Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice
Introduction Gender bias, sexual harassment, and lack of training have been an ongoing struggle for women in policing and it continues in today. I will be discussing this issue and will assess its past, present and future implications as they relate to the Criminal Justice System. I will be discussing my assessment of the past history and present circumstances of woman in policing. I will also include my predictions and recommendation of how these issues' should be addressed by the police and prosecutor in the future.
Implications
Dating back to the 1970's sexism was not considered to be a form of discrimination. Women faced the perception of the public that a women's place was in the home; a woman's role was to cook, clean, and raise the children, not carrying a badge and a gun protecting their neighborhood streets. She was expected to stay at home and it was unreasonable for her to willingly put herself in harms way. It has been a constant struggle beginning with the world inability to accept a woman in a crucial position of authority. The requirements set forth by the police departments in the application process made it near impossible for a woman to gain employment in criminal justice. Such things as height and weight standards were set to a degree as to eliminate most if not all women. Such tactics as creating requirements for women that were different from that of a man were one of the many attempts made to discourage a woman from even trying. For instance some police departments required a woman to have a four-year college degree and a man was only required to have a high school education. As time passed women began to break the barriers and were able to gain employment within the police department however, they were still only allowed to fill the roles that would put them out of harms way. Once again women were facing yet another form of discrimination only this time it was disguised. The police department believed that if they were to give
Implications
Dating back to the 1970's sexism was not considered to be a form of discrimination. Women faced the perception of the public that a women's place was in the home; a woman's role was to cook, clean, and raise the children, not carrying a badge and a gun protecting their neighborhood streets. She was expected to stay at home and it was unreasonable for her to willingly put herself in harms way. It has been a constant struggle beginning with the world inability to accept a woman in a crucial position of authority. The requirements set forth by the police departments in the application process made it near impossible for a woman to gain employment in criminal justice. Such things as height and weight standards were set to a degree as to eliminate most if not all women. Such tactics as creating requirements for women that were different from that of a man were one of the many attempts made to discourage a woman from even trying. For instance some police departments required a woman to have a four-year college degree and a man was only required to have a high school education. As time passed women began to break the barriers and were able to gain employment within the police department however, they were still only allowed to fill the roles that would put them out of harms way. Once again women were facing yet another form of discrimination only this time it was disguised. The police department believed that if they were to give
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