Building a More Just Society - Research Paper Example

Building a more just society Building a More Just Society Every society needs laws to govern people’s behavior and give some sense of direction and order. Laws can be traced back to the creation time where God gave the first man guidelines on what to do and what not to do. Later, the Ten Commandments were also given to man. Today, the laws can be found everywhere; from schools to working place. The code of ethics became law more than 50 years ago. This law was made due to previous unethical behavior by those who were tasked with enforcing laws and rules. These people were known to be unfair to the public and times, they ended up oppressing the public (Virag, 2012). Moreover, the code of ethics was meant to addresses bad governance and malpractices such as corruption. The need for ethics laws came to the attention of the Special Legislative Committee on Integrity and Ethical Standards in the Government several years back. The committee argued that there was a problem with proper ethical standards. This problem was traced to the lack of checks and balances in the various arms of governments and other agencies. The lack of check and balances provided a conducive environment for unjust acts such as bribery, nepotism and misuse of public office. The end result of this was injustice in the society in general. It was therefore prudent to come up with a set of rules to help counter this problem Following the 1970 Watergate scandal, Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EGA). This act was to restore public confidence in the government officials as well as the political process. The Act ensured that no branch of the government assumes power THAT may allow it to be involved in malpractices such as corruption, nepotism or bribery (Sleight & Mancuso, 2010). In the United States of America, the US constitution recognizes and empowers the police to help in regulating public behavior and maintaining peace and order. Law and order is maintained so as to build a safer, more just, morally upright and healthy community (Sleight & Mancuso, 2010). The Tenth Amendment of the US constitution divides the power of the Federal government and the State government in order to protect the public from any form exploitation from either state or federal government. The constitution gives the law enforcement agencies the duty to serve the public by safeguarding lives and property. This code of ethics is bidding to every Law enforcer in the United States. Furthermore, these agencies usually take an oath of office to protect the innocent from deception, weak from oppression and maintain peace and order while respecting the constitutional rights of the people to equality and justice. Before a federal law enforcer can begin duty, they are placed under an oath of honor. This is done to ensure that they follow the code of ethics and the United States constitution strictly, failure to which conviction and suspension might be considered (Virag, 2012). The law enforcement professionals act fairly towards every citizen by not oppressing them in any way. This means that a law breaker is not judged by his/her race, wealth or oppressed simply because the individual comes from marginalized groups. All criminals ought to be treated the equally without favoring anyone based on his or her ethnicity or even status in the community. Eliminating gender discrimination in the society is another important way that is vital in ensuring social justice in the society (Virag, 2012). In a just society, law breaker should not bribe any law enforcer which vices such as sex or money, because at the very end, justice has not been met. By exercising social justice through fair treatment to every individual in the United States, crime rates will reduce tremendously. This is because social justice is exercised and no criminal buys their way out through money or any other advantage they might have. Why People Commit Crimes There are several and varied reasons as to why people commit crimes. Mental disturbance is one major reason that drives an individual to commit crime. Research has been done on reasons why such mentally disturbed people commit crimes. Several research works that have been done on crime rates and reason for criminal activities has pointed towards mental disturbance as one major cause. This can be attributed to the fact that people who are not mentally alright are not able to reason rationally and therefore get involved in criminal activities without thinking of the consequences. (Gross, Nicole, Morgan and Robert). The second reason is a lack of moral responsibility. Levy (2011) argues that psychopaths, who are people in the society who have no moral responsibility, tend to be involved in criminal activities. Lack of moral responsibility leads to lack of criminal responsibility. When such people commit crimes and get punished for them, they do not understand what wrong they have done. Therefore, such people commit crimes one after another because the consequences that follow are unknown to them. In addition, Levy (2011) states that it is unjust to punish such people because they don’t know that their crimes are harmful to others. The third reason that leads people to committing crimes is unemployment. Works by Cohen (1995) examined the trends of crimes and its rapid increase over the past 20yeras. The study concluded that the majority of those who commit criminal acts were unemployed. Unemployed citizens especially the youth, have no means of survival through a decent job. For this reason, they turn to criminal activities to get quick money. Cohen (1995) also found out that most of the unemployed citizens who had committed crimes of assaults, killings and rape had previously been bullied or abused. The study concluded that such people tend to be inclined towards criminal acts because of psychological problems and financial difficulties due to lack of legal source of income. The fifth factor