Criminal Justice Organizations - Essay Example

1. Introduction Change management, innovation, and decision-making are important factors that keep the machinery of the criminal justice organization well-oiled. However, decision making and change in criminal justice is quite different from other organizations. We explore the differences, while enumerating the highlights of criminal justice organization. Decision Making Differences between Criminal Justice and Other Organizations Decision-making is a conscious process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs (Shull Jr., Delbecq and Cummings cited in McShane & Glinow, 2005, p 236). Decision-making is consciously exploring and implementing alternatives to meet organizational objectives. Non criminal justice organizations base their decisions on the rational model whereby a problem is identified, a decision style chosen, alternative solutions developed and the best solution proposed (McShane & Glinow). Criminal justice organizations, on the other hand, carry series of decision-making points, most often, against the offenders of law. These are also called trigger events. The trigger events are, in fact, an optimization of concern for security of the community and freedom of the person (Gottfredson & Gottfredson, 1987). Unlike other organizations the decisions of the criminal justice managers and administrators are not independent of their effect on the society and community in large. 2. Also, decision-making is affected by interrelatedness in the three components of criminal justice system. Decisions made in one component affects the other (Gottfredson & Gottfredson, 1987). The most important decision in the entire criminal justice system is that of the arrest of the offender, made by the police. Post-arrest, the decisions of criminal justice organization depend on the offender’s decision of pleading guilty or not-guilty. The effectiveness of the decisions in the criminal justice organization is adjudged by the smoothness with which the trial, conviction, acquittal, incarceration, bail, probation, and parole are conducted. Change and Innovation Organizational change is managed in other organizations by ‘unfreezing’ a given situation, moving to a desired state, and then ‘refreezing’ the system to reach the desired outcome. Organizational change, in other organizations, is driven by driving forces and impeded by restraining forces as in Lewin’s Force Field Analysis model. Change and innovation in criminal justice organizations are affected by power dynamics and the organization’s ability for self-analysis (Berman, Bowen & Mansky, 2007). Innovation in criminal justice organization requires time and pre-launch planning (Berman, Bowen & Mansky, 2007), which are missing in the actual situations. Unlike other organizations, the criminal justice organization staff has the advantage of using discretion. However, little is known, outside of the criminal justice organizations, about the use of discretionary powers. Related to this, is the abject lack of understanding of the criteria of criminal justice processes across the country. This can be due to the lack of descriptions of these processes. 3. Organizational Effectiveness Organization effectiveness is the ability of the organization in achieving desired outcomes of the decisions made. Since the criminal justice organizations are state managed agencies, their only source of finance is the public money. This makes it all the more important that these agencies function with complete effectiveness for attaining its stated goals. The other causes that act as barriers are political influences, bureaucracies, fiscal realities, interagency differences, leadership and management influences. Criminal justice organizations are unable to cope with the power dynamics based on the democratic institutions of the country. However, it is important to understand that political processes are not always impediments in the innovation and change of the criminal justice organization. At times, the political will and pressure is the only capable force to overcome the entrenched obstacles and barriers to innovation and change. Barrier to Change and Innovation The success of change and innovation in criminal justice organization is dependant upon its inoculation to attack, criticism, and political pressures. Other common barriers in change implementation are poor understanding of the target population, unrealistic expectations, and lack of adequate research (Berman, Bowen & Mansky, 2007). Another barrier in change management is the criminal justice organization is lack and complete absence of documentation in some areas of criminal justice organization. Criminal Justice Organization and Research Research is an important dimension of the criminal justice system. Although emphasis is given to research on the courts’ and corrections’ functioning, but the police 4. functioning is devoid of research that hampers its decision-making and change management. With lack of adequate research, the administrators and managers run the risk of choosing a wrong course, making a wrong design, and jeopardizing change. Criminal justice organizations are not open to research conducted in other areas and remain isolated from the recent developments. Despite wide acceptance of the need for evidence-based decision making, many areas of decision making remain devoid of research (Berman, Bowen & Mansky, 2007, p8). Lack of research is one of the important causes of failure in effecting change and innovation in the criminal justice organization. Processes for innovation and change can be made easier with the research on preceding cases and decisions can be taken accordingly. Research, constantly, helps in making critical decisions and imparts proper orientation to the entire criminal justice system. Research mandates that the managers and administrators to make decisions objectively. Research is especially important in the police and courts to base their decisions in dispensing justice to the offender and the victim. In the corrections, adequate research is required in vocational fields for the rehabilitative causes. The Future The future holds a lot many possibilities for the criminal justice organization. The methods of carrying out different functions, dispensing justice, and rational decision making should be incorporated in all three components of the criminal justice organizations. The criminal justice organization managers and administrators need to be 5 more trained to handle discretionary powers and backed by research so that they can fully optimize justice while upholding the rights of the offenders. Conclusion It can be reasonably concluded that criminal justice organization are not averse to change and innovation. However, little is known about the actual processes of decision making and innovation outside of these criminal justice organizations. Innovation and change in criminal justice are also not supported by adequate research. With changed approaches, decisions and change management can be based on rational models as in other organizations. References Berman, G, Bowen, P, & Mansky, A., (2007). Trial and error: failure and innovation in criminal justice reform. Retrieved February 6th, 2009, http://www.courtinnovation.org/_uploads/documents/failure.pdf Gottfredson, M, R., and Gottfredson, D, M., (1987). Decision making in criminal justice Springer Publishing. McShane, S, L., and Glinow, M, A, V., (2005) Organizational behavior, Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing. New Delhi. Read More