Is Crime Prevention a Priority for Criminal Justice System - Case Study Example

 Crime prevention is the application of Criminal Justice System (CJS) in response to the criminal violations in order to retain a crime free society, and for this purpose CJS adopts and applies particular analytical methods to collect data for the purpose of criminal investigation or criminal research. CJS is practiced in law enforcement, in the criminal defence field and in private security organisations around the world. In some organizations, it is used informally as part of an investigator’s work. In others, it is applied by uniquely trained personnel who are commonly called ‘intelligence analysts’, ‘crime analysts’, or ‘criminal information analysts’. When organisations and individuals work together for the same purpose and upholds the same responsibilities, the system formed is known as a crime prevention system. One cannot deny the contribution and effectiveness of police but public perceptions view and claim that police make only minimal contributions to crime prevention in the context of far more powerful social institutions, like the family and labour markets. The fact appears to lie in between. This is to admit that police prevents crime by focusing on its prioritised objectives, tasks, places, times and people but this is also a fact that putting police where serious crime is concentrated, at the times it is most likely to occur. (Farrington et al, 2002, p. 295) Therefore police force is only a small part of CJS and not the only one to contribute towards an error free society. Types of Criminal Practice Violent crime Violent crime includes robbery, homicide, serial violent crime, assault, and rape. It is named violent as it is conducted by the use of arms, weapons and force. Some of them have profit as a motive while others involve revenge or fulfilment of a psychological drive. Another commonality to violent crimes is that they include various events and have the potential to leave physical evidence. (Peterson, 1994, p. 89) However the leftovers of physical evidence is not necessary. Violent crimes may result in lengthy investigations if the assailant is unknown. The investigative process includes gathering, evaluating, and analysing data and arriving at additional leads or hypothetical conclusions regarding the assailant. Evidentiary documents beyond the crime scene may also be gathered to provide background information on the victim or the alleged perpetrator. These, when analysed, can provide insights into the persons involved in the crime which may speed the investigative process. Violent crime investigation is often the responsibility of the major crimes section of a police or prosecutor’s office. Investigators or detectives from municipal to federal agencies may be involved in the investigation of violent crime. Violent crime is not limited to be prosecuted at the municipal or county level because of the factors that it upholds can cause the case to be assigned to a multi-jurisdictional task force. Among them is the location of the crime, the potential of the crime to be part of a series of similar crimes committed by the same perpetrators, or the crime’s connection to offences prosecutable in a different jurisdiction or at a different level of government. Detectives or investigators assigned to violent crime units respond to specific reports of crime which are generated by the victim or witnesses and may be lodged through a patrol officer who has gathered data from the scene of the crime or has made the location of the crime secure while awaiting the arrival of investigators and physical evidence technicians. Evidence and statements of victims during crime spot are the two predominant sources of leads in violent crime investigation which help solve the case. Reviewing data from the incident and comparing it to similar incidents are analytical functions. (Peterson, 1994, p. 90) Organised Crime Organised crime refers to those organisational crimes that are pre-planned in accordance with the help of officials and produces such needs of the public that are considered as against the law in accordance with the demands of the public officials who protect such individuals for their own interest ( Ianni, 1974, p. 17 ) It could also be viewed as an organisation which seeks to gain money and power without regard for law by utilising economic and physical force, public and private corruption, in an extension of the free enterprise system. The above definitions have some common aspects: violence, corruption, and organisation (structure), however corruption, is an integral part of organised crime activity. Some argue that the distinction between organised crime and opportunistic crime is seen in the continuity of organised crime. Organised crime investigation generally requires a significant amount of raw data (sometimes called ‘intelligence’) to be gathered, then evaluated and analysed. The process of interdicting covert hierarchies requires the ability to look at not only individual crimes and violations, but the aggregate criminal environment. Analysis, formal or informal, must