the legal requirements and laws of the country precisely so that the trail is seen to be fair to every individuals’ rights. Whereas with the power model fair treatment is seen as the consideration of the individual’s circumstances and background. The due process model can be described as having less faith in criminal agencies like the police, putting more in the sentencing system. This protects the individual from any corrupt or dishonest policing procedures. This is similar to the power models way of protecting the individual from a difference in power, such as the police using stereotypes on minorities who then face police investigation.

However, the perceived fair treatment of the two models contradict each other, this is because the power model isn’t a methodical way of getting a fair trial, suggesting an individual might be being pressured by a power imbalance of the state law. The power model serves to expose the criminal justice and due process model “as a means of controlling people of certain social backgrounds to maintain existing social inequalities.” (The Open University, 2019) The power model in use brings up the Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities being a disproportionately large number of prisoners and children’s rights, this is not brought into consideration when due process is followed.

These two models of criminal justice share similarities when protecting the individual’s rights but share more differences. The process of both models opposes each other, the power model brings into question outside factors and the victims background to achieve a fair trial whereas the due process puts all faith in the sentencing system to achieve a fair conviction that abides by the countries rules and the individual’s rights.

Part 2: Reflect on the entries in your portfolio and identify two skills you have developed on DD105, giving examples of how you have used them. How might these skills be useful in your future study, personal development and/or career path? Word Count:200

One skill developed during studies are digital literacy skills, these include searching and researching on the internet when planning and writing an assignment. I have improved on this skill during DD105 and it has helped me to achieve higher marks on my TMA work, an example of this in use is my research during TMA 4. I had not written in the style of a blog and needed to use the internet to understand how, I was able to do this effectively and this led to me achieving a higher grade. Another skill developed during DD105 is the ability to use evidence in writing, this skill is important for essay writing and for understanding how to write a convincing argument. An example of my use of this skill is during my TMA 2 essay, I needed to be able to use two examples of corporate harm and discuss in detail the impact of the examples. The ability to gather evidence from module resources helped me to be able to find two solid examples.

These two skills will become helpful in my future studies in further modules, they will serve as a baseline for skills I will develop when completing assignments.

The criminal justice system, which is made up of law enforcement, attorneys, judges, courts of law, and prisons, was created with the intention of protecting the public by prosecuting and jailing, while also providing justice to those accused through defending and sentencing. Unfortunately, the criminal justice system is unable to work properly if members within the society are not provided with accurate and trustworthy knowledge. That being said, video games take a massive toll on the criminal justice system due to the negative attention towards law enforcement and bad influences regarding criminal behaviour within the games. Modern-day media feeds off of true crime and horror related stories. Everyone wants to learn more about the disappearance of others and the function of a serial killer. Video games are a prime example of how the youth of today being introduced to violence at such a young age. Games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto provide the necessary tools for young children to being their distrust towards law enforcement as well as their fascination with criminal behaviour. Video games are designed with the intention of reaching out to impressionable individuals who will open up their wallets, or the wallets of their parents, and payback into the industry.

Violence in video games has caused an uproar of questions, comments, and concerns relating to the mental and physical well being of children and teenagers across the globe. Determining whether or not video games harm developing minds has been a topic of interest for many, especially when it concerns their role in society. As humans, we are all expected to play a certain role in order to maintain harmony in society, a disruption of that peace may result in unnecessary chaos. The introduction of video games, violent video games, has created distrust in communities. This is because more and more people have begun to blame video games as a result of robberies, mass shootings, and other violent youth crimes. “Ultimately, it is not just the popular opinion that drives the fight against video games, but also the scholarly research that examines the connection between video games and violence,” (Foster, 2016). In certain games, the criminal justice system can be seen as a negative addition to the game, members of the criminal justice system are the enemies and the objective is to work your way around them, or even kill them if necessary. The problem in this situation is that violent video games appeared to be giving off the impression that it is okay to disarm and maul a police officer or even highjack a car. While many of the people that play these games are able to differentiate between the game and reality, there is a certain defiance towards law enforcement that can be created.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a prime example of an interactive video game that allows its players to tap into a more aggressive and powerful part of themselves. The objective of the game is to take out a rival game member while attempting to avenge the death of your character. The player has to drive on the streets of Los Santos in a car that their character carjacked, and the main way for them to gain ‘respect’ in the game is by killing cops, robbing stores, and a variety of other illegal acts. There is a certain thrill that comes with playing a violent video game. “Moreover, children of both genders prefer games with violent content. As there is no compulsory legislative standards to limit the type and amount of violence in video games, concerned adults must assume an oversight role,” (Vessey, 2000). Regardless of the content within the game, the violence draws the attention of potential buyers and increases the need to play the game.

Comprehensive Literature Review

Abstract

In the following paper I attempt to discuss the impact of diversity in administration, and how diversity plays a major role in the criminal justice system. I explain that managing diversity is also a key characteristic of having diversity in an organization. While further exploring the qualities of a leader and different leadership styles within an organization, and how these different leaderships adversely affect the different models of the criminal justice system. My paper concludes with the different models of the criminal justice system and how each model affects the community and the communities ability to understand, access and have input in regards to the models of criminal justice.

Diversity in Administration

Diversity is one of the most important characteristics of the criminal justice system today, specifically when it comes to administration. If we take a look at the history of the criminal justice system, we can distinctively identify that only whites were allowed in authority or administration positions in the past. This has dramatically changed within present day criminal justice systems and administration positions. The importance of diversity in administration is that diversity now serves the purpose of being able to reach every corner of a community. When community members look at the people that are leading them or for instance the employees look at the administration that is leading them, they want to see diversity and not just a panel of one race. “Individuals from diverse back- grounds bring a broad range of cultural understandings and language skills to the force. Diversity is also considered a key ingredient for the successful implementation of community-based policing, in which law enforcement agencies col- laborate with citizens’ groups to address public safety issues” (Viverette, 2005).

The ability to which administrations are able to identify themselves with the community or audience they are serving will depend on the diversity from that administration. The ability to connect and identify plays an important role in policing communities, the ability to connect could be the difference between solving a murder or that murder resulting in a case going cold. “In short, the police may be seen as more legitimate and may be better able to partner with community organizations in fighting crime if they more closely resemble and identify with the communities they serve” (Raganella and White, 2004; Scrivner, 2006). Although this quote is speaking directly about police-community relations, the same insight can be applied to a business, a large company or corporation. Administrators will be viewed as more legitimate and may be able to produce more productivity from their employees when they can resemble and identify with their employees.

