Criminal Justice Trends Evaluation

The Criminal Justice System Name Institution The Criminal Justice System The Criminal Justice System in America is made up of the police, the courts, and the corrections unit. The police deal with the investigation and apprehension of those suspected of criminal activities. The courts play different roles and comprise of State courts, judges, prosecutors, Federal judiciary system and other stakeholders. The corrections units, on their part deal with punishing and correcting the offenders. All of these three components have their beginnings and roots from the English law and tradition. Notably, criminal justice deals with the abuse of criminal law. Firmly interpreted, criminal justice is concerned with the procedures and the enforcement of criminal law. It is stated that, the system has two main aims: to manage crime and to guarantee due process. Undeniably, the American Justice System has evolved over time. The Colonial America experienced changes to the English Common Law, which mirrored the social and cultural disparities that were emerging in the new nation. In numerous ways, the American law became more intricate, revealing the influence of the age of “enlightenment” and, at the same time, responding to the concentration of authority and power vested in the American leaders. Shifting demographics and conflicting philosophies led to a state of checks and balances in the justice system. As Mustard (2001) puts it, the jury played the part of an informal reform of the cjs without the complex legislative process. When this trend created inconsistent and contradictory results, the facet of “rules of evidence” had to be strengthened as a counter measure. The power vested in the judge was balanced against the power vested in the jury; the federal government against the state; the state against the American citizen. When the system of checks and balances were seen to be in excess and citizens thought that justice was being mismanaged, lynch mobs and vigilante groups sought justice via extra-legal ways. It is interesting to note that, vigilante form of justice was usually met originally with huge public approval, which mirrored the vast dissatisfaction with the justice system. However, when these vigilante groups increased their use of power, they became corrupted by their public approval and they suddenly lost support from the public. The vigilante type of justice is a case where the cure is usually worse than the illness. The beginning of all these inconsistencies and conflicts within the justice system was from the idea of the “concept of justice”, which was founded in the Bible and was the main philosophical hub of the social order. Knowledge equals power; however, too little will be a serious deficiency while too much can be a tyrannical tool. As many have documented, criminal law continued to develop even towards the 20th century. The American justice system moved away from the principle of common law, which stated that a crime comprised of two facets, a guilty mind and a guilty deed. Legal theorists and judges thought of marginalizing the aspect of “intent” to make the system more predictable and uniform to everyone. They embarked on blurring the lines between civil law and criminal law by reducing or eliminating the need of mens rea (having a criminal intent or guilty mind). Currently, the justice system in the U.S appears to be far less lethal, partial, and racially unfair compared to the past. Arguably, it is more effective when it comes to prevention of crime. Certainly, it is more diverse that two or more decades before: Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics, women, and other minority groups fill the space of what was an all white and male preserve in the 1960s. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on its part, has moved from a strategy of declining to probe complaints against police officers to aggressively mounting covert operations of prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers and agencies. Nonetheless, it appears that these improvements have had minimal impact on the attitude of most Americans towards the criminal justice system. As Blumstein & Rosenfeld (1988) explain, the huge diversity of the American populace, as well as, issues faced by the Nation’s prisons systems, county prosecutors, state-level courts, police agencies, and jail systems complicates everything about the system and the public in general. Americans are somehow divided on issues dealing with confidence and trust in the justice system. Also, most Americans and trust and confine in the police more that other institution of the justice system. Nonetheless, there have been low opinions regarding the police in places where there is lots of crime. Generally, Americans have diverse views about what they expect from the justice system. Firstly, most of them think the system is more effective and fair than ever. Though most feel nostalgia for an era of strong communities and small towns, history shows a less heavenly picture of the developing justice system. Historically, the justice system in the U.S. seemed to have favored the wealthy, whites, and men over the rest of the society. according to Blumstein & Rosenfeld (1988), such unfairness minimized the effectiveness of the justice system in promoting justice and peace besides accomplishing the main purpose of the US government. Though these ine...