This is a system of legislation used by governments and individuals to sanction violators of law, in order to defer or control crime within a country. The government uses institutions like the police force, courts and correctional systems, which pass sentences and administer punishments to those found guilty of offences.
My definition of justice as relates to the correctional system is one that punishes those found guilty of offence. The punishments may range from probation, imprisonment, correction programs; home confinement and so on (Chapman, Catriona and Brawn, 2002) The national institute of justice(NIJ) proposes reexamination of the administering punishments from custodial to non custodial methods correctional justice which involve financial penalties such as fines, forfeiture, restitution (Chapman, Catriona and Brawn, 2002)
In some countries, judiciary as a correctional measure may administer corporal punishment and death penalty. Although some countries did away with these kinds of punishment and particularly death penalties some countries still retain it. In the United States this is form of punishment is administered in severe offences such as attempted murder or any murder that is premeditated, treason and espionage (Chapman, Catriona and Brawn, 2002) or military law.
The Essay on Australia Should Not Reintroduce Capital Punishment
Capital punishment or the death penalty as it is also known refers to the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. The most common forms of capital punishment include electrocution, gas, firing squads, lethal injections and hanging. Australia abolished the death penalty in 1975 and since then, there have been many debates about whether it should be re-introduced. Capital ...
Correctional aspect of criminal justice has evolved in different phases throughout history. Other aspects of law enforcement and courts have similarly undergone evolution. In the early years of civilization when resources to build and maintain correctional facilities were scarce and when knowledge on the issue was available, correction justice primarily took the form of exile and execution. Execution is synonymous capital punishment or death penalty. Exile on the other hand refers to being chased away from home country as being forbidden to return home. Threats of death or even imprisonment were usually the consequences of returning home when one was exiled. (Walker, Samuel 1992) In addition, other forms of punishments such as shame punishments and dismemberment was administered. Shame punishment was a conscious effort meant to disgrace, dishonour and embarrass a perpetrator publicly in order to deter others from repeating a similar offence. Medieval punishments also included dismemberment. This is the act of cutting a persons organ, tearing, or removing limbs of a person by chaining him to moving parts, say, vehicles or horses and moving them to opposite direction until a limb or organ is removed. This punishment was cruel and often fatal. It strongly deterred people from violating laws.
In the modern era correction justice has evolved to a more humane approach. This is because correctional justice as the name suggests is supposed to correct bad or unacceptable behavior into the socially acceptable behavior and make the perpetrator become a better person. Prisons are used to retain suspects of crime before and during trial and hold prisoners after court finds them guilty of crime. Unlike the medieval times where prisons were dungeons where criminals were put without much thought of the poor living conditions, these days, prisons are habitable. This can be credited to the Quaker movement, which advocated for prisons to be reform facilitates. (Chapman, Catriona and Brawn 2002).
Justice means different things to different people but the best way to define correctional justice and apply it is to ensure that whatever punishment is administered to people, achieves the intended purpose of reforming offenders and at the same time defers others, like the offender, from repeating the same offence. The punishment should be severe enough for the offender to feel remorse and for the victim to feel that fairness and justice prevailed. The justice system should also improve the general public attitudes and trust in the legislature arm of government. People should feel secure in their own country and that the law protects them. Justice is meant to serve three purposes. That is deterrence, retribution prevention and rehabilitation of criminal offenders.
The Essay on The Canadian Justice System Vs Aboriginal People
Topic: Be it resolved that the Canadian justice system be significantly changed. The Canadian justice system has failed the Canadian people. It has failed the aboriginal people of this nation on a massive scale. The flawed justice system has been insensitive and inaccessible, and has arrested and imprisoned aboriginal people in grossly disproportionate numbers. Aboriginal people who are arrested ...
Current practices in the correctional agencies and institutions
The current practices in the criminal justice system revolve around improving peoples attitudes and confidence in the criminal justice system, Incorporating technology in correctional facilities, reducing drug and substance abuse in prisons and reducing spread of HIV/AIDS among criminal and so on.
According to a home office research study (Chapman, Catriona and Brawn 2002) three quarters of the people interviewed said that they had an idea on the correctional facilities but the information was not founded and most of it was sourced from television and movies. In addition, they pointed out that they did not feel fully confident in their correction justice as they related to their knowledge on the criminal justice system. It seems that the educated people were more informed on the correctional justice than the uneducated.
