Criminal Justice Management and Administration - Research Paper Example

Contents Contents 2 3 Introduction 3 Historical and Theoretical Development of Ethical 4 Organizational Management 4 Most Common Positions and Functions in Various Criminal 6 Justice Organizations 6 Law enforcers 6 Federal Investigators 7 Correctional Departments 8 Legal departments 8 Federal forensic department 9 Distinction between an Executive, Manager 10 And Supervisor 10 An executive 10 A manager 11 Supervisors 12 Strength and Weaknesses of Different ways of organizing criminal justice 12 Organizations 12 Strengths 13 Weaknesses 13 Criminal Justice Management and Administration Abstract There are different ways of looking at the criminal justice system. These ways include the structures, the constitutional mandate of its establishment, various issues that surround it and so forth. One important way of analyzing this system is how it is managed and run by various personalities and offices. There are several roles and responsibilities by various officials and offices in this system. The exercise is going to focus on the administration of the system by offering an overview of the structure that makes up the criminal justice system and a brief look at the distinction of the top offices. In addition to that, there will be an assessment of the historical issues in the development of the management system of the system and later a review of the strengths and weaknesses of this system. Introduction Criminal justice management is basically the supervision and oversight of the system that is mandated to serve justice to criminal cases (Garcia, 2011). The criminal justice system includes line officers, court officials, investigation officers, parole officials, investigators and administrators. In the administration, the criminal justice system is also designed in unique managerial positions. These positions range from a police chiefs to national intelligence bodies. It is structured in such a manner that information flow is facilitated to move freely and with a definite course of action. Through the flow various decisions are made at respective levels to facilitate a quick serving of justice and the avoidance of justice delayed-justice denied situation. This study is going to focus on the historical and theoretical development of ethical organizational management in the system, a summary of the most common functions and positions in various criminal justice organizations and then an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in different methods of organizing criminal justice organizations. Historical and Theoretical Development of Ethical Organizational Management Management as whole is both diverse and multi-faceted. This is so because its principles apply from the corporate world to government is to the states criminal management justice system. Over the years, there has been a wide array of developments that have shaped the ethical management of the criminal justice system. This includes changes of approaches, perceptions and laws that the top brass have employed in making the criminal justice system one of the best in the country as Lawrence, (1993) agrees. There have also been historical and theoretical developments in the ethics in the organization’s management system which this section is going to focus on. Basically, the ethics in organization is the moral approach to the practices and conduct of all the people involved in that kind of business. This also is relevant in the criminal justice system where despite the levels of sensitivity and rawness that are applied in this field on a day to day basis, ethics are given a priority. The leadership and management of this system according to Lawrence,(1993) have a responsibility of making sure that the principles and conducts of this field are correctly observed by all that are involved in various ranks. Transparency and accountability are stresses in the ethical aspect of management. The leaders or people who handle crime are obligated to share information and provide excellent approach to all that are interested in the cases. In the past four decades, the criminal justice system has evolved and changed in many capacities especially in the management and cooperation with outside agencies. These agencies which include courts and correctional facilities have increased the working-ability with the criminal justice system in various capacities. Cooperation and coordination between the agencies have proven fruitful in the curbing crime. Specifically speaking the ethics in business debates started in the late sixties whereby the need to have ethical and transparent approach to management was stressed in all the institutions which employed people (Wolfgang, 1990). This prompted the formulation of the Safe Street Act of 1968 which advocated for officials dealing with crime management to give information and share it with the agencies that deal with the management of criminals such as probation offices, child welfare official’s investigators and so forth as Garcia (2011) shows. The early nineties to the beginning of the new millennium have seen a big development in the management of crime in the United States for instance. It was during this period when the system was developed and systemized with technology. Many investigators had access to government laboratories and even used the DNA sampling methods to carry up to date investigations. The last ten years have perhaps seen the biggest step into the war against crime because of the mechanizations and introduction of the information technology to the criminal justice system. There are databases and information records of about every individual in the USA. These provide spot-on check on the crime history of the people involved in