that leads people to committing crimes is the excessive freedom and individualism in the society. Cohen, (1995) was keen to note that the rise in crime in the society has partly been caused by the freedom that the young people enjoy. This coupled with the individualistic nature of the society has driven some members into criminal acts. The current society has allowed the young people to decide on what to do and what not to do. This has made some youths be involved in acts such as drug trafficking, money laundering, rape and other social ills in the society. Young people are finding themselves being influenced by their peers to take part in such acts (Cohen, 1995). Criminal Theory According to Per-Olof (2004), there are several criminological theories and models of law enforcement in criminology. Situation theory is one such theory that tries to understand crime and helps law enforcers to know how to deal with people who commit different crimes. The situation theory has been used in the criminology field to address some major challenges in other theories. For example, poor integration of individuals and environmental explanatory approaches. This theory helps law enforcers to consider person- environment interaction in every crime committed. This way, the law enforcers can be able to predict how an individual’s environment influences them to acts of crime committed (Heitmeyer et. al, 2009). In addition, the law enforcers are also able to use this theory to predict possible crimes in a given situation or environment. The situation theory has four fundamental arguments namely: 1. Criminal acts are moral actions- actions that are guided by the rules of what is considered right or wrong to do or not do in certain circumstances. 2. That criminal commits crimes because it is an alternative to the monotonous way of behavior. Some go a step further and make it habitual and can deliberately carry out crimes like murder repeatedly. 3. A person that commits crime chooses a criminal act as an alternative due to personal morals, emotions, and capability of exercising self-control. Additionally, the environment that an individual is situated in also contribute to acts of crimes, especially is the neighbors are criminals as well. 4. The role of social integration and segregation and that of individual development and change, including life-histories as well as different exposure to new setting should be considered as the causes some acts of crime. Stressors Of Law Enforcement Professionals Police in the United States face many challenges while serving the public. However, the three major challenges in law enforcement are: Lack of Resources A case study of UN policing showed law enforcers are normally under-resourced and at times they lack adequate support from the institution. This is normally in terms of policing items and utilities such as patrol vehicles, crime detection and prevention gargets, communication devices and proper artillery to combat the more sophisticated criminal activities. Lack of such equipment and other logistical challenges prevent the police in contributing in building a just society. Negative Publicity In several counties in the world, the police have received negative publicity that has made the public lose confidence in them. Even though some of these negative perceptions have been as a result of unprofessionalism on the side of the enforcers, others have been stereotypes, (Sleight and Mancuso, 2010). The police have a times been generalized to be corrupt and unfair to the society. This has created bad blood between the general public and the law enforcers making it hard for them to fully carry out their duty in building a just society by maintaining law and order. Injustice Every day, police officers wake up every morning with the goal of fighting crime and protecting the public from any harm. Some of them dedicate themselves to see that justice has been achieved. However, not every criminal they bring to arrest gets a fair trial. Some bribe their way out and escape from being punished for their criminal acts (Rottman, 2014). It is very discouraging when someone’s efforts are unrecognized when a criminal bribing his/her way out of jail. This is because every police officer wants to retire a proud person who made a difference in his/her town. Conclusion The world today needs laws to govern people’s behavior and give some sense of direction and order. This is because without laws, justice would not be served. In addition, laws are important it ensure that the world and the society at large remain accountable. Law enforcers normally work tirelessly to ensure that there is peace and order and that every individual member of the society enjoys justice. It is difficult for a single arm or agency to ensure that the society is just. Therefore all government agencies and other arms of government like the legislature and executive should play their part in building a just society. The general public is also required to ensure that they promote justice in the society. References Cohen, N. (1995). What causes crime? Retrieved on 14th July, 2014 From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/what-causes-crime-1584969. Heitmeyer, W., Douglas, S. Massey, S., Sidanius, M., & Wieviorka, M. (2009). Is a General Theory of Violence Possible? International journal on conflict and violence, Vol. 3 Rotmann P., (2012). Police in 21st Century Global Peace Operations: Achievements and Challenges. GPPi policy brief journal, 2 (1). Sleight, K. and Mancuso, J. (2010). Ethics and the Constitution. NYSBA Government. Law and Policy Journal, 12 (1). Wikström and Per-Olof. (2004). Crime as alternative: Towards a cross-level situational action Theory of crime causation. In Beyond empiricism: Institutions and intentions in the study Of crime. Edited by Joan McCord, 1–37. Advances in Criminological Theory, 13 (1). Virag, K. (2012). What We Talk About When We Talk About Social Justice. Just in time Journal, 8 (2). Read More