StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Components of Criminal Justice - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Components of Criminal Justice" discusses that generally, the theorists have defined two major models of the criminal justice system i.e. Crime Control Model and the Due Process Model; both of which contradict one another in nature and scope…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.8% of users find it useful
Components of Criminal Justice
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Components of Criminal Justice"

? Criminal Justice Submitted Submitted by: Module Q The researches reveal the very fact that the term justice could notcapture the attention of the Americans for a long time; it is therefore, it was neither demanded during the struggle for the independence in 18th century, nor did any politician laid stress upon the implementation and enforcement of the same. On the contrary, justice actually did not prevail in the US society till the first half of twentieth century even. Consequently, “justice” was used to be observed keeping in view the race, ethnicity, religion, origin and sexual orientation of both the complainant and the accused. The notion justice, according to Rawls (1971), could not obtain place in the Declaration of Independence; nor did it earn popularity in the US Constitution. It was not the cornerstone of the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, the women's suffrage movement, or the civil rights movement. However, the US judicial system, like all civilized societies, appears to be determined to protect the US citizens from any harm and hurt caused at the hands of the criminals and offenders in one way or the other. Consequently, it aims to control criminal activities by introducing and enforcing the standard of conduct applicable on all American citizens without discrimination. Being the torch-bearer of human rights, the US law vehemently supports justice and equality and seriously condemns any act that may challenge the word of law by attacking or harming others through words or action or both. However, it does not imposes bar or restrictions on non-observing of moral values, and allows any type of activities provided these do not damage the rights of the victim. The misconception of preferring the whites on other races while providing justice is actually the outcome of the theory that some specific crimes have unanimously attributed to some particular ethno-racial groups; as Shaw & McKay are of the view that since all social norms, mores, values, cultural traits and life patterns are transferred to the future generations, criminal activities are also transmitted by the individuals belonging to one specific region to their next generation. It is why people are aware of some specific form of crimes to be committed against them. (Akers, 2009) Somehow, an accused is, according to US judicial system, is innocent until he is proven guilty. For this, he is provided with the facility of complete legal representation, due judicial process and trial at the court of law in order to prove his innocence. Q 2: Components of Criminal Justice: Theorists define five components of the US criminal justice system, which include enforcement of law, prosecution procedure, defense attorneys, courts and corrections. (Hagan, 1977) By closely investing the components, it becomes evident that all the five are well-knitted with one another in such a forceful manner that no component could be viewed as separate from the remaining four ones. For instance, enforcement of law regulates the activities of the individuals, and on finding any deviation from the statutes of prevailing law, it orders for the immediate arrest of the accused on the basis of the complain made by the victim or witness of the offence. The police, in the light of the criminal justice system, report the same to the judicial magistrate or any competent authority, which decrees order for the prosecution procedure of the offence committed and complained. The prosecution examines the accused at the court of law, and tries to investigate the validity of the statement made by the complainant. Somehow, the accused is also provided the opportunity to defend himself through attorney, which enters into cross-examination with the complainant in order to verify the circumstances that led towards the committing of the crime under prosecution. Since courts have been established for hearing the cases, all the prosecution is performed at the crime court of law, which takes oaths, appoints staff, determines evidence and holds the entire legal procedure to convict or release the accused. Similarly, correction officers are also appointed by the court in order to supervise the convicted offenders during their conviction in prison, or in the community on probation or parole. Hence, all these components make the entire criminal justice system. Q 3: It is reality beyond suspicion that the members of law enforcement agencies certainly belong to one community or the other; the same is the case with the complainants/victims and the accused/offenders. The law enforcing agencies not only keep the ethno-racial, religious background and sexual orientation of the parties, but also cases are lodged and presented in the light of the population that is in majority in the area. Almost same is the case with the US judiciary, which is aptly blamed for displaying partiality in favor of the whites and against the non-whites. Here it appears the conflict between the components of justice system. One the one side the prosecution tries the offender at the court of law, and is determined to convict him; and on the other side, the system is supporting him by providing him unnecessary chances of proving his purported innocence by producing evidence, either true or false, just to ensure his release. (Vedder et al. 1976) The same is the situation in Corrections, where the correction officer, which allows the offender to join his community on the basis of probation or parole. Since an offender is criminal and thus dangerous for the peace and stability of his social establishment, setting offenders free is just equivalent to inviting the disorder in society. Thus, the components above-mentioned contradict and conflict with one another in many ways in their nature and scope. Q 4: The theorists have defined two major models of criminal justice system i.e. Crime Control Model and Due Process Model; both of which contradict with one another in nature and scope. Crime control model lays stress upon the repression and crushing of criminal activities under the chariot wheels of justice, so that such acts of offence could not be repeated in future. On the contrary, Due Process Model looks for the free and fair trail of the accused at the court of law in order to renounce unfair charges and allegations on the innocent individuals for the future days to come. Similarly, Crime Control Model aims to protect the victims’ rights rather displaying leniency towards the culprit. Since the culprit has not only hurt the victim, but has also broken the prevailing law, so why should he be protected in a respectable manner that is attributed to the poor victim of crime. However, Due Process Model demands for the protection of the offender’s rights in the light of the famous Bill of Rights that instructs regarding the protection of the culprit. The Crime Control Model urges for the immediate providing of justice on the basis of prosecution at the court of law; on the contrary, Due Process Model advocates for providing complete and unconditional chances of proving his innocence rather than haphazard trials that may ruin the very objective of justice. By critically examining both the models discussed-above, it becomes crystal clear that both of them maintain validity and carry weight as well for the successful providing of justice. However, since the offence and breaking of law has been given a go by the accused, the protection and sympathies of the justice system must be in favor of the victim in order to discourage the repetition of the same in society. Consequently, Crime Control Model is more effective one in its nature and scope. References Akers, Ronald L. (2009) Social Learning & Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance Transaction Publishers Rawls, John (1971) A Theory of Justice Cambridge University Press Hagan, Frank, E. (2008) Criminology Sage Publications National Center for Victims of Crime (2008) The Criminal Justice System: What Is It? Retrieved from http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/AGP.Net/Components/documentViewer/Download.aspxnz?DocumentID=45713 Stickels, John W. (2008) The Victim Satisfaction Model of the Criminal Justice System Volume 2, Issue 1 Retrieved from http://www.scientificjournals.org/journals2008/articles/1370.pdf Vedder, Clyde B., Koenig, Samuel., & Clark, Robert E. (1976) Criminology. Holt, Rinehart & Winston New York. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/other/1423099-criminal-justice
(Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
https://studentshare.org/other/1423099-criminal-justice.
“Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/other/1423099-criminal-justice.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Components of Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice System