crime and provide information as quickly as possible. There has been reduction of crime because of these issues. In addition to that the united states being the leading nation of inmates in the world has taken a big step in ensuring that they are not only taken care of well but also managed in a manner that promotes the correction to be effective. The development that is perhaps the most influential of all is the efforts to make a manager of crime take management courses and trainings to make them more efficient and proactive in handling their jobs well. It is with this regard that the management of criminal justice system is becoming more proactive. Most Common Positions and Functions in Various Criminal Justice Organizations In criminal justice organizations, there are systematic and organized structures that are designed in such a way that there is swift and efficient offering of the justice system. They include positions which are set out with particular functions that are professionally attached to make the work easier for the crime fighters. There are about three most common departments in the criminal justice system but can be expounded to about five because of the modernity and introduction of technology. They are law enforcers, federal investigators, correctional departments, legal departments and more recently the forensic departments who work hand in hand with the other departments for detailed investigations. Law enforcers In this department there are several positions or offices which include the police officers, sheriffs, park rangers, public safety officers and so on. They have a mandate to ensure that the state laws are fully cooperated by the citizens and other personalities Johnson, (2011). Their main functions include; Arrests They are charged with arresting and opening the cases of people who are perceived to be suspects and opening file cases for the minor case. They are also able to prosecute minor cases in conjunction with the local courts. They are however not allowed to deal with major felons or crimes unless in conjunction with the federal investigators about to be discussed below. Seizures- they are also mandated to seize evidence or other necessary things from suspected criminals that may be used in the court of law in terms of evidence. The law enforcers also have other functions such as ensuring public safety by dealing with petty crime, they can also be able to manage high way patrol and control traffic in areas where there are emergencies (John, 2005).. Generally speaking the laws enforcers are mandated to make sure the laws are followed to the letters and any deviations from the norm prosecuted. Federal Investigators The investigators are perhaps the most talked about officers in the criminal justice sidesteps because of the role they play in movies and on. Their work involves piecing up of evidence and linking them with suspects involved in crime. The investigators deal with complex criminal activities and suspects in major crimes. The y include Federal bureau of investigators, Criminal investigation agencies all special agents and so forth. Their main functions include; Investigation They mandated to get all the necessary information of criminality before or after a felony has been committed. Although they are often functional in the areas of convicting crimes, they are also functioning on crime busting and prevention. The investigation part of the FBI involves intelligence and a level of secrecy therefore they operate through undercover agents and top system of work. Protection of foreign and domestic incursion Criminality knows no border. The federal investigators are also mandated to protect foreign intelligence and spies that compromise the issue of national justice (Wolfgang, 1990). They have a wide jurisdiction to work with any department of criminal justice system and have exclusive access to all government and personal institutions as long as they provide search and accessibility warrants. Correctional Departments These are state prison and facilities where criminals and convicts are held. They are institutions that are designed by the law to offer punishment, correction and rehabilitation of citizens who are found guilty of various offences of various capacities. It is part of the criminal justice system because this is the destination where the convicts are brought to after a successful investigation, arrests and charges are confirmed and the elements found to be guilty (Johnson, 2011). The offices that fall in this capacity include the prisons/ correction officers, parole officers, witness protection offices, and various probation officers such as the juvenile officers and federal protection officers. The functions include Apprehension This is the legal holding of individual for a specified times at the facilities who are charged with various criminal charges. It is commonly known as serving ‘time’. The correctional faculties re designed to safely tuck away crime propagators from the public. Rehabilitation- this is the correction and apparent changes of the individuals that are involved in the crimes. It is the main reason why all the prisons are in existence in the first place. The correction facilities aim to provide the inmates with a reflective time to change and become better citizens in the long run. Legal departments These are offices in the criminal justice systems that are designed to try and charge the suspected criminals to give an appropriate judgment. In other similar terms they are the courts that re mandated by the law to have hearings on cases to determine the course of justice. There are several courts that exist and they include the juvenile court, pre-trial chambers and main law court which are created to deal with specific cases such