Criminal justice system

Criminal Justice System CJA/204 April 4, 2013 Criminal Justice System According to the Criminal Justice Interactive on the student website, crime is defined as the conduct in violation of the criminal law of the state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. In other words, crime is a forbidden act in which a punishment is attached. Law can be defined as rules and regulations that put in place for all of society to follow. The relationship between crime and law is without strict reinforcement of the law crime cannot be prevented. The two most common models of how society determines which acts are criminal are Due Process and Crime Control. Due process includes individualization, quality, formality, and courts. Individualization refers to legal procedures that make it make difficult to arrest, prosecute, or sentence a person to ensure that the individual’s rights are fully protected at each step. Quality means that each case should be handled with careful attention to detail to reduce the risk that innocent parties will be caught up in inappropriate proceedings. Formality is precise and stringent procedures help ensure that error or prejudice is reduced, thus protecting citizens from bias or mistakes. Lastly, courts are the rules and processes of the court system protect individuals’ rights, screen out flawed cases, and result in convictions of only guilty parties. Crime control involves standardization, quantity, informality, and the police. Standardization allows efficient processing of as many crimes and criminals as possible. Quantity involves making many arrests and moving many cases to trial. Informality is a procedure that provides a means of an officer to protect citizens. The police can be effective arbitrators of justice. The framework of the criminal justice system works with legislative, judicial, and other government branches of government to process suspects, defendants, and offenders in federal, state, and local agencies the deal with crime. The criminal justice system involves three main components; police, courts, and Corrections. Police are there to enforce the law, investigate crimes, apprehend the offenders, reduce and prevent crime rates. Police also, protect the rights of individuals, ensure community safety, and provide emergency and related community service. Courts conduct fair and impartial trials, ensure due process, uphold the law, determine if offender is guilty or not guilty, and impose sentencing on the guilty party. Corrections carry out sentences impose by the courts, provide safe and humane custody and supervision of offenders, and rehabilitates, reforms, and reintegrates convicted offenders back into the communities. Deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration are the criminal justice system main goals. Deterrence seeks to inhibit criminal behavior through the fear of punishment, when people know what the punishment will be for the crime that commit they will be less likely to commit crime or repeat the crime committed. Incapacitation is the process of removing the offenders’ ability to commit crime (incarceration). Retribution is the act of taking revenge on an offender. Rehabilitation is an attempt to reform offender to enter society again by correcting behavior. Lastly, restoration is an attempt to repair the harm the crime has done to the relationship between the offender, the victim, and/or the community. Part of the criminal justice process includes investigation/arrest, pretrial activities, trail, sentencing, and corrections. If there is one major mistake in this process a guilty offender could be let out on the street to commit more crime. The criminal system is a system that is always in need of improvement. In order for a system to work, all components involved should work as a team. In this case, the criminal justice system includes the police, courts, and corrections. These components have to work as teams in order for the criminal justice system to work smoothly because just like any other system, if there is a hang up or mistake made the system will or could affect all parties involved negatively. I believe that the criminal justice system is a system that is working on improving communities and rehabilitating offenders to one day live a “ normal” lifestyle in society. References EBOOK COLLECTION: Schmallager, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: An introductory text For the 21st century (11th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall CJi Interactive Multi-Media