When there is diversity within administration, the people who are under the care of this administration tend to feel like things are equal or they have the same opportunity as the others around them. “Employees from different backgrounds have different needs and feel the urge to be respected in their workplace. Management needs to understand the need of these diverse groups of people so as to avoid employee tensions and conflicts” (Hill, Stephens & Smith 2003). Administrators of a company want the environment of their workplace to be friendly, comforting, and to not be a hostile place. By achieving this the through diversity, administrators will be also be able to achieve not only diversity in the workplace but also creating a unity within the workplace. Diversity and equal opportunity are two different terms that are often misconstrued. “The term equal opportunities is associated with tolerant, rights based, and is entrenched in conformity of legal rules whereby it is geared towards increasing the proportion of minority and women in senior goals in organization” (Greene & Kirton 2002). This focuses more on the role of race and gender being the sole reason that certain individuals are granted opportunities that others are not. “Diversity management is however, a bit different and is rather focused on organizational initiative whereby organizations focus on valuing difference in addition to non-discrimination and concerns on respecting every individual in the workplace regardless of their race and gender among other variables” (Cornelius, Gooch, & Todd 200).

Effectively implementing diversity is one thing, but effectively managing diversity is another. Administrators can have immense amounts of diversity but if they cannot effectively manage this diversity, then what purpose is the diversity serving? “Effective diversity management requires a culture which is inclusive of a work environment that nurtures teamwork, participation, and cohesiveness” (Roberson & Park 2007). The problem often arises when teamwork, participation, and cohesiveness are not the main priorities of administrators. When the administrators are only worried about production, they will not be able to effectively manage the diversity. When trying to manage diversity, administrators must pay attention to the little details that often go unnoticed in big corporations. How do they expect have productive and diverse employees who are not even happy to come to work? “Managing diversity and equality is equally important as it impacts all the members working in an organization and if it can be properly managed an organization could have the potential to improve productivity, opportunity, and competitiveness” (Moore 1999). Diversity cannot only help an organization tremendously, but when managed incorrectly diversity can most certainly aide in the demise of an organization.

Gilbert and Ivancevich (2000), describe how a multicultural organization’s focused and planned approach to managing diversity and equality helped increase the firm’s competitiveness compared to the pluralist organization where diversity was regarded as a public relations tool and not a core element that created competitive advantage. Diversity has many beneficial effects when managed correctly, while it can vary from age, gender, social status, ethnicity and culture; it is without a doubt the element of diversity is a vital characteristic in the success of any organization. USA focuses more on equality than diversity, organizations want to make sure every individual feels equal, but the case is that diversity will forgo the feeling of inequality because by being diverse organizations are promoting teamwork, unity, and cohesiveness.

Leadership Styles

Just as diversity is an important characteristic in any organization, the different leadership styles implemented by administration are as equally important. “Leadership style is viewed as a combination of different characteristics, traits and behaviors that are used by leaders for interacting with their subordinates” (Mitonga-Monga & Coetzee, 2012). These styles, traits, and characteristics will make the difference between a bad leader and good leader. Top quality leadership is essential to producing a successful organization, the problems arise in leadership when organizations do not hold leaders accountable for their leadership styles. There are many different leadership styles such as autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style, transactional leadership style, transformational leadership style, charismatic leadership style and bureaucratic leadership style. Each style has their pros and their cons, but essentially the success of the leadership styles depends solely on the leader who implementing the leadership style.

The performance of an organization can be connected to the leadership style of the organization, but more importantly connected to the leaders of that organization. “Top quality leadership is essential to achieve the mission and vision along with coping with the changes occurring in the external environment” (Harris, et al., 2007). Leaders that can adapt to the changes going on internally and externally will be able to lead their organization in the right direction. Think no doubt about it, an organization will only be as great as their leader is. Leaders must be able to manage diversity, manage organization conduct, procedural changes and so forth. Leading and leadership styles will make or break and organization. “The role of leadership in an organization is crucial in terms of creating a vision, mission, determination and establishment of objectives, designing strategies, policies, and methods to achieve the organizational objectives effectively and efficiently along with directing and coordinating the efforts and organizational activities” (Xu & Wang, 2008).

Another attribute that a great leader must have is to be able to take the leadership style that they have chosen and apply that leadership style to community relations and community issues. In my opinion this correlates with policing, the leadership style that the officers carry must be able to be applied to police-community relations and the community problems that arise. Many leaders may have the knowledge but lack the courage to make necessary decisions, leaders must be able to make the decision and keep moving forward. The morale of the organization is dependent upon the morale of the leader. In a sense the leader(s) sets pace for the rest of the organization to follow. Each leader will have their own style of leadership they choose to implement, but it ultimately is up to the leader to correctly put that leadership style to use.

Four Models of Criminal Justice

With different leadership styles you also have different models of the way the criminal justice system can be ran. “Sensu stricto, there are no models of the criminal justice. Even so, the criminal justice system of a country, on close examination, may be found following a value or set of values that define its underlying ideology, which may punctuate at every stage of the criminal processes involved in it. The criminologists prefer to style these underlying ideologies as models.” (Adil, K). There are four distinct models of the criminal justice system I would like to point out; 1) The Crime Control Model 2) The Due Process Model 3) Punitive Model of Victims’ Rights and lastly 4) Non-Punitive Model of Victims. All of these models of criminal justice have their pros and cons, but ultimately, they all serve justice in one way or another. Now I will go in-depth of how each of these models addresses issues in the community and how these models do with the communities’ ability to provide feedback and input.

The crime control model looks to the legislature to validate authority, although most of the power is given to the police in the streets. The fact-finding is not left to the judges and lawyers but yet depend on the police and their investigation into the crime. “The police are given broad investigative powers to arrest people for questioning and this is often the quickest means to establish if the suspect is factually guilty. The only limitations on police interrogations are those designed to ensure the reliability of the suspect’s statements.” (Roach 1999). This model is not concerned with the trial because in this model of criminal justice the police essentially rule out any doubt that accused may be innocent by doing all the fact-finding before the case even gets to court. This model in my opinion is the model that is able to address community issues and relations effectively, because when an issue arises the community can come to the police to get the issue resolved. In a sense the police are the key factor in this model, and when dealing with a community the police have the most interaction with those community members, not the judge, the district attorney or the prosecutor.

