Criminal Justice in Todays Society14 pages

Criminal Justice in Todays Society

Abstract

The modern-day society has evolved, and so are the security and social issues that face it. To determine the specific challenges that face todays society and thus, the criminal justice system, it requires a critical and analytical research study that will filter through the information available and determine the thematic areas that emerge as critical for modern-day criminal justice. Research for this study was done through a systematic literature review method. This research method was considered to be the most appropriate for the current research and the research question. Analysis of the information presented through the reviewed materials showed that several issues are characteristic of todays society that the criminal justice system has to address or factor in its operations to realize its mandate. These issues emerged as common from the reviewed materials; i) rehabilitative and restoration, not just punitive criminal justice, ii) racial equality, iii) evidence-based practices, and iv) integration of technology. Centered on these results, it is concluded that the criminal justice system today is faced with a changing society, change like the crime, and the cropping up of new security threats and challenges. Also, todays society has a whole new expectation of the criminal justice system. First, the criminal justice system today is faced with new security challenges and threats, e.g., terror home-grown and international. To ensure that the system effectively realizes its mandate, criminal justice has adopted evidence-based practices that are proven scientifically to work. Secondly, technology plays a critical role not only in todays society but also in how crime is committed. To effectively meet these challenges, criminal justice in todays society has also integrated technology into its operation. Third, in their operations, criminal justice operatives have to factors in social concepts and other issues that affect their operational landscape. Today, criminal justice has to consider racial equity, especially in multicultural societies, e.g., the USA. The criminal justice system has to undertake a self-review of its operations and processes and determine how they might be biased towards certain ethnic and racial minorities, e.g., African Americans. Lastly, the criminal justice system has to evolve to be a rehabilitative and corrective system, and not just punitive in its operations, especially imprisoned individuals.

Introduction

The role of criminal justice is to ensure fairness, justice, and protection of law-abiding citizens. However, the specific issues that the criminal justice system has to tackles in ensuring its role are constantly changing as society changes. As a result, the criminal justice of any given jurisdiction has to change as per the social environment and the challenges that society is facing (Daly, 2012). The modern-day society has evolved, and so are the security and social issues that face it. To determine the specific challenges that face todays society and thus, the criminal justice system, it requires a critical and analytical research study that will filter through the information available and determine the thematic areas that emerge as critical for modern-day criminal justice. To this extend, a capstone project is deemed necessary (Lee & Loton, 2019).

In todays society, the criminal justice system has to deal with entirely new challenges and scenarios, including terror, multicultural societies, increased migration, a highly diverse demographic population, and the effects of technology. To remain effective and effectively address the new crime challenges resulting from the changing society, the criminal justice system has to evolve (Ritter, 2006). This is important because ordinarily, the typical criminal justice system, and in particular the laws that are in place, remain unchanged for long even after customs and the way of life for a society has changed. This presents the challenges of laws falling into irrelevancy and disuse.

As society changes, it brings changes into acceptable, new concepts, and new strategies and platforms. For example, in todays society, the criminal justice system has to factor in the role of technology in advancing, propagating, and financing crime, the normalization of a same-sex relationship, the legalization of such previously considered illegal substance like marijuana, and the matters of racial bias in the criminal justice system.

Research Strategies

Research for this study was done through a systematic literature review method. This research method was considered to be the most appropriate for the current research and the research question. To better understand the research topic and determine the research question, it would involve a review of the materials that have been published by other authors. There have been numerous research studies, professional papers, and commentaries by authority writers on the emerging issues in the criminal justice system and how the criminal justice system would evolve to align with the merging societal issues. The systematic literature review method would allow for the retrieval and analysis of these materials.

The search for materials was done using the New Jersey State Library database. In addition to having access to this database, it was used because it is a rich resource with numerous professional and academic materials that are peer-reviewed. Also, the New Jersey State Library provided access to other equally resourceful databases, among them the Academic Search Complete database, Arts & Humanities database, and Ancestry Library Edition Database. Several keywords were used for the search on these databases. These keywords had been developed earlier through a review of the literature available on the topic.

The keywords that had been utilized to search for materials in these databases included; Criminal justice in the 21st century, modern criminal justice system, adapting laws to todays social challenges, and challenges facing criminal justice today. These keywords were selected based on their relevancy to the current research question.

However, a search for relevant materials leads to eliminating the Ancestry Library Edition Database as it didnt yield any relevant materials. The search results produced from these databases did not address the current research question, and thus, it was eliminated. Additionally, the keywords modern criminal justice system and Adapting laws to todays social challenges were eliminated as they did not yield materials that were considered relevant to the current research question. To ensure that the materials that emerged from the search were specific to the current research question, and inclusion-exclusion criterion was used. This criterion was vital in sieving through the materials and ensuring that only quality materials were included in the study.