be used to arrange the pieces of the organised crime puzzle in a cohesive and comprehensible whole. Corruption and Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organisations (RICO) investigations are often carried out along with organised crime investigations. (Peterson, 1994, p. 124) White collar crime It includes fraud, bribery, tax evasion, arson for profit, racketeering, and environmental crimes. In spite of its widespread occurrence, few law enforcement agencies make it a priority. This is a result of the public’s (and law enforcement’s) perception that white collar crime, being nonviolent, is not as serious as other crimes. It has also had a lower priority because many who perpetrate white collar crime are otherwise ‘upstanding business people’ and some believe they should not be punished for ‘bending’ laws to increase corporate profits. It is due to white collar crime that the underground economy now operates under the dictum which states that the only crime is to get caught and has in its numbers legions of our neighbors, friends, and relatives. White collar crime investigation is an area in which the application of analysis can be most fruitful. An analyst can perform some of the duties otherwise left to the investigator while also supporting the role of the white collar crime prosecutor. White collar crime has been defined as “an illegal act or series of illegal acts committed by non-physical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money or property, to avoid the loss of money or property, or to obtain business or personal advantage”. (Edelhertz and Rogovin, 1980, p. 4). Street crime Street crime is used to refer to the types of crimes which occur against persons or property. They include muggings, burglaries, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, street gang activity, and those incidental crimes which are covered by the phrase ‘incivilities’ and are reflected in ‘fear of crime’ surveys. Street crimes have been the focus of analysis for decades. According to Peterson (1994) “Just as the organised crime unit has been the home of ‘intelligence’ analysis or ‘investigative’ analysis, the unit responsible for investigating street crimes usually a detective unit which may be broken down by precinct or other geographic demarcation has been the primary user of crime analysis. The traditional crime analysis units of municipal police departments have been involved in uncovering crime patterns that impact on the deployment of patrol personnel”. (Peterson, 1994, p. 209) The weaknesses of the traditional ‘enforcement approach’ of the CJS Traditional enforcement includes both the division of criminal incidents into their composite parts or factors to determine patterns and similarities which may lead to the apprehension of the perpetrator and the statistical analysis of crime to forecast future crime. That means the approach is carried by the fuel of ‘predicting culprit and crime’. In this case, the logic of the adversarial trial is substantially qualified by duties of disclosure of evidence between parties. The extensive obligations placed on the prosecution may be seen as merely redressing inequality of arms in pre-trial accumulation of evidence, but the duties recently imposed upon the defence in relation to expert and alibi evidence are clearly prompted by fears that trial by ambush undermines truth-finding. In relation to expert evidence new proposals go further, suggesting a full-scale move to the inquisitorial tradition of neutral experts’ reports with duty to report the truth. While these rules of evidence are being relaxed, other rules of evidence seem to become stricter. The exception to the hearsay prohibition, to wit the confession made at the police station, is seen as requiring an increasing number of safeguards in connection with its reliability. (Peterson, 1994, p. 53) The traditional enforcement approach is still followed in the criminal procedure of England and Wales and rests upon the oral tradition, but cross-examination is ill-suited to revealing errors in the performance of scientific tests. By that stage, the evidence-in chief will already have been given, making it too late to rule it inadmissible: reliance then has to be placed on a direction to the jury to ignore the evidence or to its giving it little credence. (Peterson, 1994, p. 268) The pros and cons of Criminal Practice Criminal practice with its sociological bias has been largely remiss in examining individual differences as part of its investigation of criminal behaviour. The most important aspect is that criminal practice emphasises exclusively on social structure and despite all its’ inefficiencies in the form of oral policies and unimplemented rules, has the objective of mending the society towards perfection. Crime prevention The foremost advantage of Criminal practice is itself crime prevention which when dealing with actual perpetrators, identify and punishes them thereby reducing crime in the community. While traditional crime prevention efforts are directed toward those who are not yet involved in crime, a broader definition includes