his paper ''The criminal justice System'' tells us that the criminal justice System is a complex organization that consists of different institutions and agencies that have different functions and roles.... The criminal justice system is defined as encompassing activities and agencies that carry out the prevention, prosecution, and defense of offenses.... The criminal justice system also includes public institutions and key players such as the police, prosecutors, courts, corrections, crime victims, and so on ('criminal justice System')....
7 Pages (1750 words) Term Paper

Criminal Justice System

(Hurwitz and Christiansen, 1983) Components of Criminal Justice System Government Structure According to the academic experts at John Wiley & Sons (2012), “The phrase criminal justice system refers to a collection of federal, state, and local public agencies that deal with the crime problem.... In this way, the process of criminal justice becomes cumbersome and sometimes, confusing to the masses.... The Structure of criminal justice.... In this paper the researcher will attempt to reflect on the criminal justice system in a general way....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Law Enforcement Issues

One common principle in all these types of criminal justice procedures is to apply the element of truth-finding and analysis after going through all the related parties of the incident and delivering judgment in favor of the affected persons or victims.... In the ancient period, some people were not cooperative with the law implementing agency and they used to be captured by the soldiers for the implementation of criminal justice.... The essay "Law Enforcement Issues" focuses on the critical analysis of the major issues in law enforcement, one of the most important components of the criminal justice system....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Criminal Justice Trends Paper

One important component of the criminal justice system is law enforcement.... Law enforcement as component of the criminal justice system requires focus and ample amount of time for consideration to be more successful both in its inception and actual implementation.... Thus, computerization in police training for law enforcement is leading the US in the future to invest more in advance technology to move the criminal justice system a notch higher....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Criminal Justice System

The paper "criminal justice System" discusses that the powers granted to the judiciary have concomitant duties.... This, in effect, is the role of the criminal justice system There are main major components of the criminal justice system.... These components must be in accordance with the rule of law so that government agencies and institutions tasked with the protection of the criminal justice system must act in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, that the courts' duty is to secure the accessibility of justice to all individuals, and that penalties must be fair, non-arbitrary, never excessive, and be meted out only to the guilty....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Structure Of Criminal Justice System

egislatures, sentencing commissions, body of attorneys, police and law enforcement agencies and courts, among others, are parts of the institutional Components of Criminal Justice system.... The paper "The Structure of criminal justice System" describes the jurisdictional, normative,functional and institutional structure of American criminal justice system.... he United States of America has the separate criminal justice system for adults and juveniles,while the country has separate federal, state and military systems for criminal justice....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Probability Distributions

It also includes the satisfaction scores for key components of the criminal justice system and services.... On satisfaction, the criminal justice ranked first with 5.... Correctional facilities play an integral role in the criminal justice system.... herefore, the conclusion is that the criminal justice system has weaknesses that need address by stakeholders.... According to the Bureau of justice Statistics (BJS) 2011, there were about 1....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment

Criminal Justice Rationale and Justification of the Rationale

The elaborate source of criminal justice is mentioned and their applications are observed.... The paper "criminal justice Rationale and Justification of the Rationale" states that a lot of emphasis should be put on the way people relate at the church level.... There has been a review of the criminal justice system for a long time.... A lot of emphasis has therefore been placed on the determination of an appropriate justice system in most countries....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us