The History of the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example

The main systems are: During the colonial period, Americans were living in a society that did not have any rules and laws that were formalized so as to protect and guide behavior from criminal activities. Americans were still figuring out the way to coexist in a land that was new. The modern criminal justice system is the outcome of many several evolution changes that have been undergone by the society from the time of the United States’ inception. Over the years, mechanisms have been established the institute and enforce the society’s rules as well as punish offenders and assign responsibility.

Currently, those functions are undertaken by the police, and corrections. Initially, United States’ criminal justice system did not have this structure. Prior to the establishment of the formal laws, rules, and institution, Americans depended on religion and sin as the way of shaping the society and its behavior. Biblical terms defined a lot of colonial crime codes, which made offenses like profanity, sacrileges of the Sabbath, and blasphemy highly punishable (Falk, G. 2010). Punishments like stoning, dunking, and whipping were made to humiliate the offenders and eventually result to their repentance.

As the American society grew, both in population and location, religion became less frequent in guiding criminal justice. Now the laws were designed to uphold and values and morality, which were a common concern for many people during this time rather than religion. The changes led to increased laws and more violations. Whether right or wrong, ineffective or effective, these events shaped the contemporary criminal justice system of the United States. The shift from small, religiously same towns as large cities that are diverse and cultural customs were of great extent, permanently transformed the landscape of the criminal justice system, this created the necessity for formalized courts, police, and corrections (Monkkonen, E. H. 2002). The time