Contrasting Various Ethical and Leadership Theories - Essay Example

?In America the criminal justice system is seen to come in three parts each part is made and used together to protect people against crime and protect their rights as individuals. The three parts are made from the Police, Courts and Corrections. Without criminal justice the system would not be able to maintain the crime in America. Dealing without such a system would be virtually impossible. Throughout the years crime and justice have become vital parts in today’s society; they are seen as necessary factors for the functioning of human society. Crime has become part of people’s human behaviour which brings in justice to stop the crime and protect society. Merrian-Webster, defined crime behaviour as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” This indicates that when the police, courts and corrections all work together the system itself works well. The main element of the criminal justice system in the U.S is that of the jury system which is seen to be unique compared to other jury systems. Originally the jury system was made that the result of the verdict being guilty or not guilty would fall on one person’s shoulders but on a group of people. However, this did not occur. The system works that ten people have to agree or disagree if a person is guilty or not guilty. The job of the courts is to show the jury a satisfactory amount of evidence, this is to try and make sure that no-one is wrongly sentenced. The selection of the jury is acquired so strictly it is deemed to show that no-one would favour anyone that is being trialled. In the American criminal justice system today there is an emphasize on equal rights, this is seen to be because a procedure has been put in place. This procedure is meant to be impartial and equal for every person. However a number of statistical reports show that there are still a number of concerns related to discrimination and disparity. Both discrimination and disparity have different meanings and the best way to understand and define them is categorizing them separately. The meaning of Discrimination is described by Microsoft Encarta Dictionary (2007) as “treating people different through prejudice: unfair treatment of one person or group, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender.” Disparity is described by Microsoft Encarta Dictionary (2007) as “a lack of equality between people or things.” Disparity in the criminal justice system is usually related to ethnicity or race. The issue that arises when it comes to a race related problem because it can also be seen as discrimination. David Cole wrote, "our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality." Cole made this vital statement due to the fact, class and race has been causing a concern in the criminal system for a number of years. American criminal justice is said to be blind. However over a long period of time there has been a large amount of inequalities this is because of social class, racial and economic differences. "Absent race and class disparities, the privileged among us could not enjoy as much constitutional protection of our liberties" The case of Gideon v. Wainwright can be used to illustrate this point. This case showed that justice is not evenly awarded if the conditions in which it follows are not reasonable to begin with. In the case Gideon could not afford a lawyer after he was charged with a crime, because this would have been Gideon’s fifth offence the punishment was severe. Gideon requested to the courts for a lawyer however the request was denied. After Gideon was sentenced to five years imprisonment, he appealed to the Supreme Court against the State of Florida pointing out that during the case he was not given the correct rights and the Constitution’s sixth amendment was not followed correctly. Gideon v. Wainwright case was a breakthrough because it gave defendants more rights and it increased the services and time that that was available to the defendants so they were able to make use and achieve full rights. The concerns regarding modern day ethical issues in criminal justice is so wide and vary, the criminal justice system has so numerous amount of challenges from the public. Criminal justice is seen to keep the state functioning and the local government running according to standards. The Federal Bureau reported that the rate of violent crime in the U.S was lower in 2008 than it had been in twenty years. This showed that the criminal justice system must be having a positive impact on the U.S. However, over time criminal justice has become a bigger issue throughout all federal parts in all the states. The responsibility for criminal justice lies on the local and state government. The federal government have the power to tax and protect the U.S currency, this power is given from the U.S constitution. The powers given also grant a variety of justice responsibilities. The job of the federal government is to deal with the federal prison systems however they run many law enforcement agencies. The federal government gives criminal justice funding and many other forms of help for the state and the local governments. The criminal justice system supports the factor that as time changes the system will have to change according to the needs and demands of society. The criminal justice system is said to work well when crime is at its lowest and appropriate tactics are being used to stop crime. Over the changing years situations have changed the pressures on the system. The changes in economic society make all the difference to how the criminal justice system works. One ethical issue which causes problems in the criminal justice system is that the prisons in America are overcrowded. The solution to solve the overcrowded prison is build more prisons so criminals can go to prison when they have committed a crime. Pew Center in 2008 did a study showing that America had the highest imprisonment rate in the world. The study showed that 1 in 100 America people were under the custody of the criminal justice system. Imprisonment was highest for drug crime which was the biggest problem