‘The due process model starts with ‘skepticism about the morality and utility of the criminal sanction ” especially in relation to ‘victimless crimes’ based on consensual transactions.” (Roach 1999). Due process raises concerns about the intrusive policing that is required to enforce drug, obscenity, prostitution laws and many other laws for that matter. Police abuse could be prevented if police officers were not so focused on criminalizing minor activities. By decriminalizing certain crimes, we would reduce the overall workload of the criminal justice system. In comparison to the crime control model, the due process model places much less emphasize on efficiency and guilty pleas. Another point of emphasis from the due process model is that it focuses on the equality of the criminal justice system as a whole, holding each entity responsible. “The due process model imposes numerous restraints on the police in order to protect the rights of suspects and minimize in- formal fact-finding in the streets and station-houses.” (Roach 1999). Focusing on the victim essentially seems to be the main purpose of the due process model. I suppose this model could be viewed as the “community model” because due process mode focuses on the victims in the situation, making sure they are treated with equality, making sure no wrongs are done by the police officers themselves ensuring no wrongs such as police abuse happen. If we look at the characteristics of the due process model, you will be able to recognize this model would be the best model to digest community feedback, and input as to how certain things in the criminal justice system should take place.

The Punitive Model of Victims’ Rights could be viewed as a hybrid model, as said by Roach (1999), This model combines the crime control assembly line and the due process obstacle course to create a roller coaster. In light this model is putting the victims’ rights against the due process rights of the accused. This model assumes that the criminal law can control crime, hence the reason the victims’ rights are in a sense equal to the due process rights of the accused. “The punitive model places the criminal justice system under constant pressure to improve itself to encourage victims to report their crimes, to prevent re-victimization within the criminal process, and to respond to high levels of victimization.” (Boyle, 1994). The punitive model has some resemblance to the crime control model, both of these models focus on factual as opposed to legal guilt and both models assume that the enactment of a criminal law, prosecution, and punishment controls crime. I feel strongly that this model would not or possibly is not in favor of the community, it would be possible that victims of crimes may feel as though this model focuses on making the victim and the accused equal in the eyes of the law, so therefore how could they get the deserved justice. There also is not much room for feedback or input in this model because the systems that use this model will be solely focused on implementing the law.

Lastly, we have the Non-Punitive Model of Victims’ Rights, which is essentially a model that is trying to steer the victim away from the roller coaster I spoke about in the punitive model. This model tried not to rely on criminal sanction and punishment but instead believes the prevention of crime and restorative justice is the best course of action for justice in light of the victim. The non-punitive model would change the focus importance away from traditional crime-control strategies. Which could result in the victim playing the most important role in determining how the offender should be dealt with. “Crime prevention can be achieved through social development to identify and provide serv- ices for those at risk of crime. Early childhood intervention targeting disruptive and anti-social behavior and poor parenting skills may help prevent future crime, as well as blur bright line distinctions between victims and offenders.” (Michael Tonry & David Farrington 1995). With this model further efforts to prevent crime would need to be implemented such as information exchange among bureaucracies, changing high risk activities, and something small such as better lighting in cities. Non-punitive model essentially focuses on restorative justice; factual guilt. Community members may favor this model because it focuses on restorative justice, and for the victims that are demanding justice they will find this model appealing.

Conclusion

The irony of having diversity in the criminal justice system is that we must have leaders capable of leading effectively whilst also managing the diversity in their organizations. The criminal justice system is evolving day by day, as technology grows, we gain tremendous amounts of knowledge through data and research about victims and criminals. We are able to implement and create new policies and procedures that help prevent crime and ensure justice. “The victims of crime should no longer be ignored. In the worlds of prosecutions and punishment, they can be informed and consulted, but will have little real decision-making power. Some victims’ rights will be recognized, but they will often be pit- ted against due process rights. In the worlds of crime prevention and restorative justice, however, victims and potential victims of crime, may find more decision-making power and less opposition. Hopefully they-all of us ultimately-can find more security and satisfaction.” (Roach 1999).

Many approaches have been used to control crime, but what if we are not looking the right place for the change to occur, we often emphasize what needs to change with police officer and what needs to change with the community and even the criminal justice system entirely. We never look at the approach of what needs to change in the leadership or the administration. Subordinates often follow the guidance of their superiors, so when we have an organization constantly abusing authority or constantly breaking procedures, then we must take a look at who is leading this organization. Each model of the models of criminal justice has one common goal, the path to get to that goal may have been different with each model, still the common goal for justice to be served.

There have been several issues raised in the past few years about the criminal justice system, but if we really look at the history of the criminal justice system, it has been flawed since it was established. The criminal justice system aims to punish minorities and rehabilitate white people, while that is a strong statement, you can compare many cases where a white man and a person of color committed the same crime but yet the person of color received a significantly harsher sentence. This brings my back to my point in the previous paragraph, maybe the only change that needs to take place in the criminal justice system is the change of the administration(s). We must establish new administrations with new mindsets in order to see change within the criminal justice system.

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The Career which I would like to obtain and currently pursuing is being a police officer or somewhere relatively in the same area, my goal is just to be in the law enforcement area of work. Now first I’ll be talking about why being a police officer is a good job. When it comes to jobs what aspect do people look at to consider a job as “ a good job”? Normally the typical answer would be a government job but the main thing people look at when considering if a job is good or not is the salary, how much you can make, what will the income looks like, and the overall yearly salary. That’s one of the main reasons people see doctors as amazing jobs because of the ridiculous income they make. Now that’s not to say that if you don’t make as much as a doctor the job is bad, as long as in the 90-100 thousand yearly salary the job is considered good. Though many may not know this police officers can actually make roughly 100 thousand yearly! Though it does depend on your level of status. say It was surprising to me when I first found out as I had the same mindset that only doctors and teachers and engineers make a lot of money.

