The Environment and Criminal Justice: Expansion of the Role - Research Paper Example

? The Environment and Criminal Justice: Expansion of the Role al Affiliation: The Environment and Criminal Justice: Expansion of the Role Introduction The environment plays a critical role in organizing criminal justice system at the federal, state or local level. Apparently, a criminal offence usually takes place within environmental settings. In the same way, the law making and enforcement agencies operate within distinct settings (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012). Thus, there is constant interaction between different parties that constitute the criminal justice system. For instance, the legislators create laws or amend existing legislations depending on their assessment of the strength and failings of the current criminal justice system. For instance, they would intervene by passing appropriate legislations in cases where the law on criminals seems to discriminate against particular group or form of crime. The legislature would further amend laws that tend to impose unrealistic penalties on criminals to reflect the seriousness or magnitude of crime committed (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012). The adjudication (the courts) will also work closely with other law enforcement organs to ensure just and fair verdict on cases presented before it. The judge is a vital personality of the courtroom work group. The judge will primarily employ his or her vast knowledge on matters of law to administer legal proceedings. The final verdict after a successful hearing of a lawsuit usually comes from the judge (or magistrate), which in essence involves weighing of prosecution evidence against the submissions of the defense team. The prosecutor (also known as the prosecution team) will present in court the charges against the accused person. It is the responsibility of the prosecution to prove to the court that the said crimes were indeed committed by submitting detailed evidence (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012). The defense counsel will counter the charges by submitting evidence that refutes or dismisses prosecution claims. The police on the other hand carry out investigations about suspected crime and make arrest where necessary. Thesis Statement: While existing legislations and the Constitution have spelt out the roles of each component of the criminal justice system, the environmental set up seems to influence successful realization of goals of the justice system as well as capacity to expand these roles. Environmental Settings and Crime Crimes are committed within an environmental set up. The suspect or suspects of crime will encounter the police as the first component of the criminal justice system when a crime has been committed. The police will conduct thorough investigations of the alleged offense before proceeding with the arrest (Travis, 2011). In cases where the suspected criminal is dangerous, an integrated force of different law enforcement agencies will come on board once the arrest warrant has been issued. The operation would take place within the social settings, which in essence imply that it might result into social disorder and disarray. For instance, a hunt for terror suspect might force the affected state and federal government to issue an alert to all U.S. states as well as neighboring countries and territories. Certain environments are known to propagate high levels of crime compared to others (Travis, 2011). Accordingly, the security division is likely to record numerous instances of crime on day-to-day basis albeit many of the offenders may not necessarily face prosecution. Several research studies have helped to uncover reasons behind higher levels of crime in such areas. Incidentally, the physical size of a city or state is not always an accurate measure of crime rate. According to the 2012 Calendar of Crimes, St. Louis (in Missouri) with a population of 318, 667 people recorded 1,776 cases of violent crime (Travis, 2011). In contrast, Washington (in the District of Columbia) with a population of 632,323 people recorded just over 1,177 instances of violent crime. The Environment of Criminal Justice System In general, the environment of any social set up comprises political, demographic, legal, economic, cultural, ecological, and technological factors. According to Stan Stojkovic, David Kalinich, and John Klofas (2011) in their book Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management (5th Ed.), a typical environment of an advanced society encompass the political, legal, economic, ecological, technological, and demographic forces (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012). Each of these forces plays a significant part to the process of creating, maintaining, and changing the criminal justice system. For example, the contemporary political structures and administration systems of a state or country will determine its capacity to adopt certain changes to the criminal justice systems. Similarly, cultural beliefs and traditions might promote or derail efforts to expand the roles of institutions of criminal justice (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012). Economic situations on the other hand would imply either low income or high-income populations. Previous researches indicate that low-income population whether in rural areas or urban settings are likely to experience higher rates of crime compared to places consisting mainly the high-income earners. The demographics, which include age, gender, religion, race, and cost of living, would also influence the overall findings of crime cases. Technological changes would also affect the level of crime and steps that law enforcement agencies would take to restore social order. For instance, the Internet era coupled with emergence of various social networking sites has arguably escalated crime in several cities across the U.S. (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2013). Besides, a new form of crime (cyber crime) has emerged owing to an array of criminal activities reported to take place in the cyber space. The public demands and constraints include resource allocation, legal constraints, demand for services, and support for or against local, state or federal programs. Similarly, the criminal justice system entails mission, policies, procedures, and practices (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2013). That is, each component of the criminal justice system will discharge duties already spelt out by existing laws as well as the Constitution to accomplish predetermined mission. However, it is necessary that law all enforcement authorities adopt distinct policy framework and procedures to the goal of expanding their roles. Material Environment of the Criminal Justice System A proper understanding of the justice system would require a direct attention to the subsystems together with inconsistencies underlying the system. The setting of criminal justice is both ideological and material. The ideological part consists mainly of beliefs and values about how the criminal justice system should essentially operate (Travis, 2011). The material component comprises concrete resources such as personnel, equipment, and money. Generally, every system of a material environment consists of three distinctive stages namely the input, throughput, and output. For instance, manufacturing system has input as the reception of materials, through as production process, and finally the output as finished product (Travis, 2011). In the context of criminal justice system, the input stage would include capital, machinery and labor. Therefore, the input will include law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutor, defense lawyers, courthouses, correctional staff, jails, and paper clips. The output of the criminal justice system will include the convicts as well as non-guilty suspects released at different stages of court proceedings. For example, some suspects are released during the confirmation