The Criminal Justice System - Assignment Example

Understanding Crime-Work Journal A Rocque, M, Welsh,B & Raine, A ‘Biosocial criminology and modern crime prevention.’Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(4), 306-312. 2. Slack, J, 2009. ‘The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse thanSouth Africa and U.S.’ The Daily Mail, 2 July, viewed 26 February 2013, < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196941/The-violent-country-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html> 3. Newburn, T 2007, Criminology, 2nd ed, Willan Publishing, London. 4. Johnstone, G 2012, ‘Justice for the masses’, in A Restorative Justice Reader (ed), Routledge, London, pp. 45-67 5. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2013, United Nations, Vienna, Accessed 26 February 2013, B. Policing Ethnic Minority The delivery of policing services should not be conducted in a manner that is discriminatory. The police have an obligation to ensure that they offer fair and prompt services to all citizens, irrespective of their background. However, the reality on the ground is that the police discriminate on service delivery to the citizens. White citizens receive satisfactory services from police in comparison to other ethnic groups. It was found out that: One of the most controversial areas of police targeting relates to the policing of immigration and the people who are defined as ‘immigrants’. During the 1960s and 1970s ‘coloured immigration’ was not only a potent political issue but also one that framed black and Asian people’s experiences of policing. Many research studies uncovered evidence that ordinary policing often involved checking immigration status (asking, for instance, for passports) when people from ethnic minorities reported crimes of which they had been the victim (Newburn 2007) The criminal justice system should be the epitome of fairness and equity. Police should be fair and just in the execution of their mandate. In the United Kingdom, there have been cases of unfair policing especially towards the ethnic minorities such as blacks. Newburn (200) indicated that sometimes “a black person reporting a crime is first subject to a background check”. This should not happen since profiling of citizens based on their background is unconstitutional. Public policing should be reformed to ensure that the police do not discriminate citizens based on their ethnic background. The police should be trained to serve citizens equally irrespective of where they come from. Also, any police officer who engages in ethnic profiling should be punished and held criminally liable. C. British Journal of Criminology Leonidas, K Alison, L 2006, ‘Race Matters in British Prisons: Towards a Research Agenda’Br J Criminol 46(2): 286-317 Nexus UK Clarke, M. 2012. ‘Violent crime worse in Britain than US’ The Daily Mail, 23 September, viewed 26 February 2013, D. The Chicago School The Chicago School proposes that socialization is a core factor in the evaluation of criminal activity in the society. Unlike other theories that focused on an individual’s characteristics to explain crime, the Chicago School postulates that the environment influences people. In essence, there are no people who are born as good or bad. Rather, the external influences of people and social situations play an important role in determining the behavior of a person. The Chicago School of sociology attempts to establish the links between the criminal activity and the environmental factors in the area. Thus, the Chicago School’s theories affirm that crime is as a result of external social and cultural factors that are outside an individual’s scope. Criminologists Henry McKay and Clifford Shaw argued that different parts of the Chicago city had different crime rates. High crime rates and deviance were concentrated among the urban poor in Chicago. The urban poor were inevitably forced to engage in criminal activities in order to survive. Further, the high levels of disorganization meant that there were no social values that would encourage virtue in the society. Shaw and McKay found out that the central business district and the working class neighborhoods did not have high criminal rates. This indicated that crime was related to the external environment in which a person lived. The social disorganization theory points out that social and economic hardship in poor areas are some of the enabling factors of crime. This is the reason why there are high criminal activities in poor areas compared to other areas. The poor areas of a city are often filled with a diverse population. Most of the people who live in these areas suffer from abject poverty and lack the basics required for a fulfilling life. Due to the breakdown of social institutions such as schools and families that may encourage social values, the residents of these areas are disorganized and highly likely to engage in deviant behavior. Further, the differential association theory point out that the differences in social groups determine the nature social behaviors that prevail in the community. In any society there are people who support criminal activity and those that are against criminal activity. The two groups are always in constant opposition in the quest for supremacy. When the group that supports criminal behavior prevails, more members of the community are inclined to learn criminal activities. The behavior of an individual is often a reflection of the people that he or she interacts most with. Thus, in areas with high criminal activities people are likely to learn more about crime since their peers might be involved in crime. The social learning theory expands on the Chicago School theories by analyzing delinquency and criminal behavior is learnt. Most people learn by imitating the behavior of those that are around them. Children who grow up in poor neighborhoods are exposed to criminal activities at an early age as they develop their mental and emotional aspects. These children are likely to engage in crime in adulthood since they are already accustomed to it. E. Title: Crime and Punishment The essence of the criminal justice system is to ensure that justice prevails in the society and criminals are held liable