as those that involve underage individuals and special cases. The officials here include the defense attorneys, the judges, bailiffs, court assistant and so forth. Functions Trial and hearings The courts comprise of attorneys, the judges and the jury. They have the responsibility of listening to the suspect and the prosecutions and determine the verdicts before confirming the charges. It is at the trial stage that all sort of evidence is provided by the investigators and presented to the chambers by the prosecution to establish that the cases are watertight for judgment. Judgment and sentencing-this is the key responsibility of the judges who have are supposed to gauge the degree of the charges and through the legal knowledge give out proper sentencing to the criminals. Federal forensic department This is an office that is charged with dealing with high profile investigation on cases that require scientific cases. The officers on third case are commonly used in fraud murder and even kidnappings that don’t have straight evidence. They work hand in hand with federal investigators and law enforcers. The officers that are in this department include the crime scene investigators, finger print examiners, anthropologist, nurses and even artists that restructure bodies and so on. They are the most detailed and knowledge oriented in the criminal justice systems departments. The most common functions of this department include: High leveled investigations This is the use of expertise and in-depth knowledge to investigate crime that is committed. It involves the retrieval of information from the crime scene by the investigators for further analysis and testing. In most cases, there is the usage of DNA testing on the gathered evidence especially when the nature of the crime is complicated (John, 2005). Coordination with the other departments Because the forensic department holds sensitive investigation and evidence, it has an obligation of relaying information to all other agencies in need. Therefore the department serves to coordinate with the rest in coming up with solutions to the criminal investigations. It can therefore be noted that the general composition of the criminal justice administration is conveniently segmented to the various departments stated above. This is so because the management of a sensitive institution like justice administration requires delegations to deal with various aspects of crime from investigation to the final conviction of the suspects. The administration of justice can further be made to be more effective if the ethical and moral standards in the system are observed to the letter Johnson, (2011. Ultimately with the ever increasing technology and discoveries one can say that the system can only get better. Distinction between an Executive, Manager And Supervisor While it is typical that all companies in the united stated have their own structures, there is a tendency that positions generally in these companies have the same work specifications. There are those roles that the top managers do that don’t depend on their titles or tags in their names. The tags such as executive, managers and supervisors have the same definition book but are applied differently by different companies. In the criminal justice system for instance there are ranks that are seen in the above discussed departments which perform the equivalent of those three positions. An executive This term is employed to show the ranks of people in the top management of the company. It is not a formal title in its own; rather it is attached to other formal offices such as chief executive officers, executive vice presidents and so forth (Kelling, 2002). The title executive only serves as a distinction between the ranks of individual and does not necessarily mean the responsibilities are different. for instance the vice president and ‘executive vice president’ have more or less the same responsibility but the latter is attached with the term ‘executive’ to show superiority because of factors such as ownership of company or one has major shares and so forth. Just like in the corporate world, the criminal justice system has an equivalent of executive such as commissioners whose main aim is to watch on the strategic and overall functioning of the system. They are the top decision makers on long term activities that are to be carried out by the organizations. The executives also play a role I the planning of the organizations activities in both the short and long run. A manager Managers are people that are given the responsibilities of achieving the organization’s goals through the efforts of others. This is through the fact that they are able to use the resources that are at their disposal-be it human or material resources, to achieve the objectives of the organization in a specified time. They have five functions that are universally accepted that include organizing planning, directing, staffing and controlling. Although these five functions can be altered and re-defined by different people they are the basic that are functional. Management of the organizations just as in the criminal justice management and administration is divided into levels namely the top, middle and lower management levels. The criminal justice system has also cadres and ranks that are observed in protocol. For instance, in the law enforcement, there are police commissioners, generals, corporals to the lower cadres of constables who carry out similar roles of management. The top management has the role of oversight and conceptualizing of strategies to be used on a longer term. They are mandated to formulate policies and adjustment of existing by-laws. They are less engaged on day to day activities which are left to the lower ranking officers or officials