Criminal Justice Essay Example for Free

Criminal Justice Essay In today’s society crime is increasing every day and the types of crime are changing. It seems more and more that crimes of identity theft and organized crime are on the rise. According to the CJi Interactive Media crime is defined as â€Å" conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. † That means that â€Å" crime â€Å" depends on where you are. The same behavior may or may not be a crime depending on the state of the actor, time of day, the year, the location of the act, or even the reasons behind the behavior. The government structure applies to the criminal justice system when that a crime only becomes an issue when violating social norms, sanctions, or rights. Law can be defined as a set of regulations determined by a group of people who decide what is right and what is wrong. When these regulations are broken, it creates a crime. Society sees criminal justice as an officer making an arrest or patrolling the streets. Society does not realize that the criminal justice system has a government type structure, has goals, and is made up of three components. These components include the Police, Courts, and the Correction system. Each one of these components has its own function and purpose. The police enforce the law, arrest offenders, decrease and prevent crimes, maintain public order, ensure safety of the public and to protect their rights. The courts conduct fair and impartial trials, decide criminal cases, ensure due process, determine guilt or innocence through jury of peers, uphold the law, and to protect the rights of anyone facing trial by the system. The corrections carry out sentencing imposed by the courts, provide safe and humane custody of offenders, rehabilitate, reform, reinstate offenders back into the community. There are several different choice theories in regards to crime. One theory is the rational cause theory. This theory was developed by Cesare Becarria and is considered the classical school of thought and labels criminals as deviants. It explains how an offender will commit a crime for his or her own benefit or personal gain. The individual knows the act is criminal but the reward outweighs the consequence. Another theory is Sociological Positivism, this theory studies the relationships between public influences and crime. This theory is fueled by a study of social structures within an offender’s environment. Biological Positivism is another theory developed by Cesare Lombroso in the late 1800s and studies the change and physical differences between criminals and non-criminals, saying that some people are born as criminals. One more theory is the Psychological Positivism which introduces that the cause of crimes is rooted in the offender’s mental health stability or in personality disorders. For example, schizophrenia, bi-polar disease, psychopathic personality, and depression to name a few. This theory the individual who may or may not know what reality is. The offender may have a chemical imbalance that does not allow them to know right from wrong and the cause of the crime may be from inside and unavoidable versus a controlled decision. Society sees these views and have studied and applied them still today, but society uses to common models to determine which acts are criminal. One model is called the consensus model. This model is based on a wide variety of people who come together and decide based on their beliefs. There is also the conflict model, it argues that businesses or people of the criminal justice system work against or compete with each other for own personal recognition or glorification to produce and ensure justice. There are many goals of the criminal justice system of today. One goal is community safety, the system is responsible for safety and our children should be able to play outside without fear and families should be able to take evening walks. All citizens pay taxes to law enforcement personnel and view safe communities as a right. Another goal is victim restoration, if the offender is responsible to pay restitution then it will be paid directly to the courts. Then the courts will forward it to the victim. The victims also have the right to speak at the sentencing and may also speak with the probation officer to provide input and request information. The criminal justice system also wants to rehabilitate offenders and reintegrate them back into the community, whether it be on probation or the sentence has been fulfilled. Community supervision can monitor all criminals while helping them to becoming productive members of society. Some people consider the criminal justice as not a system at all. According to the KY government, â€Å"the criminal justice system is an array of agencies and organizations funded and controlled by various governmental and non-governmental entities. † This means that each agency or jurisdiction has its own responsibilities, priorities, and roles to perform and fulfill. The system has other non-government agencies and services that help prevent crime and to make the communities safe. A true system would be that all agencies collaborate together effectively, work together efficiently, and coordinate plans to help reduce crime as a team. Instead, the agencies work separately for personal gain and benefit. You have agencies that trump each other for jurisdiction rights and power. In a perfect system these problems would not exist and I think crime as whole would be a fraction of what it is today.