Criminal Justice System example essay topic

A Changing System Looking into criminal justice procedure, many administrations are at work. Starting with the police, to the courts and concluding in corrections. Though all these sectors have different tasks, their combined focus is processing the law. Regardless what the process is called criminal justice will continue to serve with discretion, conviction, and correction. When first presented with the question whether criminal justice is a system, non-system, and network I leaned toward a network. Throughout our discussions, lectures, and readings I felt the process presented itself as a network.

Intertwined divisions working for a common goal. Further into my research and help from Webster, I decided that the criminal justice process is a system that is why it is called the criminal justice system and has been so, for many years. This system includes many networks that serve a common purpose, are dependent upon one another, and keep each other in check. Many may try to disagree as Alvine Cohn does in his introduction to Improving Management in Criminal Justice. He stated that '... no true system actually exists... (it) is a collection of disparate, fragmented services and programs, with many interrelationships, but (has) no... direction, philosophy, or mission' (Cohn, 7-8). This could be the farthest from the truth considering the system is always changing to better the process.

This philosophy or mission that he speaks of does not have to be written on paper to exist. Though the absence of a clearly explained and comprehendible goal may result in conflict (Cohn, 9), this is inevitable when arguing two different sides. Regardless of what professionals and critics call it, it is '... (a) social control mechanism which... society calls the justice system' (Jones, 83). This system may differ from other systems, but it still includes the main characteristics of that which a system is defined. A system defined in Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is '... an organization forming a network especially for distributing something or serving a common purpose... ' Using this definition we can include all arguments for the progression of criminal justice as a network since a system comprises many networks.

This system has interrelated departments that look to each other to fulfill common goals of prevention and justice. Along with this common goal are common practices. The most commonly practiced is discretion. It is used in every department and is unique to this system. Others include attempted prevention through deterrence and mandatory sentencing, and bargaining.

These departments involve everyone throughout the sequence of events in the criminal justice system including lawyers, judges, police, criminals, victims, and the society in which this occurs. Every action and repercussion is seen and felt by all involved in a particular case. This is why all of these players in the game of law depend on the actions and results of one another. This dependency arises from numerous situations and circumstances.

The police depend on convictions from the court to see results for their job. Each sector must rely on the outcome of trial cases to proceed. Plea-bargaining is a great example. Three or more parties are involved, the prosecutor and defense attorneys must present the best and most reasonable deal, from their perspective, and the defendant must agree to the terms.

In some cases a judge can be a contributing factor. Society is the most dependent and most critical, always keeping the department on its toes. Dependency in this case does have its benefits. It provides the system with a check and balance system. Considering again Cohn's arguments that the criminal justice process should not be defined as a system he makes some strong points, that have strong counter points. In short he states this process is a continuum through which each offender passes, from the police, to the courts, into prison and then back onto the streets.

He quotes another author D.J. Free calling the system, in 1969, inefficient and a failure of purpose (Cohn, 8). Though the process has changed dramatically since then I think his thought could actually help prove criminal justice functions as a system. The fact that offenders once passed through all the levels show that the system, at one time and still, is efficient in justice, the written rule of the system. Criminals are allowed to protest or appeal their case. They are also in contact with many other people involved in their particular case.

Everyone is trying to present the best side of the truth. In a different argument I read about convicts, who were apprehended by hard-working police, and slipping through the cracks and not convicted. The police officers were not shown their side of justice. This too has another side. This shows that numerous departments are at work and share in a common goal of justice. The courts are not going to convict someone unless they are proven guilty.

All this contributes to the unique system in which criminology takes place. These interactions and the competition between the two parties also result in a check and balance system. A check and balance system provides the public and each division with security. The skeptical and investigative trends of the media provide the public with news of injustice. Society looks for these opportunities to examine and understand the differences from case to case. In some situations the publics' criticism is heard and this keeps the procedures of the criminal justice system in-tack, and following the law and public demand.

The creation of the system was designed to dispense justice and society simply assumes the task to modify the inherited structure of values, expectations, and practices (Jones, 83). Society may be the most obvious and perhaps the most significant, but all parties question each other. A judge may be the biggest influential factor in a case and have the greatest amount of authority, but obviously the two main competitors, the prosecutor and defense attorney, inquiry about each others research most frequently. Though these two may be very big competitors, they both work in the legal system to do one thing, exercise the law. If this is not a common goal or 'mission' than many other system should not be systems either.

If this is the case than many people, including myself, has a lot of skeptical and investigative research ahead of us. As said before regardless of a name the functions of criminal justice are still the same. Being a system seems most practical. The only stable argument for it not being a system is that critics do not feel the process that everyone is involved in does not have a common purpose. Therefor, my argument that the process of an arrest, justice, is a common goal would mean nothing. The latter sentence is more believable and understood by the whole.

Many contributions to my argument like those mentioned above; common purpose, dependency, and proof of justice, are only a few key pieces of evidence that the criminal justice system is in fact a system. If it were not, would they not have named it something else? Is a tree not the same type of tree that stood there fifty years ago? The only difference is, today it has more branches than yesterday.

Bibliography

COHN, Alvin W., WARD Benjamin. Improving Management in Criminal Justice. Sage Publications. Beverly Hills, CA. 1980.
JONES, William, Jr. Criminal Justice Administration. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, NY. 1983.
web Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. March 25, 2001.
Bibliography ALDER, F., MUELLER, G.O.W., LA UFER, W.S. Criminal Justice; an introduction. second edition. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. US. 2000 COHN, Alvin W.
WARD, Benjamin. Sage Publications. Beverly Hills, CA. 1980.
COLE, George F. The American System of Criminal Justice. Wadsworth Publishing Co, Inc. Belmont, CA. 1975.
HANCOCK, Barry, SHARP, Paul. Criminal Justice in America; theory, practice, and policy. second edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ. 2000.
JACKSON, Bruce. Law and Disorder; Criminal justice in america. University of Illinois Press. US. 1984.
JONES, William, Jr. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, NY. 1983 KALINYCH, KLO FAS, STOJAKOVIC.
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