of charges hearing because of insufficient evidence. Such cases would therefore not proceed to trial hence offering the prosecution team a chance to carryout fresh investigations or gather extra evidence to that effect (Travis, 2011). In addition, if the prosecution had gathered substantial evidence that has satisfied the judge (or judges), they will approve the case for full trial. Incidentally, the raw materials for a criminal justice system would comprise the alleged criminal offense. This explains why the nature as well as distribution of crime affects the system. Some types of crime will attract heavier penalties (such death penalty) whereas offenders of other crimes may face lighter sentence, or proven not guilty altogether. The justice system has limited control over the number or amount of raw materials it receives daily. Apparently, many offences will always occur in various cities in the U.S. The law enforcement agencies will execute its part of following the legal framework to ensure suspects of crime are answerable to the charges (Pollock, 2012). In cases where large crowds of people engage in demonstrations, police officers will mainly focus of ways of maintaining order. Many of the officers will also tend to overlook minor damages, which in essence are difficult to prosecute. Nevertheless, in cases where the criminal justice system has heavy caseloads, it may consider removing particular class or categories of criminal behavior (Pollock, 2012). Harmless victims such as those charged with vagrancy, disorderly conduct, and public intoxication do not necessarily require prosecution. Thus, expansion of the role of crime particularly in societies that are facing massive increase in the rate of crime is convoluted. Expanding the Role of Criminal Justice The American justice system is usually envisioned as the system in which prosecutors (public prosecutors) pursue a public prosecution often on behalf of the public. Therefore, it does not provide room for victims of crime to get involved in the proceedings (Goldfield, 2007). Leaving victims out of the criminal justice framework is perhaps a dangerous precedent that always goes against the fundamental rights of victims across America. Incidentally, the state constitutional amendments and federal statutes have effectively challenged this model (Goldfield, 2007). For example, a federal statute passed by the Congress back in 2004, the Crime Victim’s Rights Act (CVRA), that guarantees victims fundamental rights in every federal criminal proceeding. However, the statute has received bipartisan support as many people criticize the basis of rights for crime victims citing procedural challenges. A typical case in point is Danielle Levine’s insightful piece “Public Wrongs and Private Rights: Limiting the Role of Victims in a System of Public Prosecution” that was published in the Northwestern University law Review. According to Levine, the rights granted to victims of crime by the CVRA face both substantive and procedural challenge (Goldfield, 2007). On the aspect of procedural challenge, Levine believes that may only involve in the proceedings in circumstances where it is clear the district courts have a lucid and irrefutable error. From the perspective of a substantive challenge, Levine argues that offering ordinary appellate review to the victims while on the other hand denying them their rights would grossly interfere with the prosecution and eventually interfere with efforts to attain just and fair adjudication (Goldfield, 2007). Expansion of the role of criminal justice system would include efforts as well as plans that would ensure the vital law enforcement agencies carry out their duties more effectively. For instance, the legislature may pass laws that would curb flaws in the police investigations and arrest of suspects following the occurrence of a criminal offence (Jealous, 2011). Even though the law seeks to ensure all victims get justice by putting in place structures that ensure all crime suspects are brought to book, the alleged suspects should also be accorded certain rights. The police should conduct thorough investigations while adhering to legally acceptable procedures to ensure the real suspects are arraigned before the court. In some instances, the justice system might expand its role by approving of a comprehensible investigation of the family environment. In this regard, it has been proven that the family setting greatly influences a child’s upbringing. Certain environments would contribute to criminal and antisocial behavior, a clear implication that the juvenile potentially grows into a hardened criminal (Jealous, 2011). Family risks factors, which includes education, poverty, parenting practice, and family structures will potentially influence the hyperactivity in young people. The environment has emerged to be the most significant factor as far as the behavior of children and adolescents is concerned. Contemporary studies have focused the social learning theory to elucidate how the environmental set up influences the anti-social behavior or aggressiveness of children (Jealous, 2011). Incidentally, many of the children believe that their behavior is normal until they eventually find themselves bruising the law enforcement agencies in a wrong way. Conclusion Expansion of the functions of the criminal justice system in America has been one of the key agendas of the local, state, and federal governments in attempt to curb crime. Any forms of legislations or amendment to existing legislations must take into account the social environment. Apparently, the justice does not happen in a vacuum. Instead, the environment is the place in which criminal activities are committed, the police conduct investigations and make arrests, and adjudication processes take place. In essence, there is constant interaction between different parties that constitute the criminal justice system. The legislature would amend laws that perhaps impose idealistic penalties on criminals to reflect the seriousness or magnitude of crime committed. The adjudication (the courts) will also work closely with other law enforcement organs to ensure just and fair is delivered verdict on cases presented before it. For instance, the judge is a vital personality of the courtroom work group. Lastly, efforts to expand the role of justice system should take into consideration the legal provisions and the Constitution. Legislators would then play their part by passing new laws that redefine the mandate of each component of the justice system. Whereas police, defense attorneys, judges and probation officer specialize in specific phases of the criminal justice process, the duties of the prosecutor bridge all of these areas (Pollock, 2012). This means the prosecution or office of the prosecutor literally works with all agencies of criminal justice system. Correctional officers also play very important role to complete the whole equation of criminal justice system. Incidentally, the fear of personal liability resulting from chronic litigation, as well as concern for wages and working conditions has advanced collective bargaining for corrections officers (Pollock, 2012). Police have an overriding duty to act in accordance with the law and the various specialized requirements imposed upon them by law, system procedures and so on. References Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2013). The American system of criminal justice. Goldfield, D. R. (Ed.). (2007). Encyclopedia of American Urban history. (Vols. 1-2). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Jealous, B. T. (2011, Summer). Criminal justice system. The Crisis, 118, 40. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1291062038?accountid=458 Pollock, J. M. (2012). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D. B., & Klofas, J. (2012). Criminal justice organizations: Administration and management. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning - Wadsworth. Travis, I. I. I. L. F. (2011). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Read More