with a capacity to handle those responsibilities well. The middle level managers are charged with the handling of the day to day activities (Kelling, 2002). They deal directly with the people on the lower cadres unlike the top managers. They delegate directly to departmental staff or officers who report directly back to them. The middle level managers have considerable powers to make changes that affect the operation of the whole organizations without necessarily consulting the top managers. The lower level management officer only manage a limited number of people and resources, they are responsible in dealing with workers or the staff on the ground because. Supervisors This term also is relative in different organizations, ranks and responsibilities. A supervisor is the individual who a person reports to directly. This is regardless of the position rank or responsibilities. Top level supervision may include overseeing what the top management is doing and is the most superior and comprises of the owners and the directors. The lower supervisors are responsible in supervising the workers. In criminal justice system, there are supervisors directly responsible for people directly in the lower cadre than them. They oversee the functioning and the following of the policies set up by the top management. Strength and Weaknesses of Different ways of organizing criminal justice Organizations Just as in management and organization in the corporate world, the criminal justice system also has similar modes of management that have been used over time. However two modes of organizing criminal justice stand out which are the federal criminal justice system and state criminal justice system. Despite the responsibilities of the two systems being to curb the crime in their jurisdiction, they are different on the procedures that they follow in the administration of justice. These differences are notable especially in the department of the courts and correctional facilities. It is notable that the criminal justice system as a whole has general weaknesses and strengths depending on the way one looks at them. These are the factors that have made the system be judged in both the good and critical ways. Strengths In terms of speed, the criminal justice system is structured a in a way that the trial is both speedy and efficient. Because of the sharing of information between the three major departments, it facilitates a faster administration of justice. In addition to this, there is a provision of the jury which offers unbiased judgment. The next positive aspect of this system is the right of appeal in the cases. The law grants a convicted person the right to have their cases heard again if there was a feeling that the sentencing was not sufficient. Thirdly, the system is effective in terms of management. The policies that are set by the law, if properly followed, they are able to produce results that are both fair and just. This is through the aspects of management and delegation that are put in place by the system. Lastly the system is very thorough especially in the investigation of the cases and the ability to get evidence by the aid of the forensic department. Weaknesses Overburden- some states in the United States are threatened to be overburdened especially by the volume of the cases that are being reported in the system. Therefore there ought to be additional resources by the states to curb this problem that is being overlooked. Socio-economic bias- Despite the efficiency and effectiveness that is seen by the states’ system, there is a bias that is witnessed by the enforcers especially to black Mexican and poorer citizens. Celebrities and powerful politicians also seem to get favored by the system. Policy weakness- there is little or no attention that addresses detailed crimes in the country. This is because there are white-collar crimes such as fraud, environmental depletion, corruption and so forth which cause more harm to the people economically and socially than the petty crimes. There are no clear modes of executing the justice to these high leveled crimes despite them being on paper. Lack of communication- the communication aspect is important because it assist in coordination and decision making. This is temporary but more often than not the lapse of this issue is detrimental to the system Conclusion Criminal justice management is the supervision and oversight of the system that is mandated to serve justice to criminal cases. . It is structured in such a manner that information flow is facilitated to move with a definite course of action. There are positions which are associated with this system which fall under five departments which are law enforcers, federal investigators, correctional departments and legal departments. The exercise has focused on the administration of the system by offering an overview of the structure that makes up the criminal justice system and a brief look at the distinction of the top offices References Garcia, J (2011). What is Criminal Justice Management? Retrieved 13 November 2011 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-criminal-justice-management.htm. John, R (2005). Criminal Justice: Mainstream and Crosscurrents. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Johnson, W (2011). Types of Criminal Justice Agencies. Retrieved 13 November 2011 from http://www.ehow.com/list_6038956_types-criminal-justice-agencies.html. Kelling, G (2002). Evolving Strategy of Policing: Case Studies of Strategic Change. National Institute of Justice. NCJ. Lawrence, M. (1993). Crime and Punishment in American History. Basic Books. New York, NY. Wolfgang, M(1990). Crime and Punishment in Renaissance Florence. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.81 (3): 312-23. Read More