in the study. The ethical issue of mental health standards was changed in America during the 1970’s when majority of the psychiatric facilities were closed due to the decision that an outpatient service with community care. In today’s American society a high amount of people suffer from mental health illnesses, and they end up in the criminal justice system because the facility is not there for them. Prisons and courts do not have suitable treatment to deal with mental health issues. These coincidences with the fact prisons are overcrowded, if the criminal justice system worked on increasing help for mental health patients and not imprisoning them with normal prisoners this may show a difference in the crime ratings in the future. The increase in costs has caused issues for the criminal justice system, in today’s modern society, cost is a major concern, and housing all the prisoners has an effect on the general American expenditure. Since 2000, trends throughout the world have shown that giving drug treatments is more popular than imprisonment, and has shown better rates of success with drug treatment. The three important issues surrounding immigration in criminal justice are the amount of time and all the resources that is essential to deport immigrants. The second is the extent on finding the immigrants and removing them from society. The final issue is the people that employ illegal immigrants with unauthorized documents or no documents, rather than the blame to fall on the immigrant. Without all of the above criminal justice would not be able to prevail over immigrants. Immigration has become a bigger issue over the last ten years. Another drug related issue which has been dealt with differently throughout the states is personal possession of marijuana. Some states have allowed the drug to be legalized for medical use. Medical use of marijuana has been said by experts that the drug lessens the feeling of nausea and also it is linked with chemotherapy treatment. However, federal law has never recognized these exceptions in these states. State law still does not allow large amounts of possessions to be used or distributed to others for selling purposes. The scheme is not seen as a positive attribute to the criminal justice system and sometimes causing confusion. Laws across America insist that convicted sex offenders have to be publicist and they also have to have there addresses registered so the government know where they live. The concerns which arise are that some sex offenders do not register so it is impossible to track them down. Also it makes criminal justice had because not all people need to go on the register however on the system every person looks the same. For example a teenage boy who has consensual sex with his girlfriend is no danger to society, but may still be registered this makes the criminal justice system imprecise. The Federal judges stand by the Code of Conduct for U.S judges. They have to abide by a set of rules and principles. The rules were set by the Judicial Conference of the U.S. The code of conduct gives judges throughout the United States guidance on matters of impartiality and judicial issues. The Code of Conduct carries guidelines that a judge may not deal with a case that has personal connections or personal knowledge about the case before it was brought to the courts. Ethics in the criminal justice system is a key feature. Ethics in the system play a major role on how justice is seen and interpreted. Religious parts are also added into the ethics in criminal justice as in every main currency or point, “under god” is referred to. The ethical codes in the criminal justice system show similarities, however only a minority mention the Bill of Rights. The Code of Ethics in the Academy of Criminal Justice Science is widespread. The Academy has been told about the issues surrounding them, some say they may misuse powers and try to influence results and misuse their authority in a wrong way. The members of the Academy should make sure they produce results fairly for everyone. In today’s criminal justice system the potential pitfalls are not seen to be a problem as much as it has been in the past. The criminal justice system is equal and is said not to take religion, race or any social differences into consideration because this would show unequal rights. The rule is that no difference such as the above should reflect the proper application of law. The drawback of the “unwritten” code in the Criminal Justice system is that colleagues will always side with each other as they will know each other on a personal level; this would be seen as bias. The law enforcement agencies are seen as “union” which means they all stick together. This has advantaged as working well together helps the system. However on the other hand the serious amount of power that is given to them that could be abused through the legal system. An example of this would be the Rampart crisis which occurred in Los Angeles, during the crisis bad leadership and personal relationships caused procedures not to be followed correctly. The intentions of the people were involved were goo they did nt intend to be bias and unjust, however they ended up using influences to there advantage. Sergeant Brian Liddy as an officer at the time of the incident he described how the officers had total freedom. By allowing the officers to do what they wanted it caused severe problems and the commanders in charge should have been held responsible. However this did not happen. The Code of Ethics could be interpreted slightly different to different states however the main principle is all the same. An ethical code by definition supplies a dilemma at times. Ethics is about personal views and personal opinions as everyone interprets meanings and definitions differently. The ethical code should be there to give guidelines to someone who is new to the system. The interesting factor was that the ethical code was not seen to be standard and that the code varied from state to state. However the following declaration "The American correctional Association expects of its members unfailing honesty, respect for the dignity