The legislature is keen on educating citizens on the correctional practices within the person system. A pamphlet containing information, which answers frequently, asked question and clears any misconceptions held by people about the correctional facilities.
Currently, websites are being launched and public are being encouraged to log in those sites and be better acquainted on new developments in correctional facilities main aim should be to reduce crime by preventing re-offending and punish offenders. Most Americans feel that more effort should be put in order to boost confidence. Disseminating information about sentencing and correction justice helps to beliefs that punishments are too lenient to achieve goal of justice.
The Essay on Social justice in a criminal justice organization
Two types of justice systems, criminal as well as social justice system, govern our society. Social justice system is for ensuring social justice to a person, where as criminal laws are for ensuring criminal justice or for punishing those who are violating these laws. But there would be circumstances in life when a criminal offense would be justified under social justice. The present paper is ...
Correctional facilities realize the impact that providing information has on changing attitudes about criminal justice system. Thus, more documentaries, audiovisual, websites and printed sources of information are put at the disposal of the public. Television shows and films are the most commonly used sources.
The use of technology has increased in the criminal justice system and correctional facilities; this technology provides the correctional justice with powerful and new capabilities to facilitate pursuance of justice. Take the case of probation for instance. These days it is easier to administer such penalties to petty offenders since tracking them down is possible through the use of internet, surveillance cameras mobile communication and so on. Use of hand held walkie-talkies have given law enforces substantial increase of jurisdiction and flexibility across states. Similarly electronic surveillance and advances in imaging and remote sensing probation officers and prison wardens are able to keep an eye on people’s activities. Technology use in correctional facilities especially databases which provide more information about individual help correctional officers offenders. This current practice in correction has greatly helped to reduce the problem of crime and empowered law enforcers in administering justice to individuals. Reengineering of the US criminal justice system is another current practice. This process is being done with the aim of laying foundation for better low enforcement and reformation of offenders. It is also meant to protect the human rights by enforcing efficient correctional justice. Correctional institutions have similarly reduced opportunities for criminals by reducing environmental or opportunities to engage in crime. This is especially so in the upgrading programs in the correctional facilities, maximizing awareness on criminal movements and so on.
A current trend in the United States correctional agencies shows more responsiveness to AIDS and education. This is because correctional agencies come into contact with large numbers of HIV positive inmates and there is a great risk of epidemic occurring within the cells due to sharing of needles by drug users and homosexual practices. Most correctional facilities emphasize on preventing transmission among inmates or offenders to staff using approaches such as educating peer education risk reduction counseling and so on (Savelsberg, Joachim J., Lara L. Cleveland, Ryan D. King 2004).
The Essay on The Number Of Correctional Institutions Has Been Increased During The
The number of correctional institutions has been increased during the last decades. The reason is the increase of imprisonment level. The correction officers realize that their works is highly responsible and risky. The paper provides the analysis of five empirical articles related to the topic and identifies the job-related stress during working. Corrections The guideline of this paper is to ...
Other correctional activities and penalties such as probation emphasis on taking pre-release HIV education classes before awarding probation. This is especially in the case of prostitutes, drug addicts and drug peddlers and other high-risk population.
Challenges facing correctional agencies and institutions
The three biggest challenges that I predict in correctional justice and institutions in the next ten years are drug and substance abuse in correctional facilities, diseases among inmates.
About eighty percent of inmates in correctional facilities have drug and substance abuse problems. This is according to a recent survey conducted by the department of Health and Human Services. The law enforcers have stepped up their crackdown on criminals most of who are arrested and prosecuted on drug related cases. The number of inmates in correctional institutions has increased owing to the increased incidences of drug propelled crimes and petty offences This number of arrests is predictably going to increase in future as ammunitions and accessibility to drugs becomes easier. Despite enforcing drug possession and sale laws, the number is still on the increase.
The loophole in arresting offenders on drug related crimes is that it only removes them from the street but does not reform them as expected in criminal justice. Hence, the offender carries on the problem to the prison system. It is important to understand that people who use illegal drugs also have problems with alcohol as well as multiple addictions say, sex, cigarettes and so on. Without substance abuse treatments they suffer from withdrawal symptoms and become violent and agitated. This is a great deal of challenge for prison wardens. Currently, some prisons offer substance abuse treatments such as detoxification group counseling, education methadone maintenance and so on.
