On the one hand, we have a very short period, albeit by using very rigid and painful measures, not to destroy the old system, but to build a solid foundation on which those who deserve the penalty will pay it. On the other hand, those who dispense justice will not even think that the law has the rank, status, and most importantly the price. The main goal of reforming Criminal Justice is a prosperous society where the right and duty of a single citizen have unquestioning force for State itself and each individual
Being just in the American criminal justice system is a topic that is highly debated. Some believe the system is just, while others believe it is a flawed. The truth however, is that humans are not always right. God is the only who can practice justice in complete perfection, because humans are not perfect. Although many people in the American criminal justice system have good intentions, sadly that does not necessarily mean they are always just. The American criminal justice system tries to be truly just and has been before, but humans are not perfect and cannot always be truly just.
The biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there. Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them.
Famous American cereal killer, John Wayne Gacy, had murdered and raped 33 adolescents, many of whom were teenagers, the justice system made sure this man could never do this again. The public is turning a blind eye to the many contributions the justice system makes, we should look at not only how we can reform, but how it contributes to society The justice system creates many contributions to society, such as the safety it provides for children and their chances of exploitation, the many instances where they convict dangerous individuals therefore creating a safer environment for the present and future of society, and the fact it provides all citizens of the public and private sectors, to have the right to a fair, speedy, and public trial,
Alan Moore brings forth a morally ambivalent protagonist in V for Vendetta, wherein a mysterious hero by the name of V exhibits moral vigilantism to combat the bigoted and totalitarian government that has overtaken London. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a hero is a “person admired for achievements and noble qualities” or “one who shows great courage,” a definition redolent of V’s valiant actions to overthrow the oppressive Norsefire regime, which serves as the villain that “opposes the hero.” To achieve his means of freeing society from the villain Norsefire’s tyranny, V makes a series of ethically equivocal decisions, including murder, torture, and revenge. However, despite utilizing violence in his endeavors, V is indeed a hero due to his vigilantism opposing corruption and recalcitrant actions responding to Norsefire’s breach of societal obligation in properly administering a justice system.
As a young child I learned how information can be corrupted and distorted through a classroom game I use to play called telephone. In the game you would start with a message and try to make it around the room with the same message, and even though this game sounds easy the classroom never made it through with the same message. To me this game represents society and the media on how not everything you see is what it seems. I think that information can easily be corrupted and that it happens in our everyday life.
Today our justice system has a multitude of options when dealing with those who are convicted of offenses. However, many argue that retributive justice is the only real justice there is. This is mainly because its advantage is that it gives criminals the appropriate punishment that they deserve. The goals of this approach are clear and direct. In his book The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Zehr Howard (2002), illustrates that the central focus of retributive justice is offenders getting what they deserve (p. 30). This reflection paper will first address the advantages of using retributive justice approach in three court-cases. Second, it will discuss the disadvantages of using retributive justice approaches by analyzing the three court-cases listed above. Third, it will elaborate on ways that the system could have used restorative justice processes in the cases, as well as present potential outcomes that could have been reached if restoration justice was taken into consideration.
The justice system is constant work in progress as the system must change and evolve to meet the needs, demands and requirements of the times we live in. The justice system and its statutes sometimes struggle to keep up with the ever-changing world; thus making them lag behind. As stated, one of the core functions of the justice system is to provide intervention programs for those individuals who are deemed to be at risk. Intervention programs do exist but still the justice system is overburden with many criminal cases. The inability of justice programs to work as they are intended to is seen as one of the significant problems facing the justice system. Welsh and Harris (2013) seeks to explain the inability of the justice programs to not work in stating, “The problem is that many criminal justice interventions fall short of their goals because of poor planning, poor implementation, and poor evaluation. It is fair to say we have not yet discovered “what works” to reduce crime.” From this, it is clear that the development of interventions is not the issue and not the cause for them to not succeed in their mandates but the problem is within their planning.
When a person in the United States commits a crime they will be penalized for that said crime. The United States criminal justice system is the department established by the government to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate the law. The criminal justice system has allowed the government to lock away several people who have committed several crimes and who are a danger to society. With that being said, the criminal justice system also has some flaws. For instance, sometimes wrongfully convicted people get put in jail like in Adnan Syed’s case. Adnan Syed was convicted of killing his on-and-off-again high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in Baltimore in 1999. He supposedly strangled her and has spent the last sixteen years
According to a statistic by the U.S. Department of Justice and their collaborators, the number of prisoners in the U.S. has grown by over 700 percent since the 1970s. This extreme increase in incarcerations means that people disregard the law and constantly commit crimes. But these crimes are not all equal. Crimes range everywhere from murder to simple drug use. Law enforcement punishes almost all of them equally. This can be seen as unjustified and something should be done about it, but that does not stop the crimes from happening. The only way to do that is to deal with the people behind the crimes, either by doing more to support them or remove the cause altogether.
The criminal justice system is an essential role in the organizational structure of not only the United States but also in countries around the world. If there were no criminal justice system to administer punishment, the world would be unstructured, disorganized, unjustified, cruel, and not to mention a chaotic place for it citizens. Well put by Siegel
“No matter how harsh your punishments, you’re not going to get an orderly society unless the culture is in favor of order” (Woon 183). In “Time to Assert American values,” by New York Times and “Rough Justice” by Alejandro Reyes, both passages argue for and against the punishment prescribed in the Michael Fay case. After carefully analyzing the two texts the reader realizes that the article “Rough Justice” has the most relevant and sufficient article to support these arguments because of the way the author uses a sustainable amount of evidence and facts to back up it’s claims, as well as, strong rhetorical appeals.
What does the judicial system do for those of us who aren't immediate victims? Why do we as a society need the court system? Is it only for black and white justice, or have we placed more importance then that on the righteousness of the gavel? In the modern United States there is a belief that the courts not only judge guilt, but at the highest level, act as a national conscience and affecting society before society realizes it should be changing... But is this the case? Do the Supreme Court justices of this nation produce any supreme changes in this nation themselves. Gerald R. Rosenberg believes he has found the answer to be a resounding no. In his book "The Hollow Hope: can the courts bring about social change?" Rosenberg contends that it’s nearly impossible to generate significant reforms through litigation, except with a fairly specific set of conditions and constrains met. Gerald attempts to use evidence to prove the American supreme court is more ineffective
In the article “Even Prisoners Must Have Hope”, Richard Stratton (the author) talks about his thoughts on the federal prison system in America. Stratton himself had served 8 years in jail for smuggling marijuana. He strongly advises not to make the prisons even worse than they already are. The harsh conditions and other peoples’ vengeful attitudes toward criminals only make the violence and crime continue. According to Stratton, instead of improving the harsh conditions and trying to rehabilitate and help prisoners that could lead to peace, our society inflicts more pain and punishment, enforcing a violent cycle. The only effective programs Stratton believes are helpful, are the ones that give counseling and education to prisoners. Statistically,
Crime is a blemish in almost every society. Criminals and law breakers have been around since biblical times and still haunt societies today. The American Criminal Justice System is in place to attempt to help control criminals. The idea is not to create a perfect society where no crime will be committed, but to contain the crime. Predicting crime is not an easy task, criminal justice officials take many steps to prevent crime from happening. Environmental Design is a key aspect of helping prevent crimes Crime prevention through environmental design is a problem-solving approach to crime prevention.