Now of course jobs aren’t just about how much money you make or your yearly salary, some jobs are very important, some more important than others and a police officer is a job that is beneficial for safety. We don’t live in a perfect world there are and always will be those who commit crimes, there are many serial killers, murderers, sociopaths, etc, not to mention there are people who get abused or threaten the safety of others, so it’s important to have law enforcement so people can feel safe. There are also many laws put in place to keep society in order, some may think the laws are too harsh or maybe they don’t need to be there but without there being rules and guidelines to follow humanity will fall apart. There are many movies and shows which prove exactly that, and at the end of the day whether we like the laws or not they are there to protect us.

Another thing about jobs is whether there is a high demand for them or if they’re not hiring at all. These are questions people should consider thinking through what if the job you are pursuing isn’t hiring at the time? This is why I think it’s always good to have a backup plan as you don’t want to sit around wasting time hoping that the job you are interested in suddenly is in high demand, which is why I personally have multiple jobs other than a police officer in mind and they all consist of being within the law area so it’s not like I am entering a workforce which I am not fond of and only doing because I have no choice ( some people end up doing just that as they did not have backup ideas). As for whether police officers are in high demand for hiring the answer is a big yes, I constantly see ads and things on bulletins and newspapers saying so. The only thing that concerns me is I am only a first-year university student right now, meaning I won’t be applying for a job until four years from now, but at the same time, I’m not too worried as that would just be stressful and I still have many other jobs within the same area to look forward to. Not to get off-topic here but I think it’s worth noting that if a job is in high demand because there are not enough workers that are really bad, though it is rare. An example would be correctional officers as they are drastically low on workers and that is the most dangerous job to not have enough workers the reason as to why that is the case is quite simple, you’re dealing with criminals!!!

Another issue that they have been dealing with on top of not having enough workers is the matter of the prison being overcrowded. Not having enough correctional officers is already as bad as it gets but on top of that, there are too many criminals within the facility? That’s beyond ridiculous and this isn’t a small matter when it comes to the overpopulation of criminals, it’s actually so bad to the point where six criminals are sleeping in one room and three to four can be seen sleeping in the washroom! There are many things wrong here as having fewer workers and more criminals is dangerous for the workers and there is also mistreatment of the criminals. Yes criminals are criminals and they’ve done horrible things but that doesn’t give anyone the right to violate their basic human rights. The message I’m trying to convey with all of that is basically some jobs could be in high demand but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you.

Now besides how much you make and whether the job is in high demand there’s also the factor of why you want to work at that specific job, the whole salary, and hiring thoughts to come afterward when you near the stage of applying. There’s always a personal reason like maybe someone wants to become a teacher because they enjoy teaching, or someone wants to become a scientist because they are very fond of the universe, etc. I too have a personal reason as to why I wish to become a police officer and it all started when I was five years old. I find it quite amusing how since before the age of six I already knew what I wanted to be when I was older, most people don’t take those things seriously until high school. So when I was five years old my mom was on her way to pick up my older brother from high school but right when she made a left at the intersection across the school she got into a car accident with a city bus, me my little brother and sister were all in the car. This accident went on the news pretty quickly and even made it to the newspaper! No one on the bus was injured but my mom had severe pain in her body, my little brother’s leg was broken, my sister was stuck under the passenger seat and my head was bleeding because the glass was shattered and pierced the top of my head. When the paramedics and officers arrive they were figuring out how to take me out of the car as the car was totaled and the doors were crushed. Paramedics considered calling firefighters to use the jaws of life to help me but the officer saw I was bleeding from the top of my head and so he made a decision. He punched the window as hard as he could and it broke a hole big enough to get me out. He stuck his arms inside for me to reach and pulled me out, he then wrapped a cloth around my head to soak up the blood and prevent it from going down my face. I ended up getting stitches from the hospital and to this day I have a scar on the center of my scalp. What the officer did truly amazed me, he punched thru a window which caused damage to his fists, he put his arms inside which led to a glass shard scraping his skin just to take me out of the car. He didn’t care about what would happen to his arms or fists whether they would need stitches or get infected, his concern was for me and me only. This is what made me adore and look up to the police force, these are people who put their lives on the line to save others.

That was the main reason I wanted to become a police officer and I started going to events they had. When I was twelve I joined the army cadets as it’s sort of a police program and it looks really good on a resume. I also have a passion for helping others I like ensuring safety and making the community a better place and that’s exactly what police officers do. Even now I’m volunteering with crime stoppers and other police staff as it’s a good experience to have and I just like working with real officers. If there’s one thing I know about applying to the police force is that the competition is at a high level it’s not as easy as it use to be to get in. this is one of many reasons I’m starting to volunteer a lot with them because the more experience I have with volunteering the better it will look on my application. Also being involved around the community and being known helps a lot as people are more likely to hire you if you are a familiar face and known for hard work and initiative.

My final reason for wanting to become a police officer has to do with people hating the police and how there are corrupt cops. I don’t like how there are people that generalize all police officers as bad, sure the crimes committed by officers on innocent people and the whole black lives matter are all understanding but you can’t generalize every cop as bad. Take ISIS, for example, they claim to be Muslim and I am also a Muslim so why doesn’t everyone see me as a terrorist or call me one? it’s because I am not a terrorist and neither are all Muslims. The same goes here just because there are corrupt police officers out there doesn’t necessarily mean every single one is bad. I hope to break that thought when I become an officer.

In this essay, I will talk about how modern technology will change our criminal justice system. First, I will talk about modern technologies that have been used by the criminal justice system over the years and whether their use has made the criminal justice system more efficient or transparent. I also focus on the disadvantages and challenges of using the technology, as well as on possible solutions.

With technology advancing at a fast pace, it was only a matter of time until the criminal justice system started to integrated technology in the means to aide their battle on preventing crime and ensuring the courts are fully equipped to prosecute criminal effective and cost-effectively.

Virtual Courtrooms and Video Links

With the use of technology being integrated more into the courtrooms, standard court proceeding has changed over time, where now video conferencing and links have turned the standard courtrooms into virtual ones. The general concept of a judge sitting physically in a courtroom and handling cases has changed. With technology being used more judges no longer need to be physically present in court as the use of cameras, microphones and a monitoring screen have allowed them to appear in court virtually. In theory, this concept seems to be very time efficient and effective but a few issues have been raised which may out way the benefits of this change. Such as the court room’s staff unable to effectively operate the technology needed to operate the virtual courtroom. This may be due to lack of training and support in maintaining and managing the hardware needed to keep the technology fully operational. These issues can easily be solved with proper training and support of court staff members so they can fully operate and manage the system effectively. These aren’t the only issues that could arise as issues such as bad connection, cost of maintenance could prove to be a problem for the courts.

