CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY PROCESS
The criminal justice policy process is a process which involves a series of step, which begins with the criminal investigation and ends with the release of the convicted person under correct supervision.
Key actors in the Process
The key actors in the criminal justice policy process include elected officials, political parties, civil servants, eyewitness, jurors, pressure groups, policy entrepreneurs, think tanks, supra-natural government bodies and NGOs, and consultants.
It also includes courts; prosecution and public defender offices; custodial institutions; probation and parole agencies; police and other law enforcement agencies; and departments of correction. Other important public and private actors
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in this system are defendants; private defence attorneys; bail bondsmen; other private agencies providing assistance, supervision, or treatment of offenders; and victims and groups or officials representing or assisting them. In addition, there are numerous administrative agencies whose work includes criminal law enforcement, Legislators, and various elected officials. Steps involved in the Process The criminal justice policy process operates through numerous steps in a specified sequential order few of them are: Crime This is the initial step in the criminal justice policy process; it begins with the commission of a crime. Crime is an ‘an act in violation of the criminal law’. Usually, when a crime is committed, it is not immediately detected by the police. Rather, it is reported afterwards to the police either by another citizen who discovers the crime or by the victim. Investigation An investigation conducted by the police officials is the second stage in the process which begins when the patrolling officer responds to the scene of the alleged crime after getting informed.
If police decide that the act was not illegal, it goes to next level. The agenda behind a criminal investigation is to gather the evidence to find the suspect and support an arrest. An investigation may require a search or an inspection of a person or of a property. Probable cause is the standard of proof which is required for a search. Probable cause means there are facts or apparent facts indicating that evidence of a criminal conduct can be found in a specific …show more content…
location. Arrest Once the police identify the suspect by collecting enough high-quality evidence and witnesses, their next goal is to remove the alleged offender from the street at any cost. This is usually accomplished through an arrest. Probable cause is the legal requirement for an arrest; it is a reasonable belief that a particular person has committed a crime. Booking After the arrest, next step booking occurs. At this step, an administrative record is created of the suspect. Typically, his or her fingerprints or photograph are taken or clicked, and he or she may be questioned further by the police or by the government official; and/or placed in a line-up for witness or victim identification. Initial Appearance After being charged with a crime by the prosecution, the suspect makes an initial or first appearance before the judge. At this point, the suspect is notified of the charges that are charged against him and is advised about his rights. The judge decides whether bail is necessary or not after evaluating the level of risk and danger that the victim will pose to the community. If the judge thinks that there is not enough evidence to warrant the charges, the case is made to be dismissed by the judge. Preliminary Hearing / Grand Jury In next step of the process, there is either a grand jury or a preliminary hearing, depending on the jurisdiction in which the case is being processed. Both of these mechanisms are implemented to ensure that innocent persons are not hastily or arbitrarily prosecuted or convicted. Arraignment Before the trial, the defendant appears in the court and enters a plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. If the plea is not of ‘not guilty’ then the process of sentencing takes place as soon as possible. Pre-trial detention and/or bail Detention refers to a period of temporary custody prior to the trial. Bail is an amount of money that is paid by the defendant to ensure that he will show up for the trial. Plea bargaining This is step involves a discussion that takes place between the defence attorney and the prosecutor. Normally, in plea bargaining, the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence reduction or charge reduction. Trial A trial is held before a judge or jury, with a prosecutor and a defence attorney participating. The standard of evidence for the criminal conviction is the guilt beyond a reasonable doubtless than cent percent certainty but more than the high probability. If there is any doubt based on reason, the accused person is entitled to be acquitted. Sentencing When a defendant is found guilty by a jury or by a bench trial the next step is sentencing. The Possible sentences include a period of incarceration in a correctional institution such as a jail or prison, probation, or either the combination of supervision in the community and incarceration. Appeal Appeals are filed by the attorneys in the appellate courts and then ruled on by appellate judges. The convicted offender can only appeal for plea on the basis of law .If an appellate court reverses a case, then the case returns to trial court for retrial. With a reversal, the original trial becomes useless. In a reversal, a prosecutor decides whether to refile or drop the filled charges. Punishment Once a sentence is passed, correctional services such as probation, jails, prisons, and numerous other agencies administer the sanctions imposed by the court. Release Once a sentence has been fully served by the person, he is released from the criminal justice policy network. Offenders are also be released early from incarceration through the process of parole or with the help of good behaviour in the incarceration, which allows the offender to be released back into the community without serving his full sentence, as long as he agrees to live under certain laws and rules. Suggestions to improve the Process • Making and considering Victims' Safety a Primary Consideration in Bail Decisions and in jail. • Security of witness and prosecutors should be increased. • By enhancing the collection of data on crime place by police officials • Strict laws against the prosecutors and police who are responsible for any deliberate misconduct. • To provide compensation to people who has been wrongly convicted of a crime they have not committed. • Reduce Violence in Prison by Improving Prison Leadership and Accountability. • Death penalties and life sentences should be minimized. Conclusion The main aim or motto behind criminal justice policy is to discourage citizens from getting involved in crime or in any illegal act.