The materials that ended up being included in the research had to meet the inclusion criteria (Tompson & Belur, 2016). The inclusion criteria were; i) the materials address the criminal justice system in the 21st century. ii) The material refers to the American, UK, or Australian criminal justice system. iii) The material has been published within the last ten years. iii) The paper has been published in the English language. iv) The paper is original in the category of a research paper, a report, or a commentary.

The search results were analyzed to determine their suitability to the inclusion criteria. The first analysis was done on the topic. Topics that did not suit the research question were dropped. Next, selected materials were analyzed at the abstract level. The abstract is a snapshot of the entire paper, and thus, abstracts that were deemed irrelevant to the research questions were dropped. Lastly, the materials were analyzed at the full-text level. This involved reading through the entire paper at the content level and materials that were irrelevant or didnt address the reearch question were dropped.

To ensure thoroughness in the selection phase of the research, the materials were analyzed by two persons. The first person was the Principal Investigator (PI) for this research, the first reviewer, after which the selected papers proceeded to GM for the confirmatory review.

A Review of the Literature assignment

Criminal justice, especially in the US, has been criticized as being simply warehouses where convicts are stored to await release into the public to continue offending. However, research has shown that in the recent past, the criminal justice system has become increasingly more rehabilitative, it factors in racial disparities to ensure equal justice is served to all ethnic minorities in the US, and that there has been increased believe of evidence-based practices, and more integration of technology-based strategies. Several researchers have noted that there are new crimes in todays society that are more advanced, and the relationship amid the offender and the victim has changed (Matthews, 2020). This is because most offenders are skilled persons who lack the opportunities, and the victims are spread across the spectrum of social stature.

One point of concurrence by researchers is that in the use of evidence-based practices in the justice system, the society must be involved, and convicts should also make a personal input. For example, persons who are convicted of drug crimes are also drug users. Consequently, the criminal justice system has rehabilitation programs, but for such an initiative to be successful, prisoners of drug-related crimes must also make an effort to stop (Manaliyo, 2016). Moreover, evidence-based crime prevention strategies have shown that it is not only the duty of the officers in the criminal justice system to stop crime, but the society must also be actively involved, e.g., through providing intelligence to law enforcers.

The common viewpoint from researchers is that the criminal justice system cannot be effective and efficient in combating crime in todays society unless the motivations for and the instincts for crimes is not thoroughly understood. This notwithstanding, some of the key concepts emerging concerning the criminal justice system in todays society are the inclusion of the community, the integration of technology, rational choice theory, and adoption of the routine activities theory (Argun & Daglar, 2016).

Discussions and Conclusions Assignment

Analysis of the information presented through the reviewed materials showed that several issues are characteristic of todays society that the criminal justice system has to address or factor in its operations to realize its mandate. These issues emerged as being common from the reviewed materials.

i. Rehabilitative and restoration, not just punitive criminal justice

For the longest time, criminal justice, especially in the USA, has been a purely punitive system where incarcerated persons are kept in prison with the primary aim being to punish them for the crime committed with zero initiative to try and up their skills to help them become productive citizens upon release. However, in todays society, there has been increased change in this system, with todays criminal justice being more rehabilitative and correction of the offenders behavior. This is obvious in the reality that today, prisons have adopted various programs and initiatives meant to help prisoners gain skills that will help them be productive members of the society after the lapse of their prison time.

Today, most crimes that lead to incarceration would be considered necessity crimes as individuals seek to survive due to lack of a resourceful engagement. For example, 50-80 percent of men arrested for drug-related crimes test positive for drug usage (Ransley & Mazerolle, 2009; Schmalleger et al., 2014). Drug usage can be managed, and such persons rehabilitated. More importantly, for the society and from a financial and economic point of view, the incarceration of these persons is an unnecessary cost to the society. If they continue with their operations, they further damage society. It, therefore, pays to have these persons rehabilitated and trained to up their skills and become more resourceful persons for society and contribute to building the society. This is a function of todays criminal justice.

ii. Racial equality

In the American multiracial society, the criminal justice system has been biased, especially in the treatment of African Americans. African Americans have been disproportionately more imprisoned, and they are even more likely to face more force in an encounter with police. Policies, laws, and practices that are seemingly neutral have had significant negative effects on race when implemented (Bennett & Plaut, 2017). For example, research has shown a disparate treatment of crack and cocaine offenses, having prior criminal records, e.g., the three-strikes laws in California, which have a disproportionate effect on African Americans, and crimes that are committed in a school zone, which attract an enhanced penalty noting that these zones cover a large proportion of space in the intercity where the population of African and Latin Americans is higher (Owusu-Bempah, 2017).