Another new concept like this one was tested by the courts called a virtual courtroom pilot. The virtual court process was an initiative that was designed to deliver speed and efficiency improvements to the criminal justice system. In the ‘traditional’ process, a defendant would be expected to appear in person at a magistrate’ court for their first hearing after being charged with an offence. In the virtual court pilot, a defendant would appear in a magistrates’ court for their first hearing by means of a secure video link while remaining physically located in the police station where they were charged. Defense representation was either provided at the police station or in court. Other courtroom practitioners remained located in court. New electronic systems facilitated hearing bookings and the confidential transfer of case files between criminal justice agencies. It was said in the published article that “the pilot was successful in significantly reducing the average time from charge to first hearing, in particular through the use of electronic file sharing and the removal of the need for defendants to travel to court”. This then reduced prisoner transportation costs resulting from defendants remanded in police custody not having to be taken to court for their first hearing. It also reduced Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) costs resulting from the electronic transfer of case files between agencies, rather than the use of couriers.

Even though the virtual pilot benefited the courts with cost and time reduction it still had a few issues. The virtual court pilot added cost to the delivery of criminal justice compared to the traditional court process even though it still reduced some costs as well as other issues such as technical problems with the video links as the problems weren’t complexed to fix but the frequency of the problems occurring was the issue it was reported an average 45 incidents in between April and May of technical issues.

Real-Time Transcriptions

Real-time transcription is a newly developed system which allows court transcription to be monitored in the courtroom in real time. The transcription can then be displayed on monitors to be used by the judge and lawyers, in some cases, the monitor can be displayed to the jury or even witness this may be useful in marking testimony on which cross-examination or follow-up may be desired. The advantages of using this technology are that it allows objectionable witness testimony and statements placed on the record to be reviewed in real time and instantly. Also, when judges have real-time displays at the bench, they have more time to focus on the case rather than focusing on making note. Some issues that have risen from the use of real-time transcription is that when the transcription is displayed on a witness’s monitor during cross-examination. Although this access to the transcript can be helpful when the witness is an expert, and extensive hypotheticals are involved, it can also disrupt “the classic cross-examination dynamic between lawyer and witness”. This technology can make the criminal justice system more transparent and clearer as it can reduce the courts time as well as some costs but at the same time, it can be seen as not very efficient in the courtroom since it disrupts the cross-examination between lawyer and witness.

DNA

Since the 90s the development of the national DNA banks has been increasing in the UK establishing the UK governments policy investments in integrating technology for furthering its purpose in preventing crime. DNA also is known as deoxyribonucleic acid is the basic generic coding in all living things, every individual has a unique DNA. The use of DNA evidence in the criminal justice system has been regarded by scholars as “probably the greatest forensic advancement since the advent of fingerprinting”. DNA analysis is a powerful tool because each person’s DNA unique. Every cell in the human body contains DNA. 99% of human DNA is the same in everyone; it is only that 1% that makes one individual’s DNA different from the DNA of other individuals. Most notably it was praised for its use in the case of Keith Samuels, who was resident of Northampton who raped 7 different women from 1984 to 1990. He was apprehended in a cheque fraud case in 1998 when his DNA was then sampled by the police. On loading his profile to the NDNAD, a match was found between his reference sample and the crime scene profiles from the rapes stored on the database. This led to his subsequent conviction and nine life sentences in 1999. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the use of this technology in the criminal justice system to make it more effective and transparent. Even with the benefits of using DNA technology there are still chances of it being unreliable as there are possible chances of mismatches as the DNA database is so large as it is filled with the DNA of both innocent and criminal parties that it is mathematically predicted an innocent party has a chance of their DNA being mismatched , this will then result in their DNA being matched to a crime they did not commit as currently DNA technology is not 100% accurate and there are high possibilities of innocent parties DNA being matched to those from a crime scene resulting in innocent parties being prosecuted. This demonstrates that DNA technology is not as reliable as it is shown as there is room for errors and mistakes made as it is not transparent as once though and it is not 100% accurate and reliable, as it is shown meaning that it possible would transform the criminal justice system or make it more effective if the courts can’t use it as dependable evidence.

CCTV and the Use of Facial Recognition Technology

CCTV also known as Closed Circuit Television is an investment in ‘situational’ crime–prevention; it is designed to change the environment within which crime occurs, rather than trying to change the attitudes and capacities of offenders by Collecting evidence, forming some sort of response and it is used as a means to identify perpetrators and offenders committing crimes. With technology improving at such a rate, CCTV technology is continuously improving and advancing as it has already established itself as being a vital tool to the police and many government bodies. An effective CCTV system contributes to the detection and prevention of crime, as well as protecting towns, cities and transport networks from the threat of crimes and terrorism.

The problems that have been pointed out by scholars and researchers from the use of CCTV is that evidence recorded from the CCTV cameras for the purposes of prevention of crime can also be seen as being an invasion of privacy for those who are in the area that is being surveillance. As privacy advocates feel nervous about the idea of someone watching them every time they are out in public.

Also, the UK government has started to integrate facial recognition technology alongside with the current use of its CCTV to further aid the prevention of crime. It thought that this new technology is more advanced and better than the existing one in place. The use of automated facial recognition technology has allowed police forces to easily identify and track criminals as well as wanted men. The technology maps faces in a crowd and then compares them with a watch list of images, which can include suspects, missing people and persons of interest to the police. The cameras scan faces in large crowds in public places such as streets, shopping centers, football crowds and music events such as the Notting Hill Carnival.

Facial recognition technology has had a number of success stories which have made international news, for example the most notable headlines article published was about a Chinese fugitive who was identified out of a group of 60000 concertgoers and was later detained by police in relation to a crime committed. This just shows how effective and useful this technology is of preventing crime and catching wanted criminals. Furthermore, facial recognition technology can not only catch wanted but also aid the battle of crime prevention and it can also help police when it comes to finding missing individuals, most recently in 2018 its use made headline news in India where the new deli police were able to locate 2930 missing children in only a matter of days when they started to integrate the use of facial recognition technology. This demonstrates that this technology is useful to police forces as it has the capability of preventing crime and catching wanted criminals but it can only do so if it can cross match with an online database which lists the images and information of wanted criminals.