and individuality of human beings and a commitment to professional and compassionate service." This meant treating others with respect, showing dignity and respect to each human being. If more justice professionals followed this statement it would be better for the American people, and the criminal justice system would be better. The criminal justice system employs leaders and management to keep the guidelines of the system. The leadership in the criminal justice system plays a vital role in maintaining common goals. It is important to realize that all the different roles in the system are all important, everyone in the system needs to for fill there role correctly otherwise there would be problems and complications. It is significant that all members in the system fully apply with the rule and regulations. These people in authority are the foundation of the justice system so they must fair and do there job as correctly as they can. Leadership provides the devotion, pledge and risk taking manner of the individual. Also the level of communication and the adaptation of learning are essential in completing tasks. Stogdill (1974) said the most important task for a leader is to be task based, responsible and determined in there working goals. An overall analysis of the criminal justice system in connection with mental health issues shows that it is too costly for people to be treated for mental health issue in the United States. It seems that the issue of mental health has not been tackled correctly. The United States has a very unique criminal justice system. The States have powers to exercise on the citizens. The criminal justice system has direct responsibility, so if at any point the system is corrupted or abused the system could potentially be in dangerous hands. The criminal justice system has targeted certain groups of people in America this is influenced by media and the public perception. The Criminal Justice System are based on public perception. The criminal justice system holds the people of America with the idea that the media and public are its biggest threat. Also it is said that young poor youths tend to be a target due to the fact the older and rich people influence the law and the people in the Criminal Justice System. The system is sometimes influenced by special groups and by political people around the system, many of these people hold the legal power to certain activities in the system and financial power to the sources of the Criminal Justice System. The system is limited with the amount of powers it has with the other authorities ad the courts. For example with the jury in the courts how much influence can the system have when the jury is so carefully selected? The Criminal Justice system can only have power over the things they have control of, so even the people that feel the system is influenced should realize it is hard in many ways to control the system. The Criminal Justice System is based on a number of different factors; one factor is the correctional facilities in the prisons, showing that around 87% people in the institutes are African America males. The perception in America about African America male is that they are unstable and volatile members in American society. The only negative point is that if the media keeps portraying this perception that all African American males are violent and will only end up in prison all African American males will keep grow up thinking this is the only way for them to be. If the system could find a way to put something in place to help the races and ages that need help it may in the long run help the criminal justice system financially and will see statistics go down by a high percentage over the years. The book ‘The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison,’ exemplifies how the rich can determine and influence the law, the book targets the criminal justice system as targeting the poorer class and favoring the richer class in America. The book believes that the laws that have been out in place are to protect the rich from the poor so the classes will never mix and that the poor will never be able to change their ways and work there way to the top. Most lawyers work to keep the system running according to the rules. For example, if a man is caught stealing from a local shopping store to feed his family food as they are that poor he would receive between three to five years imprisonment. However if a well respected business man who embezzles millions of dollars to deceive a company or a big corporation with the result of many people losing their jobs, he would get a small fine with no serious consequences. On a weekly basis television news and American newspapers have a piece or report on a young, African American male who has been in trouble in his community for a crime. The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper has all the criminal activities on the front page and majority of the times it is always a certain race and age that are targeted on the front page. In conclusion the ethical and leadership theories throughout the Criminal Justice has changed over the years, however the level of problems does not seem to have decreased, by analyzing the findings throughout the essay the findings have been that media have played a negative role in the criminal justice and maybe this needs working on in the future. A system that was put in place for young people to help them stay away from crime from an earlier age so poorer people are not dragged down in the same way as people before them. This would mean time and money being put into areas the results would not be instant but would show a positive view over time. The existing understanding of Criminal Justice has been largely been based on media perception of what crime really is and who is most likely to commit crime. The sources that have been investigated show the prison facilities to have been full of one type of age or race and this reflects on criminal justice as a whole. Overall the system seems to work together without a massive amount of disagreement just small areas need to be recognized and dealt with accordingly. Read More