The actors of the criminal justice policy process are to determine and refine what laws and policies can make society a safe place for everyone to live. The aim behind the criminal justice policy process is to reflect what is best for society as a whole and not what is best for individuals. In the other way, as the political system takes help of democracy to voice concerns, objectives or goals. Politics and criminal justice policy take help of public opinion and community influences all the time. Criminal justice policy process focuses on the issues that affect everyone. Once a crime is significant to be an issue, then action to alleviate the issue becomes very important .The role of criminal justice policy process also begins at that point. The criminal justice policy process is similar to a funnel, wide at the top and gradually narrows down till the bottom. Each step there is a refinement of
cases. References Policy Transfer and Criminal Justice By Jones, Trevor, Newborn, Tim Criminal Justice and the Policy Process JAMES G. HOUSTON; PHILLIP B. BRIDGMON AND WILLIAM W. PARSONS http://www.gjs.appstate.edu http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Stuntz discusses how there has been a big shift of power in the criminal justice system. When America was first getting started the judge had more power, but today that power has shifted and the judge has less power than the prosecutors. The federal government has big concerns in other areas, while the criminal justice is not its’ own, but works differently. The responsibility and the management of the criminal justice system belong to local elected officials, local law enforcement, and state law. Also the criminal justice system tends to focus more on the Bill of Rights, which four of them are specifically about crime in America (Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth). Stuntz also discusses substantive and procedural law and shows how they can be related, but are also very different. Substantive law defines what a crime and what punishments fit, meanwhile procedural law is about the process the of the criminal justice system, for example, procedural law will explain the steps a police officer must take in order to have a justifiable arrest. There’s also a lot of comparison between the nineteenth century criminal justice process , and the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century, there was no elected officials the judge made all decisions, and prosecutors were only paid by cases and conviction, which caused to convict even the pettiest of crimes. Meanwhile, in the twentieth century the balance of power
Criminal Justice is a well-coordinated system, it has a number of institutions and practices. All of these are established by the government. Criminal Justice has a huge purpose in society, it maintain order in the society, deter and mitigate crime, and its consequences, and to pose different kinds of penalties on people, who violate the law of a country or state. APA Style was adapted and put into practice in 1929. The APA style is used in many countries in order to ease the process of reading. It made communities and individuals understand and make positive decisions, when it comes to matters concerning justice at all levels.
When examining criminal justice systems it is important to note two important criminal justice models, the due process model and the crime control models. Most governments function based on several aspects from each criminal justice model; these crime models were initially introduced by Herbert Packer in 1968 (Cole, Smith, & DeJong, 2014). The due process model in the criminal justice system reflects the formal decision making process and highlights the importance of ensuring the criminal justice system works upon reliable knowledge (Cole, Smith, & DeJong, 2014). The crime control model is based on efficiency and ensuring crime is repressed as much as possible; this model promotes bargaining and often encourages defendants making deals with
2. Did you easily find the National Criminal Justice Reference Service when you searched for NCJRS on the search tools?
...such policies are conceptualized in an effort to protect the criminal justice process from overzealous use of authority. It would seem that policies and laws regulate more than criminal behaviors.
In order for police or any other higher authority to search and seize evidence from a suspect legally, it is required that a judge must grant a search warrant. (Encarta Online) The warrant authorizes the officer to seize particularly described items and to bring them before the court that issued the warrant. In common law, search warrants were used mainly to discover stolen property. In
The criminal justice process and the criminal court system go hand in hand. The criminal justice process is a sequence of events that a person who is accused of a felony will progress through. This process varies from state to state or jurisdiction and varies according to the seriousness of a crime or whether the accused is a juvenile or an adult. Generally, the criminal justice process involves several specific stages; however, not every case will include each stage or even follow a certain sequence. According to Matthew Lippman’s Essential Criminal Law (2014), these stages include:
phase of the criminal justice system, and to do so in a harmonized manner. Without a systematic
This essay will discuss the role of the criminal justice professional in serving both individual and societal needs. It will identify and describe at least three individual needs and three societal needs, in addition to explaining the role of the criminal justice professional in serving each of these needs. Illustrative examples will be provided for support.
The Criminal Justice Administration’s primary goal is to protect, deter and serve the community. It is the goal of Law Enforcement to protect and enforce laws equally among the land (Department of Justice, 2013). The 6th
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.
There are many different aspects of criminal justice policy. One in particular is the different theories of crime and how they affect the criminal justice system. The Classical School of criminology is a theory about evolving from a capital punishment type of view to more humane ways of punishing people. Positivist criminology is maintaining the control of human behavior and criminal behavior. They did this through three different categories of Biological studies, which are five methodologies of crime that were mainly focused on biological theories, Psychological theories, which contains four separate theories, and the Sociological theories, which also includes four different methods of explaining why crime exists. The last theory is about Critical criminology. Their goal was to transform society in a way that would liberate and empower subordinate groups of individuals.
Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing crime again while making him or her pay for their crimes. Retribution does not mean inflicting physical punishment by incarceration only, but it also may include things like rehabilitation and financial retribution among other things. The last purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law acts as the means through which the society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences meant to act as a way of deterring the offender from repeating the same crime in the future.
There are many steps that have to be taken when leading a criminal investigation and investigating a crime scene. Firstly, detectives have to try and figure out why and how a crime was committed. They examine a crime scene looking for information or clues such as fingerprints, weapons, and DNA. They investigate the victims’ history to define why someone would want to harm them. After they have formed a hypothesis, they try to find proof that somebody committed a crime so that they can arrest the suspects. They look at both the cause and the actual evidence of the crime and try to see if their hypothesis makes sense. The suspects then enter the criminal justice system where they are tried using the evidence collected at the crime scene.