The Term Paper on Training Staff for Criminal Justice
... anger amongst women inmates. Overall, the population of women in the criminal justice system is the ... is more hazardous conditions for everyone because correctional officers have to deal with transmissible ... back. My third major issue is the increased imprisonment of crimes caused there to ... therapy, talent recognition initiatives, training, education, and drug and alcohol programs. Some of these ...
These substance abuse treatments are crucial for inmates with drug abuse problems. However, they also face challenges. One challenge is inmates are unwilling to get into treatment hence don’t benefit from it. Secondly, the quality of treatment program is low and thirdly, correctional facilities are not usually dedicated to inmates life after prison hence no support is given to them to overcome their drug problems. The sobering issue is that drug abusers tend to be jail bergs. They always get arrested few months after being release from prison as they fall back into crime. This is a big challenge.
Congestion in the prison will be a big challenge in the years to come. Perhaps due to the reason that the attitude to ‘get tough’ on crime has dramatically increase in the recent years. More effort is put in arresting offenders than is being offenders’ bad habits. There is need to achieve balance between the two aspects i.e. getting rid of offenders from the street and reforming them to be better citizens. The idea behind justice is reforming not confining people in a place for a given time. If alternative methods are developed congestion within prison should reduce. Congestion breeds more problems than solutions. This has been the case in the recent years. Diseases such as HIV and hepatitis have increase among inmates. This is because there are so many confined criminals who are at the some time drug users. Sharing of needles and homosexual encounters among inmates is the perfect recipe for brewing disaster within correctional facilities. Since not much attention has been given to this area, I see it as one of the biggest challenge in the next ten years within correctional institutions.
Changes within correctional agencies after September 11 attack
The ever-increasing threat of insecurity has contributed to an increased fear levels amongst the members of the public. Particularly, the 9/11 terrorist attacks had a great impact on the confidence level of Americans. This is what the terrorists aim at achieving. After the September 11 attack the US government prioritized on the issue on security. Crimes involving drug peddling, trade in ammunitions, hijacking, violence and organized crime have been accorded serious penalties to deter others from repeating such offences. Correctional facilities have been equipped with more sophisticated technology to provide maximum security within prisons. According to the United States penal code terrorism is any premeditated politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence on audience (Titles 22 of the united states code, section 2656 f[d]) Garland, David 2002).
The Term Paper on Criminal Justice In Usa
There are many aspects of law enforcement that are not clear. One of the few certainties in policing is that there is about 17,000 police departments in the U.S.A . The exact numbers are not important to most researchers. There most likely isnt a survey on how many of these departments use 911 operators or use handcuffs, because our findings would usually be accurate. Other factors , may be more ...
Much of the changes that occurred after the September 11 terrorist attack affected the law enforcement and policing agencies of the criminal justice system. Police increased surveillance across the country particularly on borders and the airports. Before the 9/11 terrorists attacks America did not have effective border safety policies. However, since the terrorist attacks focus has shifted on border security as a security measure. Of particular concern is the Mexican-USA border, which has been an avenue for illegal immigrants and has had implications on the security and economy of United States of America Immigrants into America reported instances of being mistaken for al Queda members in the atmosphere of apprehension. At that time, sentences were passed hastily as criminal arrests intensified. In the long term, the law enforcement agencies has become stiff on crimes linked to terrorism and collaborations between the national institutes of justice (NIJ), federal bureau of investigation( FBI) and criminal investigation agency (CIA) have strengthened. Police departments similarly improved their policing approach with more emphasis on community policing and shaping information between police department in different states. Death penalty to terrorist suspects is strongly advocated by American citizens as they feel that retribution is the best form of justice for such inhumane attacks by terrorist groups.
In conclusion, the criminal justice system must be guided by the constitution of America so as to ensure that correctional measures aimed at protecting Americans and punishing offenders do not eventually infringe on the fundamental rights of Americans but rather serve to protect the liberties of the citizens. Therefore, there is a need for the Department of criminal justice and security to enforce the law while at the same time ensuring that correctional facilities adequately rehabilitate criminals fairly and effectively.
Bibliography
Garland, D. (2002).
“Of Crimes and Criminals”, in Maguire, Mike, Rod Morgan, Robert, Reindeer: The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
Savelsberg, Joachim J., Lara L. Cleveland, Ryan D. King (June 2004).
“Institutional Environments and Scholarly Work: American Criminology, 1951-1993”. Social Forces 82(4)
Walker, S. (1992).
“Origins of the Contemporary Criminal Justice Paradigm: The American Bar Foundation Survey, 1953-1969”. Justice Quarterly 9(1).
