Criminal justice system is the system used to enforce the criminal laws established by society, prevent crime, punish criminals, and seek justice for individuals and society. It attempts to protect people from assault, murder, rape, robbery, and other crimes. It also tries to safeguard them from being falsely arrested, imprisoned, or fined.
Every nation has its own system of criminal justice. This article discusses how the criminal justice system operates in the United States and examines its main issues and problems as well as some current reforms and their effectiveness. The U.S. system is divided into three broad areas: (1) the police, (2) prosecution and the courts, and (3) the correctional system.
The police
The police are considered to be the community’s first line of defense against crime. Police officers work to prevent crime through routine patrolling and showing a police presence. When a crime occurs, they investigate and seek to arrest the offender. As part of their public safety function, police officers also regulate public behavior and otherwise act as public servants in ways unrelated to crime. For example, police officers direct traffic, assist motorists, find lost children, and sometimes even deliver babies.
The main job of a police force is to try to prevent crime. To best do this, police officers work with the community to defuse (remove) potential crime situations before crime actually occurs. Routine foot patrols have, for example, been effective in accomplishing this goal. Maintaining good police and community relations is an important part of good police work.
After a crime has been committed, the police question the victim and any witnesses. They also gather such evidence as fingerprints, weapons, and stolen property. If the police have probable cause (reason to believe that a certain person committed the crime), they can arrest him or her. They sometimes apprehend a suspect in the act of committing a crime or soon after the crime takes place. But in other cases, police officers are required to obtain a court order called a warrant before they can arrest a suspect.
Police detectives investigate crimes. These officers work in specialized fields that deal with such crimes as murder, robbery, or the illegal sale of drugs. Various technical units of a police department may assist the detectives in investigations, using what is called forensic evidence. Forensic evidence consists of such physical evidence as blood samples, bodily fluids, hair, and fingerprints, from which DNA (genetic material) may be obtained. This evidence is examined in police crime laboratories and used to support testimony given in court.
The police must follow certain procedures when they investigate crimes, and when they arrest suspects and put them in jail. These procedures are governed by laws and rules that protect the suspect. For example, the Miranda rule requires that before questioning a suspect, the police must inform the individual of his or her rights, including the right to remain silent (see Miranda v. Arizona). A person accused of a crime also has the right to have an attorney present during questioning.
Prosecution and the courts
Prosecutors have cases referred to them by the police. They then decide whether to charge a suspect and with what crime. This makes the prosecutor’s role in the criminal justice system a powerful one. After prosecutors present their cases, the criminal courts decide the legal guilt or innocence of people charged with violating the law. The courts also determine the penalty for those who are convicted.
Pretrial procedures.
In most cases, the suspect is brought to court for a hearing within 24 hours after being arrested. At this hearing, called arraignment, a judge reads the charges against the defendant. The judge also reads the person his or her rights. The most important right of any defendant is the right to be considered innocent until proved guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In the vast majority of cases, defendants plead guilty to the charges in a process called plea bargaining, and there is no trial. This may occur in exchange for being charged with a less serious crime or being promised a shorter prison sentence.
If a defendant pleads not guilty, the case goes to trial. The judge appoints a defense attorney to handle the defendant’s case if the accused person cannot afford a lawyer. The judge decides whether to keep the defendant in jail until the trial or to release the person on bail or another form of release. The defendant or another person on the defendant’s behalf must guarantee that the accused will return to the court to stand trial. Defendants who are not released must stay in jail until the trial. Judges may deny release to defendants considered unlikely to return for trial or to those accused of particularly serious crimes, such as murder.
Cases involving less serious crimes, such as disorderly conduct or driving without a license, may be completed in a single court session. In these cases, the judge hears the testimony, decides the guilt or innocence of the defendant, and sentences the guilty.
Cases of murder, kidnapping, or other especially serious crimes may be presented to a grand jury. This panel, which consists of 16 to 23 citizens in most states, decides if the evidence against the defendant justifies bringing the case to trial. This is known as an indictment. The purpose of the grand jury is to protect the defendant from being accused of a crime with insufficient evidence.
The trial.
When a criminal case goes to trial, the defendant chooses to have it heard either by a jury or by the judge alone. In most states, a trial jury consists of 12 citizens. However, the juries in some states may have as few as 6 members. The jury or judge hears the evidence for and against the defendant and then reaches a verdict. If the defendant is found not guilty, he or she is released. If the individual is found guilty (or the defendant pleads guilty), the judge orders a presentence investigation to help determine the most appropriate sentence based on the seriousness of the crime.
The judge imposes a sentence that he or she feels will best serve both the offender and society. Laws may provide a maximum and a minimum sentence according to the crime involved. In some cases, the recommendation of the jury determines the sentence that may be given to the offender.
Sentences are usually based upon individual state laws, the seriousness of the crime, and the individual’s prior criminal record. Sentences may range from small fines to release on community supervision, jail, prison, or the death penalty. After sentencing, the convicted person is turned over to the correctional system to carry out the sentence.