The result of this disproportional treatment of minority races under the criminal justice system is seen in the current wave of protests and sometimes riots across America. It is, therefore, apparent that the issue of racial inequality and equality is an issue that todays criminal justice system must deal with. Even though there is a blind eye from the White House, it is the opinion of many that this is an idea whose time has come, and the American criminal justice system has to address this issue, lest it becomes irrelevant.

iii. Evidence-based practices

Historically, and not in the too distant past, the criminal justice system has been criticized for unfair and wrongful imprisonments due to induced confessions or paid witnesses whose work provides incriminating testimonies. These negatively affect the publics opinion of the criminal justice system, and it is perceived being unfair and unjust. However, in the recent past, criminal justice systems have adopted evidence-based practices meant to ensure fairness and justice in delivering their services (Epperson & Pettus-Davis, 2017). In todays society, criminal justice systems are based on scientifically proven or real-field practices and findings, e.g., the use of DNA to connect a suspect to a rape crime, use of science-based counseling practices in prison rehabilitation programs.

The use of evidence-based practices has served to improve the image and perception of the system by the public, and more importantly, it has helped the system efficiently realize its goals. It is also noted that evidence-based practices have been adopted through the entire criminal justice system, from relations with the community to the management of offenders in the prisons. Of critical importance is the realization of the role of society in general in the management of law and order (Epperson & Pettus-Davis, 2017). I todays society, the community is playing an increased role in the criminal justice system through community policing initiatives, trial by jury, probation and parole programs, and diversification of incarceration models, e.g., the home-based jail programs.

iv. Integration of technology

One of the distinguishing features of todays society in the role that technology plays. In every aspect of life, including how crimes are committed, technology plays an integral role. It is, therefore, only logical that unlike in the past, the criminal justice system should adopt and incorporate technology in its operations. Some of the crimes like terror are global, with coordinators mobilizing their cells through technology. For criminal justice to be able to unearth the entire terror network to avert future attacks, technology has to be employed by investigators.

Locally, technology is also used in th criminal justice system by police to the prison level. For example, technology is used through electronic forensics and DNA analysis technology to solve previously unsolvable crimes, e.g., rape (LeClerc & Savona, 2016), using electronic tracking devices to monitor convicts on parole or home confinement, and the use of drones and positioning technology. More importantly, it has also been noted that there is increased research and development on potential technological devices that can be utilized in the criminal justice system, especially in America.

Based on these findings, it is concluded that the criminal justice system today is faced with a changing society, change like the crime and the cropping up of new security threats and challenges. Also, todays society has a whole new expectation of the criminal justice system. First, the criminal justice system today is faced with new security challenges and threats, e.g., terror – home has grown and international. To ensure that the system effectively realizes its mandate, criminal justice has adopted evidence-based practices that are proven scientifically to work. Secondly, technology plays a critical role not only in todays society but also in how crime is committed. To effectively meet these challenges, criminal justice in todays society has also integrated technology into its operation. Third, in their operations, criminal justice operatives have to factors in social concepts and other issues that affect their operational landscape. Today, criminal justice has to consider racial equity, especially in multicultural societies, e.g., the USA. The criminal justice system has to undertake a self-review of its operations and processes and determine how they might be biased towards certain ethnic and racial minorities, e.g., African Americans. Lastly, the criminal justice system has to evolve to be a rehabilitative and corrective system, and not just punitive in its operations, especially imprisoned individuals.

Annotated Bibliography

Daly, K. (2012). Aims of the criminal justice system.Crime and justice: A guide to criminology, 289-406.

In this article, the author argues that discretion by all officers, from the arresting officer to the community and institutional correctional staff, in the criminal justice system is a core issue. Equally important is the role that members of the citizenry play, including reporting crime, potential suspects, and collaborating with criminal justice officers. The central thesis in this article is that citizens ought to work in collaboration with works in the justice system as part of what the criminal justice system should achieve.

Lee, N., & Loton, D. (2019). Capstone purposes across disciplines.Studies in Higher Education,44(1), 134-150.

In this article, the authors highlight the role of the capstone project in the research field. Capstone projects are used in the application and synthesis of prior learning and the development of skills. After reviewing various capstone development reports, the authors concluded that capstone projects are applicable in all fields of study, and the purpose and importance of capstone projects cut across all disciplines. The findings by the authors are the basis of using capstone projects in the implementation of the curriculum.

Manaliyo, J.C. (2016). Barriers to community participation in crime prevention in low-income communities in Cape Town. International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies, 8(1).