Even with all the success with its use, there have been a few issues arising from its use. One of the issues with its use is that the system in place is not 100% and it gives mismatches, which result in innocent individuals getting detained and arrested. FoI requests found that within the first year of South Wales Police’s use of live facial recognition, ‘true matches’ were made with less than 9% accuracy – 91% of ‘matches’ were misidentifications of other members of the public.

This just shows that there is a possibility with the use of this technology for the purpose of crime prevention measures, innocent individuals may be falsely identified by the database and they may be stopped by the police. This means that the use of facial recognition may make the criminal justice system more transparent with its successful uses but to talk about how effective it is at preventing crime at the same time shows me that the technology has a long way to go and still needed to be improved before it can be effective to use in the criminal justice system. This was argued by a representative of the police force said the process also included human interaction. He said: “It is up to the operator to decide whether the person is a match or not. You then have the intervention”. “It’s not that the operator makes their own assessment, the officer on the ground looking at the individual will make their own assessment and will decide whether or not to intervene and speak to the individual”.

Body Worn Video

One technology that is used by the police force is Body Worn Video. BWV is a small camera which police officers have equipped on themselves when they are on duty. BWV is used by the police to record evidence and to demonstrate transparency in the police officers’ actions at the scene of the incident or crime scene. It was found in a recent study published that the use of BWV reduced the number of allegations against officers, particularly of oppressive behavior. Complaints related to interactions with the public also reduced and, although it did not reach statistical significance, the trend in overall complaints was consistent with these findings. Which benefited the criminal justice system as it stopped false allegation of abuse by the police as well it makes the criminal justice system more effective in the terms of efficiency and transparency. BWV can also be used by the police to gather and collect vital evidence when at the scene of the crime or incident as well as it can collaborate with officers statements as well as witness statement at what happened at the scene of the crime or incident, removing any possibility of a biased statement and thus reduce the overall amount of time required for officers to complete paperwork for case files, corroborate evidence presented by prosecutors, and lead to higher numbers of guilty pleas in court proceedings. Making the use of BWV very efficient as well as cost effective. A 2014 review showed that early guilty pleas were obtained in 91% of cases where the camera footage formed part of the evidence. This demonstrates how effective BWV are when used as evidence in court.

The only issues which have arisen with BWV are the technical issues, with all technological use, there are bound to be a few problems. It was reported that at times officers would struggle to download the video evidence on to a computer as well as log in and out of the BWV. This would mean that at times they would struggle to turn on the BWV at the scene of the crime or incident. These issues can be fixed, if the officers who use the cameras get more training so they can operate the BWV very effectively and they know how to fully use the cameras as well as further developing and testing the BWV so when they are used by the officer, they are fully operational and have no technical issues.

Use of Algorithms and AI

The use of algorithms and AL could make the criminal justice system more transparent and effective. Algorithms are used by the police and courts to determine whether a defendant is a flight risk or is still a danger to the public. This can be seen as upgrading judges with machine learning. This system works by looking into the criminal records and court records of criminals and it determines whether they will re-offend. These predictions include looking into the individual demographic factors such as sex, age, race, social security, area they live in and the reason for their prior arrests. When tested on over a hundred thousand more cases that it hadn’t seen before, the algorithm proved better at predicting what defendants will do after releasing than predictions made by the judges. In theory, this concept could help the courts cut crime by defendants awaiting trial by as much as 25% without changing the numbers of people waiting in jail. Alternatively, it could be used to reduce the jail population awaiting trial by more than 40%, while leaving the crime rate by defendants unchanged. This then allows the criminal justice system to become more transparent and effective as it saves the court time and costs, possibly preventing future crimes with rational decision making by the system.

A few issues have been raised by researchers from the use of this technology. The issues that were raised were about the possibility that the use of algorithms could discriminate and stereotype against certain age groups and individuals some have argued that inputting historically biased data into these models contributes to a perpetuation of ‘bad data’, because the algorithm uses each new case as a reference for the next. The idea that algorithms could substitute for probation officers or the traditional human intelligence of police officers is absurd and wrong. Of course, such human judgments are fallible and sometimes biased. But training an algorithm on the results of previous mistakes merely means they can be made without human intervention in the future. An example of this is the strongest single predictor of whether a young man will end up in jail is whether his father did so. People live down to society’s expectations, and we all lose as a result. Berk says that more research is needed into how to ensure that criminal justice algorithms don’t lead to unfair outcomes. Last year an investigation by ProPublica found that commercial software developed to help determine which convicts should receive probation was more likely to incorrectly label black people than white people as ‘high risk’.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is almost certain that with the development of technology going at a fast speed, modern technologies have influenced the criminal justice system in the way it operates as it can be seen as becoming more transparent to a certain point. Just because technology is advancing does not mean we should be quick to replace the traditional standards of practice, for example with the use of algorithms in the criminal justice system. I feel to fully benefit from this technological use, it should be used alongside judges instead of replacing them, as it will ensure there is no room for any error or mistakes as the human interaction is there to prevent this, it should be seen as a guideline for the judges to use rather to just depend on. Meaning that modern technology has transformed the criminal justice system to become more transparent and effective, but at the cost of some disadvanatges and problems, this can easily be resolved with the continued development of technology meaning these problems could be fixed in the future.

Bibliography

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From policing to corrections, technology has been playing an increasingly important role within the criminal justice system. Computer records management and geographic crime-mapping systems have been used more frequently in order to grant effectiveness and efficiency when it comes to analyzing large amounts of crime data. As mentioned in the textbook ‘Criminal Justice in Canada’, “A crime mapping system called Geographic Information System (GIS), identifies the crime patterns in specific geographic areas such as neighborhoods or larger districts of a city” (Goff, 2019, p. 196). As these technological advancements keep scanning and portraying data, the department of justice can proceed to emphasize and execute the predictive policing approach. Wood and Shearing have stated that (as cited in ‘Criminal Justice of Canada’, 2019), “intelligence-led policing does not re-imagine the role of policing role, as much as it reimagines how the police can be smarter in the application of their unique authority and capacities”. For the criminal justice system to be as adequate in expeditiously locating and deterring crime, technology must have a sizeable increase of innovation to the point where data can be found by artificial intelligence before a patrol officer. This paper is reflecting the crime-mapping technology being used within the criminal justice system.