any setting that reduces crime in the community. (Farrington et al, 2002, p. 330) Optimistically, criminal proceeding includes crime prevention as programs in the courts and corrections that focus on reducing the criminal activities of known offenders. The primary benefit of criminal justice is the contribution of “punishment factor” which serves as a lesson for the offender to involve in further crime activities. The punishment is revolving to an extent where the offender no longer considers him to be engaged in a criminal activity anymore in the future. Abuse of Criminal Practice Unnecessary delay The problem of delay in criminal procedure is one which in recent times has been a matter of continuing concern particularly in England and in other jurisdictions. Unnecessary delay which occurs in either of two parts of the pre-trial stage, i.e., before charge or between the date of charge or trial, is a common characteristic of CJS. In the past English courts have acknowledged that criminal proceedings of unwanted delay may be stayed on account of pre-trial delay, but today such delay is misused due to which the consequences of undue delay not only prolong and grant time for serious offences, but also helps them to escape. (Choo, 1993, p. 47) Police Impropriety during investigation of Crime The issue of police misconduct in the course of criminal investigation is one which has received much attention in recent times. In this context the police have gained a bad name in prosecution that stays as an abuse of process on account of police impropriety at the investigatory stage. In England, circumvention by the police of proper extradition procedures in securing the presence of the defendant from outside the jurisdiction has been essentially the only kind of malpractice to have raised the issue. There are, of course, certain traditional avenues of redress available to victims of police misconduct in the shape of civil and criminal actions against the police, and complaints procedures. (Choo, 1993, p. 78) Uncertainty and Unpredictability CJS follows uncertainty in considering various procedural issues associated with the exercise of the judicial power to stay proceedings as an abuse of process. Therefore, CJS admits that the power is a discretionary one does have some significance from the point of view of procedure, and it is therefore necessary at the outset to examine the concept of judicial discretion in some detail. It will be demonstrated that, while the exercise of judicial discretion is indispensable to the attainment of individualised justice, it does have the potential to lead to uncertainty and unpredictability. However, such problems are likely to be minimised if discretion is appropriately confined, structured, and checked. (Choo, 1993, p. 119) Is Crime Prevention Really a Priority for CJS Criminal Justice System, no doubt tries hard to confront and cope up with the problems in order to make a crime free society, however it cannot also be denied that CJS has other priorities and proceedings of crime prevention. CJS has many priorities and agendas like subjective evidences, favourite proceedings of the month, and political ideology which drive much of the crime policy agenda. As a result, CJS is only left with a hotchpotch of programs that are of unknown potential in preventing crime. These crime prevention programs are unstable and unpredictable as well, often work but sometimes produce harmful results. Therefore what CJS is doing today it depends upon lawmakers, policymakers and police force. It would not be wrong to say that today’s CJS considers laws and policies as its guardians, therefore the guardians are carefree of the responsibilities of CJS and fund programs with no scientific evidence of effectiveness, but rather that lawmakers and policymakers are shirking their responsibility to the taxpaying public by not giving funding priority to those programs with evidence of effectiveness in preventing crime. References/ Bibliography Choo Andrew, (1993) Abuse of Process and Judicial Stays of Criminal Proceedings: Oxford University: Oxford. Cochrane John, Marsh Ian & Melville Gaynor, (2004) Criminal Justice: An Introduction to Philosophies, Theories and Practice: Routledge: London. Cohn G. Allen, Farrington P. David & Wright A. Richard, (1998) Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice: Greenwood Press: Westport, CT. Edelhertz Herbert, and Charles Rogovin. (1980). A National Strategy for Containing White Collar Crime. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books Farrington P. David, Mackenzie Doris, Sherman W. Lawrence & Welsh C. Brandon, (2002) Evidence-Based Crime Prevention: Routledge: London Hawkins F. Darnell, (2003) Violent Crime: Assessing Race and Ethnic Differences: Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, England. Ianni Francis A. J. (1974). Black Mafia. New York: Simon & Schuster Mcinnis N. Thomas, (2001) Christian Burial Case: An Introduction to Criminal and Judicial Procedure: Praeger: Westport, CT. Peterson B. Marilyn, (1994) Applications in Criminal Analysis: A Sourcebook: Praeger: Westport, CT. Read More