In this article, the author reviews the community participations role in the prevention of crime. The communitys role in the criminal justice system has been acknowledged that law enforcement alone cannot guarantee effective prevention of crime within society. However, community participation in todays society is hampered by poverty among residents of society and the community in general, and poor and ineffective response by the police.

Matthews, R. (2020). New times, new crimes: Notes on the depillarization of the criminal justice system. Critical Criminology.

This article focuses more on the changing nature of crime in the last two decades. It presents a historical overview of how the central structures of the criminal justice system have become weakened with time. The author argues that there is an emergence of new relations between the offender and the victim, social justice and criminal justice, and the development of innovative modes of regulation. All these new development have significantly changed the criminological and social landscape and raise new issues of practice and theory that challenge the traditional understanding of crime and punishment.

Argun, U. & Daglar, M. (2016). Examination of routine activities theory by the property crime. Journal of Human Sciences, 13(1), 1188.

This aims in this article are to give information on the routine activity theory and investigation on how it is related to the prevention of property crime. Routine Activities Theory is based on many theories in criminology and, thus, every relevant to crime prevention and the causes of crime. The study results suggest that the theory is a potentially useful tool in the prevention or reduction of crime.

Tompson, L., & Belur, J. (2016). Information retrieval in systematic reviews: a case study of the crime prevention literature.Journal of experimental criminology,12(2), 187-207.

This article delves into the use of systematic reviews and argues that it is used to marshal knowledge from crime prevention literature and to develop a how-to guide for future evidence synthesizers in the concerned field. The authors recommend that for this type of study to be successful, they need to capture the wide expression across the field and that grey literature should be pursued ardently as it has a crucial role in the evidence-base of crime prevention.

Ransley, J., & Mazerolle, L. (2009). Policing in an era of uncertainty.Police Practice and Research: An International Journal,10(4), 365-381.

The paper argues that terror, globalization, large-scale movement of persons, and entrenched social challenges prevent a challenge to policing in the 21st century. As a result, new concepts like private policing and community policing have emerged. This paper uses the theory of third-party policing to examine the role of policing in the era of uncertainty, complexity, and insecurity.

Schmalleger, F., Donaldson, S., Kashiwahara, K., Koppal, T., Chase, S., Brown, A., … & Marash, D. (2014).Criminal justice today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

This book presents an introduction to the criminal justice system of the 21st century and examines the criminal justice system through its three critical components; police, courts, and the corrections. The book also presents a futuristic discussion of how the criminal justice system might evolve to meet the security challenges of the future society. The discussions herein are guided by the aim of the American criminal justice system of creating a just and orderly society where people are free to pursue their interests.

Bennett, M. W., & Plaut, V. C. (2017). Looking Criminal and the Presumption of Dangerousness: Afrocentric Facial Features, Skin Tone, and Criminal Justice.UCDL, Rev.,51, 745.

This article starts by presenting the close linkage between black males and thoughts of violence, crime, and dangerousness. This indicates the biased perception that law enforcement officer has when dealing with black males. The authors delve further intending to examine this stereotype and determine how it has managed to grow and how it is sustained even in todays American society.

Owusu-Bempah, A. (2017). Race and policing in historical context: Dehumanization and the policing of Black people in the 21st century.Theoretical Criminology,21(1), 23-34.

This article draws upon the intersectionality to present a historical analysis of how policing of African Americans is done. This thesis is centered on the fact that there is s stale debate on the causeof race-related disparities on crime and criminal justice outcomes. The author argues that the concept of dehumanization has helped to explain the structural inequalities that cause crime among African Americans and how racisms persist within the law enforcement agencies.

Epperson, M., & Pettus-Davis, C. (Eds.). (2017).Smart decarceration: Achieving criminal justice transformation in the 21st century. Oxford University Press.

This book aims to place the challenge of smart decarceration during todays national discourse and consider the realities of todays sociopolitical context. The concept of smart decarceration is presented as a futuristic idea of dealing with mass incarceration that is characteristic of criminal justice in America, and particularly of the African American male population. In essence, the book grapples with the challenge of transforming the American criminal justice system approach for the 21st century.

LeClerc, B., & Savona, E. U. (Eds.). (2016).Crime Prevention in the 21st century: insightful approaches for crime prevention initiatives. Springer.

This book is a collection of expert contributions on how to prevent crime. Comprised of seven sections, each section has a theoretical and research approach then empirical contributions. It presents theoretical approaches to interests in crime prevention and how such theoretical approaches can be applied. The collection is meant for researchers and policymakers in criminology and criminal justice, Sociology and Psychology, Urban Planning, and Security.

Bibliography