Description of the Geographic Information System

The Geographic Information System is a state-of-the-art crime mapping system that allows police to identify crime within specific areas based on precedent cases or victimization data. This technology is intended to provide clear site in finding crime by pinpointing hotspots and measuring the amount of crime within a certain area in order to induce future crime preventative programs. According to the textbook ‘Criminal Justice in Canada’, “sophisticated analytic technology and statistics are used to analyze this information and crime patterns; based on this information, predictions are made about locations where certain types of crime may occur” (Goff, 2019, p. 206). Not only will this benefit the broken window model of policing by targeting neighborhoods that give out constant triggers to the system, but in general it will allow police to start empowering crime preventative strategies rather than incurring in reactive policing tactics.

Advantages and Disadvantages of GIS

As mentioned, the Geographic Information System is innovative technology that provides ease of mind for police who want to locate and deter crime as efficiently as possible. Although in the maturing market of technology comes advancements that seem useful at the time but can always be improved to create an even more efficient way in locating crime. According to Natalie Ragoli (2019), GIS can understand trends in specific crimes. That makes it easier to identify potential offenders, protect possible victims, and reduce the threat of violence. The GIS can provide detailed information for police to discover exactly what kind of crime is occurring in what geographic area. The system is also able to collect specific crime data that can be categorized, which has tracked “the most common statistics which include the upper-tier offenses such as homicide, aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery. Other crimes that are monitored through this report include embezzlement, drug offenses, fraud, DUIs, forgery, and counterfeiting” (Ragoli, 2019, para 4). This will help police establish a plan in prioritizing patrols and preventative crime programs in certain areas based on crime severity data from the Uniform Crime Report and crime volume from police crime reports.

The counter thought on the reliability of this data is about how much of this information relies on voluntary input from citizens. As nobody is forced to provide information regarding every single crime sprouting around these areas, institutions may not catch all these crime trends. According to Steven Barkan (2019), “some estimates suggest that as few as 3% of all criminal activity that happens in each community is discovered by a law enforcement official and noted in the data”. This means that real statistics may not be up to date with the recorded data within the GIS. Due to the categorization process of analyzing these crimes, offenders with multiple charges under the same offence may not have minor charges listed in GIS except the charge with the highest severity. This issue is influencing the GIS data in a way where only the most severe charges are shown within the system although the high volume of minor charges is disregarded. The concern advocates claim is that this system may be lacking important data when advertised otherwise and that this will alter the view of what crimes are really taking place within specific areas.

To What Extent Should GIS Be Implemented

Based on my understanding, patrol officers have been brought to the streets of Canada since the 18th century. As patrol officers are known to be the most visible component of the criminal justice system, communities have stressed to have officers roam the streets for active standby execution whenever a crime occurs. I believe the criminal justice system should have this innovative technology for the sake of reassurance in acquiring crime data. It is a good thing that the country contains this kind of technology that way we can incorporate a way to locate and deter crime efficiently. We still need patrol officers on standby in order to provide our citizens with a reassurance of safety and cooperation. Cassidy’s study (as cited in ‘Criminal Justice in Canada’, 2019) stated in the textbook ‘Criminal Justice in Canada’, “the strength of predictive policing is that it gives the police the potential to use their knowledge and information not in a reactive way, but instead in a way that can empower prevention strategies”. As this market matures, the only concern that I have amongst all the communities had in the 1960’s is to use this technology to complement their job and not replace it.

Conclusion

The Geographic Information System is technology that was introduced to the criminal justice system for the sake of efficiency in locating crime. From policing to corrections, GIS has provided a sense of ease to the reactive policing approach and commends a new intelligence-led approach which will rather initiate a predictive policing method. A work in progress indeed, as this information is to be properly accumulated with proper categorization and emphasis on all crimes whether minor or severe. Once enough data has been accumulated through the system, the computer will be able to detect crimes that a police officer was not able to catch through crime patterns and eventually artificial intelligence. We must also stress how this new approach of policing will maintain patrols of all kinds and overall have the GIS complementing the patrol method rather than replacing it. Considering the extensive amount of data flowing through the system, institutions can have the ability to gather this data and analyze crime patterns in order to create crime preventative programs.

References

1. Goff, C. H. (2019). Intelligence-Led Policing. In Criminal Justice in Canada (7th ed., p. 202). Nelson Education.
2. Goff, C. H. (2019). Experimenting with Alternative Forms of Police Patrol. In Criminal Justice in Canada (7th ed., p. 196). Nelson Education.
3. Goff, C. H. (2019). Predictive Policing. In Criminal Justice in Canada (7th ed., p. 206). Nelson Education.
4. Goff, C. H. (2019). Criminal Justice in Canada.
5. Ragoli, N. (2019, May 15). 13 Major Pros and Cons of the Uniform Crime Report. Retrieved from https://connectusfund.org/13-major-pros-and-cons-of-the-uniform-crime-report
6. Ragoli, N., & Barkan, S. (2019, May 15). 13 Major Pros and Cons of the Uniform Crime Report. Retrieved from https://connectusfund.org/13-major-pros-and-cons-of-the-uniform-crime-report

Are you the same person you were at 14 years old? Or do you think you grew perhaps a bit wiser or smarter from life experiences? Society has always been treating minors differently than adults. For instance, they aren’t allowed to buy cigarettes, or alcohol or can’t rent an apartment, as we acknowledge that they aren’t mature enough to make certain decisions. Yet, we give these juvenile offenders the same treatment as a fully-grown adults by depriving them permanently of their liberty.

The United States is the only nation that sentences people under the age of 18 to life without parole, even though some states banned or limit the use of JLWOP sentences, as required by the Supreme Court, a few still allow the practice. Just as Adepoju Akin states in his article ‘Juvenile Death Sentence Lives On… Even after Roper v. Simmons’; « In Roper, the Court held that death sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. » and that; « sentencing juveniles, who are less culpable for their crimes, to LWOP like adults who commit similar offenses concludes that juveniles will never be rehabilitated, and such conclusion exceeds the bounds of decency ». People, especially children are constantly evolving thus putting them in jail for the rest of their lives without the chance to speak up for themselves, just seems unfair.

