Criminal Justice System Case Study

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1. Create a hierarchy of a 30-person police department with only 22-sworn officers. How many divisions would be created?
Most police departments utilize the traditional pyramid structure to differentiate specialized functions, authority, and leadership. Studies from Peak et al., (2012) indicate that numerous police agencies experimented with other methods of structural leadership styles, and most of them prefer the traditional pyramidal configuration because it emphasizes “rapid leadership and division of labor particularly in catastrophic incidents” (p. 28). Police departments in the United States are considered as bureaucracies for two of the following reasons: (2) heavy reliance on rules, regulations, policies and procedures; and (2) pays …show more content…

Each of the three components in the criminal justice system has a specific mission and operates on its own; however, “the actions and reactions of each with respect to crime will send ripples throughout the process” (Peak, 2012, p. 6). The criminal justice system is operated by three points of view: process, network, and non-system. A criminal justice system is viewed as a process because it contains the “decisions and actions taken by an institution, offender, victim, or society that influence the offender’s movement into, thru, or out of the justice system” (Peak, 2012, p. 6). As a process, police officers are tasked with the apprehension of lawbreakers. Next, correctional facilities resume custody of the offenders and hold them there until their scheduled trial (Peak, 2012). Lastly, the courts ensure federal, state, and local laws are applied accordingly to each incoming case (Peak, 2012). As a network, “the public, legislators, police, prosecutors, judges, and correctional officials interact with one another and with others who are outside the traditionally conceived CJS” (Peak, 2012, p. 6). The last point of view of the criminal justice system is described as a non-system. Critics who believed the criminal justice system is a non-system argued that the three segments of the U.S. criminal justice system that “deal with criminal behavior do not always function in harmony and that the system is neither efficient enough to create a credible fear of punishment nor fair enough to command respect for its values” (Peak, 2012, p.

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