Importance of Criminal Justice - Essay Example

Criminal Justice Criminal justice Criminal justice, according to my definition, refers to a system of practices and different institutions set by the government directed purposely to uphold social control, prevention or deterring and mitigating crime (Walker1992). In other word it is the process of sanctioning those who break the law with criminal penalties and the rehabilitation efforts. Those accused have also the right to protection against prosecution mal practices. The society view criminal justice as the means to reinforce the standards of conduct necessary to protect the individuals and the community as a whole. The community would like to administered justice equally and uphold the standards behavior to govern the behavior. In order to execute its mandate appropriately the criminal system consist of three main parts that legislation that create the laws, the courts where the offenders are prosecuted and the correctional institution that include : jail prison ,probation and parole. The three institutions work together under the rule of law to maintain law and order in the society. This paper seeks to understand how correctional and rehabilitation systems punish and rehabilitate offenders respectively and the best method to reduce crime punishment with valid explanations for the choice made. The correctional institution, before punishing the offender, does the investigation to find out if the offender is guilty or innocent. The process of prosecution is done in the courtroom where panel of judges and judge preside over the case of the offender. The police that maintain law and order present fact while on the other hand the attorney general defends the offender. If the offender is approved guilty by the court he she is handed over to the correction centre where different forms of punishment are administered according to the magnitude of the crime. In the early time when civilization lack resources to construct prison exile and execution were the primary forms punishment. In exile the offender is taken a way from the family members to a far country or lonely places where they could not see their family members could not see them. In the modern era the most common form of punishment is the prisons. They may serve as detention centers for the offenders after trial in the courts. Punishment was administered to remove the offenders from the community or the general population to inhibit their effort to perpetrate further crime in the society. The goal of punishment was to give the offenders another chance to be rehabilitated back to the society. The prison jail can either be long term or short term. In the short term, the offender stay in the prison for a short time while on the other hand long the offenders stay longer in the prison (Dale, 2008). There are also others forms of punishment in the prison as paying fines which of course still remains one of the oldest still used today. The money is either paid to the state or the victims as a form of reparations. People fear paying large sum of money and therefore they will not break the laws. In addition probation and house arrest is another form These are sanctions that limit the person’s mobility and his or her opportunity to commit crime without putting them in the prison set up. The offenders are under the supervision of the members of the society outside the prison settings. Given the opportunity to socialize with the community members in a close supervision instill discipline in the offenders to restore them. Offenders on probation participate in the community service. They provide free services to the community without any payment. The last form of punishment is execution or capital punishment which is one of the most heavily debated aspects in the world today. Different society view the capital punishment differently some will use it as political control while other reserved it for most sinister and brutal offences. In other societies it has been outlawed and considered as excessively cruel (Fuller, 2010). The rehabilitation process occurs both in the prison and outside. It is the process of reintegrating one back into the society after committing criminal offences. The most available institution is the prison in which in the modern era offer job training and schooling to the inmates thus giving them a chance to learn a vocation and to earn the legitimate of returning into the society. The religious groups also in collaboration with prison teach ethic and instill moral sense in the prisoners. Sometime the prisoner may be released before the term end in prison being released as a parole. In this case his movements are restricted greater than those in the prison. The last correctional measure that this paper would advocate for is the probation. The offender is release into the society but participate in community services in order to instill sense in them. In this method the offender is not treated with cruelty as compared to the prisons and parole. The interaction with member of the society will give the offender the opportunity to reform back the morals and will consider the corrective measures positively as compared to others. The methods that are used to control the crime and punishment depend majorly on the type of crime that has been committed serious offences will demand serious rehabilitation and it take long term processes as compared to less serious offences. In order to reduce the crime rate, punishment and rehabilitation there is need of close coordination and supervision between and among the intuition that are responsible for the process (Walker, 2009). The religious institution, prison and police force must join efforts to realize the desired end to the community members. Among the method of long term jail, parole and probation, probation will provide and effective and efficient method of reintegrating the offenders back to the society in that. The prison will train them in vocational training job that will be useful to them and the society as a whole. The useful skills gained in the prison will empower the offender to engage in income generating activities that will reduce their chances of stealing from the community members. The community will also benefit from these skills if the offender participates in community services. This method appears to be better as compared to other because it benefit the individual and the community members too. It is therefore the best method that should be adopted to reduce crime, punishment or rehabilitation. References Walker, S. (2009). "Origins of the Contemporary Criminal Justice Paradigm: The American Bar Foundation Survey, 1953-1969". Justice Quarterly 9 (1): 47. Dale, E. (2008) Criminal Justice in the United States, 1789–1939 New York: Cambridge University Press. Fuller, J. (2010) Criminal Justice: Mainstream and Crosscurrents 2005. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More