Criminal Justice Philosophy

The Philosophy of Justice in America
Michael A. Paul
CJA204
July 25, 2010
Royce Decker The Philosophy of Justice in America
Justice is truth in action and is morally right and truth set forth. In the scenario of the balance of individual rights and public order, the truth has to be acknowledged for the justice system to work properly and fairly to provide a balance to the system. While looking at different forms of justice, we look at social, criminal, and administrative justice. Social Justice embraces all concepts of civilized life that brings about all fairness to people cultural beliefs concerning right and wrong. Equal justice for the wealthiest people to the poorest people deserves an even playing field. In our
society there will never be an even playing field because of the indifference of people with power and money as seeing people with less as inferior. Criminal Justice embarks on the aspects of social justice in violation with criminal law. The criminal justice system has their core components that provide justice in our society today. The police enforce the laws, maintain public order, protect the fundamental rights and freedom of individuals, ensure community safety. This component of the criminal justice system has been put into place to protect society from harm and lawbreakers but when a law enforcement officer compromises his or her integrity and moral ethics they find themselves breaking the laws they sworn to protect.
According to Martin Luther King, Jr. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Court systems in the United States serves as another function of the criminal justice system
In which it conducts fair and impartial trials, ensures due process, determine guilt or innocence, impose sentence on the guilty, uphold the law, protects the rights and freedoms of anyone facing processing by the justice system and provide a check of power by other justice system agencies.
In looking at the court system, it provides a mechanism of settling disputes, interprets and enforces the law for the purpose of justice. Although some child molesters and murderers are able to return to society after they have served their sentence, the punishment does not fit the crime. When the court impose sentencing on the defendant the guidelines are sometimes mind blowing for the victim or the victim’s families. How can a person in a civilized world commit crimes and not punishment as severely as the crime he or she
commits. The Corrections department carries out the sentences imposed by the courts by confining the convicted in a humane and civil manner. The Fourteenth Amendment gives the prisoners right to due process in the prison system. Rehabilitation has been a vital part of reentry into society and a successfully part of correctional institution programs. Rehabilitation has taken a fall in recent years because of budget cuts and improperly ran programs. Some prisoners have benefited from these programs whereas others have yet to grasp what it means to cope with society and be a productive law-abiding citizen. When equal justice comes into discussion, equality is not present.
Public order most of the time outweighs individual rights as we have seen time and time again. In Conclusion the foundation of this system is good and just but the individuals who have used the system inappropriately for their own evil purposes leave doubt in the minds of the law- abiding citizens. Justice is blind and if they are wealthy, poor, black or white should not matter when the system is seeking equal justice in America. Although our system has a number of problems, it the best and civilized system in the world