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Importance of restorative justice
Importance of restorative justice
2 aspects of criminal justice system
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Many citizens of the United State of America believe we need new leadership that will put forward solutions that will streamline the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system was created to protect the people. However, for many years, our “justice system has reinforced our country’s cruel history of racism and economic inequality remaining disconnected from our founding ideals of life, liberty, and equal treatment under the law” (Rugge, Bonta, & Wallace-Capretta, 2005). The American justice system needs to assure that justice equally serves for all Americans, regardless of status, race, and sexual-preferences. Some changes to the criminal justice system are already in the process. For example, president Trump is cracking down on undocumented immigrates and on companies that hire undocumented individuals to work for them. In addition, strengthen border security and president Trump proposal put forward a streamlined to deport undocumented people, people who have overstayed their visas and people who are threats to the country and the public. However, many would say one of the biggest problems is the public not trusting law enforcement. Law enforcement needs to build trust with the communities by ensuring fairness and equal treatment for all people at every step within our …show more content…
The ultimate goal of the program is to hold offenders responsible for their actions in positive ways, but most importantly repair the harm caused by the offender. Restorative justice working with victims, offenders, communities, and others who are affected by the crimes to come up with positive ways to restore lives. The restorative justice program is usually run by an outside non-profit organization and is often used in property crimes such as; shoplifting, burglary, arson larceny-theft etc... but can restorative justice possible on the federal
...system that has existed in the United States or anywhere else in the world” (Alexander 234). W.E.B. Dubois argued that “The burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs” (Alexander 217). Our nation must address this burden and correct that racial injustices created by our so-called criminal justice system. The criminal justice system cannot continue to hide behind the front of being a colorblind system - racial inequality and injustice must be challenged.
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for a number of reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. The ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system is caused by mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism.
This research essay discusses racial disparities in the sentencing policies and process, which is one of the major factors contributing to the current overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system, further threatening the African American and Latino communities. This is also evident from the fact that Blacks are almost 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than are Whites (Kartz, 2000). The argument presented in the essay is that how the laws that have been established for sentencing tend to target the people of color more and therefore their chances of ending up on prison are higher than the whites. The essay further goes on to talk about the judges and the prosecutors who due to different factors, tend to make their decisions
The criminal justice system is united under one basic law body, in which no racism is present. Personal beliefs and anecdotes prove nothing, the criminal justice system isn’t racist. Although it may seem African Americans are highly discriminated upon in the justice system, there is ample amounts of data to prove otherwise. The criminal justice system is united under one basic law body, in which no racism is present. The system is not to blame for the racial differences found in the United States criminal justice system. The racial issues found in the system are due to inner city isolation and common crime patterns involving drugs even if it may seem as if the system is racist.
If given this prompt at the beginning of this semester I would have answered with a resounding yes, the criminal justice system is racist. The classes I have previously taken at LSU forced me to view the criminal justice system as a failed institution and Eric Holder’s interview in VICE - Fixing The System solidified that ideology. The system is man-made, created by people in power, and imposed on society, so of course there will be implicit biases. The issue is that these internally held implicit biases shaped the system, leading the racial and class disparities. VICE – Fixing The System addressed heavily the outcomes that we see in today’s society based on these implicit biases. Additionally, this documentary focuses on the ways that mainly
Saint Augustine once said, “In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?” The criminal justice system in America has been documented time and time again as being a legal system that borders on the surreal. We as Americans live in a country where the Justice Department has failed to collect on $7 billion in fines and restitutions from thirty-seven thousand corporations and individuals convicted of white collar crime. That same Justice Department while instead spending more than 350% since 1980 on total incarceration expenditures totaling $80 billion dollars. America has become a place where a 71-year-old man will get 150 years in prison for stealing $68 billion dollars from nearly everyone in the country and a five-time petty offender in Dallas was sentenced to one thousand years in prison for stealing $73.
Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system. Racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial or ethnic group within the control system is higher than the proportion of the group in the general population. The cause of this disparity varies and can include differences in the levels of criminal activity, law enforcements emphasis on particular communities, legislative policies, and/or decision making by one or more persons at some level in the criminal justice system.