for their actions. Every action has its consequences and according to the criminal justice system, the consequence of crime is punishment. The type of punishment that a criminal should be given should commiserate with the nature and extent of the criminal activity. It is therefore important that the criminal justice system should have a clear basis for the punishment that can be given to a criminal. It is evident that not all crimes are equal and thus the punishments for crimes should be different. In the United States, some criminals are given prison sentences that keep them away from the public. The logic for such punishment is that the crime perpetrator is a threat to the society and therefore should be kept behind bars. However, keeping a person behind bars does not guarantee a change in behavior. The criminal justice system should put in place punishments that help the criminal to reform and become a good citizen. Punishment should be able to deter further crime and also reform the criminals. It can be argued that if criminals do not reform, the government will keep on spending billions of taxpayers’ money for their upkeep in prison. In order to solve crime, the criminal justice system should devise punishments and tactics to eliminate crime. Arguably, crime and punishment are vital components of the criminal justice system. One of the challenges in the issuance of punishment is the age of the criminal. Juvenile offenders pose a significant challenge on how they should be punished. It is risky to put young offenders in prison since this may affect their development process. Yet, they should not be allowed to go scot free as this may encourage them to engage in crime again. The appropriate punishment should teach the juveniles that crime is not acceptable in the society and also help the young offenders to reform by giving them a chance to lead a normal life. Presently, juvenile offenders may be given out of jail sentences or put in juvenile detention centers. Questions have also been raised concerning out of jail sentences that are given for some cases. The victims of crime may feel that the criminals are not held responsible for their actions. Suffice to say, the criminal justice system has an obligation to deliver justice for both the criminal and the victim of the crime. However, the overriding mission of the criminal justice system is to eradicate crime from the society. The criminal justice system has to balance the expectations of both the criminal and the victim without leaning to either side. This essay will seek to investigate the basis of the criminal punishments that are given in the United States. The paper will analyze the effect of the punishment given to the criminals and whether or not the punishments help to reform the criminals. Further, the paper will evaluate the possible forms of criminal reform systems that can be used instead of jail sentences and other forms of punishments. F. Bibliography 1. Newburn, T 2007, Criminology, 2nd ed, Willan Publishing, London 2. Wahidin, A & Carr, N 2012. Understanding criminal justice:an introduction. Routledge Publishers, London 3. Maguire, M, Morgan, R & Deiner, R 2007. The Oxford handbook of criminology. Oxford University Press, 4. Cunnen, C, White, R & White, D 2007, Juvenile justice: Youth and crime. Oxford University Press, Oxford 5. Rocque, M, Welsh,B & Raine, A 2012, ‘Biosocial criminology and modern crime prevention.’Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(4), 306-312. 6. Hudson, B. (2010). “Controlling crime, controlling society: Thinking about crime in Europe and America.” British Journal of Criminology, 50(1), 150-153. 7. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2013, United Nations, Vienna, Accessed 26 February 2013, 8. Hitchens, P 2011. ‘What happened to punishment.’ The DailyMail Online, 18 February, viewed 26 February 2013, < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-124919/What-happened-punishment.html> G. Action Plan Examinations are an important component of the learning process. They help the student to showcase his or her mastery of the subject matter and also highlight the areas of weakness. In order to ensure that I pass in the forthcoming examinations, it is my responsibility to prepare well. The first part of my preparation will be to collect all the course materials. This will include my class notes and course textbooks that we used during our studies of the unit. I will also collect all the relevant information from other sources such as the internet and the university library. It is important to collect all the relevant materials as they form the subject matter that will be evaluated. Also, it is important to have all the materials ready so as not to waste time once I start to study. The second aspect of preparation is to make a program that I will use for studying. Since I have to perform various activities during the day, I will schedule my study time during the night and morning hours. I will spend two hours every evening and three hours every morning for my revision. I am an early riser and I concentrate more in the morning hours than at night. Therefore, I will tackle the complex topics in the morning and go through the simpler topics in the evening. It is also important to engage in discussions with my classmates in order to help me understand some of the difficult components of the course. I will coordinate with my friends in class so as to form a group of five. We will meet daily for one hour during the evening to discuss the topics that may seem complicated. F. Conclusion In the course of doing this assignment, I had some difficulty in familiarizing myself with the Harvard referencing style. I felt that there was some confusion in the various versions of the Harvard referencing style. However, I managed to work with one version of the referencing style consistently in the assignment. The section on creating action plan for preparing for the exam helped me to create a good study schedule. Previously, I did not have a clear revision program and this assignment has helped in that respect. I have also learnt that it is important to be organized in your work and reference all the cited work in an appropriate manner. Read More