Criminal Justice System Paper

Criminal Justice System Paper
Priscilia Castillo
CJA/ 204
March 5, 2014
Linda Fredrickson

Criminal Justice System Paper

“Preliminary figures indicate that throughout the nation reported a decrease of 5.4 percent in the number of violent crimes in 2013” (Comey, 2013). These violent crimes are categories as murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. To most people crime can be defined in many different ways. The government has developed the criminal justice system into 3 different structures that the government follows. Many wonder if the system really works. The government is designed to make the laws that are meant to protect and serve the people of the world. According to Schmalleger a crime is defined, “ conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government or a local jurisdiction for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse” (2011, pg.7). The relationship between crime and law are not that different between each other; laws means a set of rules and regulations that each individual has to go by and crime can be an act or omission forbidden by the state in which an punishment has been attached to. The common models of how society determines which acts are criminal are crime control and due process. In the crime control the enforcement of prosecuting an individual for their criminal actions. In the due process it focuses more on the individual freedom instead of emphasis a punishment. The criminal justice system has divided the government structure into 3, the state, the federal and the military. The state has it’s owe structure that also has 3 separate divisions that deals with the different types of criminal cases. It consists of the law enforcement (police), the criminal court and the correctional agencies. The law enforcement is to maintain the order within the cities, crime prevention and to investigate crimes. The criminal courts consist of a judge, juries, prosecutors and the defense lawyer. They are use to determine if the individual is guilty or innocence based on the evidence and facts presented. The last system is the correctional agencies, which are prisons, jails, probation, correctional, rehabilitation and parole officers. These agencies are use after the judge has determined a sentence n the criminal case. The theories are used to categorize the individual’s crimes in the criminal justice system. The theories or rational choice explains the need to survival, and believe that it wills benefits rather than harm the criminal committing the crime. Like Schmalleger mention, “Sometimes people even inflict pain or worse on others to fulfill their needs if the need outweighs the consequences”(2011, pg.82). Others theories also include the Sociological theory, which falls into the criminal’s way of living, and the Psychological theory are the mental state of the criminal. Some of the goals of the criminal justice system are to cause fear to those who are committing or want to commit a crime by having consequences to their actions. Trying to rehabilitate the criminals when they come out to society so they will not commit another crime, one way of rehabilitate is giving them an education and training in a field. Also by having criminals pay retribution to their victims and in some cases the victim’s family members too. So is the system really working? In my opinion, it does work and sometimes it does not, because the system itself makes mistakes with the criminal justice system. Also, when it needs to punish certain individuals the system lets them free. In others time the criminal justice system works great. Without the criminal justice system and the laws that each state has the crime level would be uncontrollable. Our country needs to punish the criminals that are harming the innocent people, and the system seems to be doing their job. Schmalleger stated that,” harm occur in any crimes, although not all harms are crime” (2011, pg.126); I agree with that statement because some individuals harm themselves by using drugs, prostitution, and these actions are their own behavior or choices they make. One thing that unfortunately happens in the system tends to forget about the victims their families in some cases. We can’t not say that society is to blame for the crimes, but the individual who choices to commit a crime. Without these laws, regulations and the criminal justice system are society will be uncivilized.

Reference
Come, James, B. Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice. Retrieved from: www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the- u.s/2013/preliminary-semiannual-uniform-crime-report-january-june-2013.
Schmalleger, F. (2011). Criminal Justice Today: An introductory text for the 21st century (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.