Moreover, we must take into account the way these children were raised. Most of them come from impoverished backgrounds and have learning disabilities or mental health and substance abuse problems. According to Josh Rovner in his article “Juvenile life without parole: an overview” for The sentencing project, the past of the approximately 2,100 people serving juvenile life sentences are often marked by a violent environment where they were victims of abuse or visually experienced cruelty. 79% witnessed violence in their homes, 32% grew up in public housing, 40% had been enrolled in special education classes, fewer than half were attending school, 47% were physically abused, 80% of girls reported histories of physical abuse and 77% of them reported sexual abuse as well. The people surrounding us influence our actions and a child who knows nothing but violence during his formative years will tend to repeat the same behavior.

In addition, as Elizabeth S. Scott and Laurence Steinberg state in their book: “Rethinking juvenile justice”; “… teenagers are considerably more susceptible to peer influence than are adults, more likely to focus on immediate rather than long-term consequences, and more impulsive and subject to mood fluctuations. They are also more likely to take risks and probably less skilled in balancing risks and rewards. Finally, personal identity is fluid and unformed in adolescence.” It is important to set age restrictions on such punishment. Juvenile offenders’ brains aren’t fully developed, they aren’t mentally stable or capable of full maturity, and are more susceptible to peer pressure compared to adults. Furthermore, in some cases, they are placed in adult facilities waiting for their trial and subjected to various dangers. Being in prison doesn’t mean that you have no rights and their mental and sexual health should be a priority.

“People do things at 16 and 17 that they wouldn’t do at 37, but they spend a lifetime paying for it,” said Snyder, the state legislator of Florida. A life sentence at such a young age is a very rough sanction that should, in my humble opinion, be completely banned from all American states. Indeed, we shouldn’t deny as well the freedom of those who were incarcerated as children. The justice system should give the mercy that every kid deserves.

In a variety of different careers, but not limited to Justice/Human services, critical thinking is crucial when trying to come up with an appropriate response to a situation, but not doing so can cause an array of problems. There are many examples across the world in which critical thinking was or was not actively used during a situation that needed more attention to detail. It’s safe to say that critical thinking is an important skill to have when dealing with things that have complexities with no easy answer.

The first example I present is the incident of a man driving away from a fender bender in Seattle in 2018 (Chavez & Toropin. 2020). A Seattle police officer told one of the man’s friends that the crash left a woman in critical condition, possibly even not surviving the crash. A clever trick to get the driver to confess (Chavez & Toropin. 2020). A report from the Seattle Police Department’s Office of Police Accountability says the driver’s friends reported that he grew worried in the days after the crash, thinking that someone possibly died in the wreck (Chavez & Toropin. 2020). Less than a week after the incident occurring the man had committed suicide over the incident (Chavez & Toropin. 2020).

The second example is that of the mental health crisis that needed to be addressed in the Belleville city of Ontario (Bertrim, 2020). In late October of 2019, the Belleville police received Health IM Mobile Technology which allows them to communicate with triage nurses in order to get advice and determine the best next steps (Bertrim, 2020). The device allows officers to pick the best environment for a person in crisis. For example, “if a trip to the emergency room is required, then the system alerts the triage nurse in advance communicating vital mental health information and this helps the health care staff prepare to provide more timely treatment (Bertrim, 2020).” As stated in the article the program has since been brought into at least 30 other police services in Ontario, along with some Prairies and British Columbia as the mental health crisis is across Canada (Bertrim, 2020).

Lastly, with a very personal example, the implementation of The Watch in Lethbridge, Alberta in May of 2019 (LPS, 2019). A program that consists of mostly volunteers patrolling the streets looking to increase community safety in the downtown area (LPS, 2019). Watch patrol volunteers are deployed seven days a week 10Am- 10Pm throughout the year and will serve as eyes and ears to connect citizens with the appropriate response from community services as well as the police, EMS, and fire (LPS, 2019). It’s also part of the job for volunteers to also provide directions, first aid, tourist information, and other assistance to any individual (LPS, 2019).

All three articles are relatively the same when it comes to critical thinking as it relates to the justice sector. Going beyond the summary of key points, all three demonstrated how critical thinking can go in either direction. In the first article, it was a brilliant idea by a police officer to get a driver to come forward about a fender-bender collision that’s turned bitter in a matter of days. The desired outcome was not how it turned out to be, with the suicide of the man and not a confession. I don’t think that the officer meant to do any harm whatsoever other than get him to come forward about the incident. Although it was odd that the officer relayed the information that the woman involved in the collision “was in critical condition” to a friend of the man, out of everyone in Seattle, is it a coincidence? With that being said it’s also alarming that if the man’s friend told him the misinformation to get him to confess that his friend wasn’t aware of his mental stability and didn’t try to get help and or get him to confess.

Getting into the second article it’s apparent that the need for Medical IM device technology was needed to address the growing mental health crisis in that community. Using technology as it is a growing industry was a great idea in finding a new way to connect officers and triage nurses in a matter of seconds. The downside is that technology might not be reliable one-hundred percent of the time but it is extremely efficient in making an officer’s job easier on mental health calls since there is a triage nurse on “speed dial” that has immediate answers.

Lastly, The Watch program is a program that was thought about in a critical manner. The budgeting concerns, the safety of volunteers, the uniforms, everything was attended to with questions and answers. This program was thought through thoroughly but even so, there were still issues that had arisen. The level of authority we had in certain situations, what was going to happen when winter hits? With The Watch being a new program there were obviously going to be bumped down the road. The whole critical part of this program was the implementation of it to reduce crime downtown and make people feel safe in a way that was giving back to the community by using volunteers.

Critical thinking is relevant to the justice field because it allows for issues to be addressed with a multitude of questions to determine the best course of action. In order for justice professionals to use critical thinking, they have to already possess the skill or acquire it through training/understanding. I believe that all the works I mentioned used critical thinking in order to come to a conclusion to an issue, but the first incident went horribly wrong with the decision made and the last two were positive in their outcomes.

Critical thinking is an important process that focuses on the best possible outcome to an issue. Having questions to establish what needs to be thought of in order to come to the decision as not all issues have a simple answer provides the grounds for critical thinking. In the Justice sector, critical thinking is especially crucial as technology is becoming advanced and more thought in the actions toward situations is important. With the works presented it’s clear that critical thinking doesn’t always have the desired outcome and sometimes it does.