Criminology Study
U.S. Justice System
CCJS 100: Section 0107
Paper #2
Sabahat A. Choudhry
UID: 110176817
May 1, 2012
Improvements to the U.S. Justice System
Introduction
The U.S. Justice System works day and night to provide citizens of the United States a sense of safety and comfort as they go about their daily lives. However, this does not mean that the U.S. Justice system is perfect in any sense. There is always room for improvement in my different sectors of the justice system. The U.S. Justice System is ranked 20th around the world according to The World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2011 (Mustafa). There are 19 countries that are above the U.S. on this list so there are 19 countries doing something right that the US are doing wrong. In this essay I am going to discuss and analyze parts of the U.S. Justice System that can be improved to work towards an ideal American Criminal Justice System. The three major parts of this sector that the U.S. Justice System needs to improve on are the issue of Juveniles transfer to an Adult Court, the issue of the Death Penalty, and the Three Strikes Laws. In addition to this, I will also discuss and analyze the parts of the Justice System that are working well, such as, Drug Courts, Intensive supervision for Juvenile offenders and more police involvement with urban and suburban communities.
Improvement #1: Transfers of Juveniles to Criminal Courts The transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Courts is an individual state decision based on the rules and laws of the state in which a certain crime has been committed. There is too much variance on this subject matter between each state in the U.S. Criminal Justice System; Some states will not charge a teen as an adult for a serious crime if they are under the age of 18 but some states will charge a 14 year old as an adult if the crime is serious enough. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention states, “Original juvenile court jurisdiction extends through age 17 in
CCJS 100: Section 0107
Paper #2
Sabahat A. Choudhry
UID: 110176817
May 1, 2012
Improvements to the U.S. Justice System
Introduction
The U.S. Justice System works day and night to provide citizens of the United States a sense of safety and comfort as they go about their daily lives. However, this does not mean that the U.S. Justice system is perfect in any sense. There is always room for improvement in my different sectors of the justice system. The U.S. Justice System is ranked 20th around the world according to The World Justice Project's Rule of Law Index 2011 (Mustafa). There are 19 countries that are above the U.S. on this list so there are 19 countries doing something right that the US are doing wrong. In this essay I am going to discuss and analyze parts of the U.S. Justice System that can be improved to work towards an ideal American Criminal Justice System. The three major parts of this sector that the U.S. Justice System needs to improve on are the issue of Juveniles transfer to an Adult Court, the issue of the Death Penalty, and the Three Strikes Laws. In addition to this, I will also discuss and analyze the parts of the Justice System that are working well, such as, Drug Courts, Intensive supervision for Juvenile offenders and more police involvement with urban and suburban communities.
Improvement #1: Transfers of Juveniles to Criminal Courts The transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Courts is an individual state decision based on the rules and laws of the state in which a certain crime has been committed. There is too much variance on this subject matter between each state in the U.S. Criminal Justice System; Some states will not charge a teen as an adult for a serious crime if they are under the age of 18 but some states will charge a 14 year old as an adult if the crime is serious enough. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention states, “Original juvenile court jurisdiction extends through age 17 in