The Criminal Justice System can be very rewarding because it deters crime, protects and minimize recidivism all while treating all Americans equally under the law (Department of Justice, 2013). The Criminal Justice System’s Administration is composed of three system components which collectively functions the Criminal Justice System if effectively enforced and monitored (The Criminal Justice System, 2008). The Criminal Justice Administration is composed of Police Officers, Public Defenders and other Legal occupant whose main job is to protect, serve and rehabilitate (The Criminal Justice System, 2008). When the Administration’s occupants become involved in corruption they become a conflict of interest. Conflicting Rewards can negatively impact the Criminal Justice Administration and the people it was created to serve when the primary goal becomes undesirable (Kirby, 2016).
In the wake of President Obama’s election, the United States seems to be progressing towards a post-racial society. However, the rates of mass incarceration of black males in America deem this to be otherwise. Understanding mass incarceration as a modern racial caste system will reveal the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy America. The history of social control in the United States dates back to the first racial caste systems: slavery and the Jim Crow Laws. Although these caste systems were outlawed by the 13th amendment and Civil Rights Act respectively, they are given new life and tailored to the needs of the time.In other words, racial caste in America has not ended but has merely been redesigned in the shape of mass incarceration. Once again, the fact that more than half of the young black men in many large American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system show evidence of a new racial caste system at work. The structure of the criminal justice system brings a disproportionate number of young black males into prisons, relegating them to a permanent second-class status, and ensuring there chances of freedom are slim. Even when minorities are released from prisons, they are discriminated against and most usually end up back in prisons . The role of race in criminal justice system is set up to discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of minority men. From stopping, searching, and arresting, to plea bargaining and sentencing it is apparent that in every phases of the criminal justice system race plays a huge factor. Race and structure of Criminal Justice System, also, inhibit the integration of ex offenders into society and instead of freedom, relea...
Living in the twenty first century Americans would like to believe that they are living in the land of the free, where anyone and everyone can live an ordinary life without worrying that they will be arrested on the spot for doing absolutely nothing. The sad truth, with the evidence to prove it, is that this American Dream is not all that it appears to be. It has been corrupted and continues to be everyday by the racism that is in the criminal justice system of America. Racism has perpetuated the corruption of the criminal justice system from aspect of the initial stop, the sentencing in court, all the way to the life of an inmate in the prison. There seems to be nothing stopping it as it continues to grow
There are several areas where reforms can help prevent wrongful convictions of the innocent people in the future. Most law enforcement agencies still use the same methods they have used since the last two-decade. Research has shown that eyewitness identification, risk is reduced significantly, if the officer who is doing lineup is unaware of the suspect. Also, when the victim viewing the photos of the suspect should be told that his suspect might not be in the pictures, or lineup so the investigation will continue. Another way we can take a step forward in reforming is by recording interrogations. Recording interrogations can prevent police from putting pressure on suspects to get a confession. Interrogations should also be limited to one hour especially for teenagers because false confession is often done, when the interrogations last for hours. Police in United Kingdom, Poland and Canada are not allowed to force suspects or lie to get them to confess. This law should also apply over here in the United States even though the Supreme Court states that lies do not violate constitutional rights. All laboratories should have their examiners certified which will results in DNA test being
The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.
The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.
Within America we have a three part criminal justice system. Including law enforcement, the judiciary, and corrections branches. First I will discuss law enforcement. Local, state and federal law enforcement has around 750,000 sworn officers (Zumbrun, 2014). Preventing crime, commanding control, apprehensions, defending and keeping the peace, are examples of what these officers do within our law enfacement system. law enforcement rely on the public for support just like the public rely on the officers for help and safety. “how police interact with individuals and suspects within a community, and how police respond to community concerns affect their ability to police efficiently. Without community support, police effectiveness suffers”(Wright,
“Restorative justice is an approach to crime and other wrongdoings that focuses on repairing harm and encouraging responsibility and involvement of the parties impacted by the wrong.” This quote comes from a leading restorative justice scholar named Howard Zehr. The process of restorative justice necessitates a shift in responsibility for addressing crime. In a restorative justice process, the citizens who have been affected by a crime must take an active role in addressing that crime. Although law professionals may have secondary roles in facilitating the restorative justice process, it is the citizens who must take up the majority of the responsibility in healing the pains caused by crime. Restorative justice is a very broad subject and has many other topics inside of it. The main goal of the restorative justice system is to focus on the needs of the victims, the offenders, and the community, and focus