The correctional system
The correctional system, often called simply corrections, carries out the sentences given by the courts to convicted offenders. This system includes probation, imprisonment, and parole. Probation is a period of community supervision that is used as an alternative to incarceration in jail or prison. A lawbreaker who is put on probation remains free but must follow certain rules. A probation officer assigned by the court supervises the individual’s conduct. A probationer who violates any of the rules of his or her probation may be sent to prison. Parole is a period of community supervision following a jail or prison term.
Criminologists—and people in general—disagree about the role of the correctional system. Some people believe the purpose of imprisoning offenders is to prevent them from committing more crimes. But this prevention, called incapacitation, may be only a temporary solution unless a criminal is imprisoned for life. Other individuals think the correctional system should punish convicted offenders so that a sense of justice in society can be maintained. This is known as retribution or just deserts.
Many people believe corrections should help criminals become law-abiding citizens. This goal is called rehabilitation. Prison programs attempt to rehabilitate inmates through vocational training and psychological counseling. These programs also help find jobs for men and women on probation or parole.
Some people think the correctional system should serve as a deterrent to crime—that is, it should discourage people from breaking the law. The term general deterrence refers to the process of making an example of lawbreakers in order to dissuade other people from committing crimes. In individual deterrence, the experience of punishment is intended to convince an offender to avoid breaking the law again.
These four principles—incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and deterrence—could be considered as the primary goals of the criminal justice system.
Problems in criminal justice
Problems in policing.
Today’s police officers are better equipped, better educated, and better trained than those of earlier generations. Computer technology and such methods as “problem-oriented” policing and “hot spots” policing enable officers to be much more effective in targeting high crime areas and thus preventing crime. Policing in the United States is largely a local function. As a result, there are thousands of police agencies across the country. Most are basically free of problems. But at the same time, old problems and issues continue to plague some police departments. These include the police use of force, particularly deadly force; racial and ethnic profiling of suspects for questioning and arrest; poor police and community relations; and corruption. Where these problems exist, they interfere with the ability of the criminal justice system as a whole to deliver justice.
Problems in prosecution and the courts.
A person accused of a crime has the right to be tried as soon as possible after being arrested. But in many cities, an overload of cases has caused serious delays in bringing defendants to trial. Defendants may have to wait more than a year before their cases go to court. Some people believe that inefficiency in the court system causes unnecessary delays and that these delays hinder justice. In other words, they believe that justice delayed is justice denied.
Plea bargaining has led to controversy. Critics of this practice believe it jeopardizes the defendant’s right to be considered innocent until proved guilty. Others think that plea bargaining enables some criminals to be punished less severely than they deserve. Supporters of plea bargaining argue that it helps relieve the courts of their overload of cases.
Wrongful convictions—in which innocent people are convicted of a crime—also occur and strike at the heart of the criminal justice system. Such convictions are usually the result of police errors or malpractice, erroneous witness testimony, coerced confessions, or perjury (lying while under oath).
Sentencing is often unequal because different judges may give different sentences to persons convicted of similar crimes. Each judge has his or her own belief about the most appropriate sentence in a given case. Many people believe that differences in sentences imposed for similar crimes are unjust and also add to the problem of unrest in prisons. Determinate sentences—that is, sentences with fixed minimum terms, fixed maximum terms, or both—have been one of the solutions to sentencing disparity (inequality). Some judges do not like mandatory sentences because they reduce judicial discretion. This discretion, the judges believe, is necessary to deal with the special circumstances of individual defendants.
Some communities have developed programs of pretrial intervention. Such programs offer some defendants counseling, vocational training, and a job before their cases go to trial. Many offenders have been rehabilitated in this way, and the courts have then dismissed the charges against them. Pretrial intervention helps reduce the overload of cases in the courts and enables defendants to avoid prosecution and imprisonment.
Problems in the correctional system.
Studies show that the correctional system has had relatively limited success in helping to control crime. In particular, jails and prisons have high recidivism (return-to-crime) rates. That is, many convicts return to crime after serving their sentences, and the threat of punishment has not prevented others from breaking the law. Probation and parole officers are often overloaded with cases and cannot properly help or supervise all the people assigned to them. Many jails and prisons are severely overcrowded and often have large numbers of prisoners with mental health problems for whom they have no treatment. This mass incarceration has led to a host of problems, including high rates of repeat offenders, lack of treatment and rehabilitation, and even riots, beatings, and killings. Most of the problems in the correctional system result from a lack of funds and from neglect by the responsible public officials.
Recent developments.
Current ideas regarding corrections are focusing on creating alternatives to imprisonment, reducing mandatory sentences, and developing re-entry programs to help parolees succeed and avoid re-incarceration. Because jails and prisons cost much more than community programs, some people believe that a shift of resources will not only save money but also be more effective in preventing and controlling crime.
A recent and ambitious effort to reform and improve the overall criminal justice system has been the adoption of the idea of using only evidence-based practices and policies. This method involves carefully assessing and evaluating the various practices of the police, the courts, and the correctional system to determine what works best to prevent and control crime and to administer justice. The practices that work are to be adopted and widely used, and those that do not are to be discontinued and discarded. The ultimate goal is to make the criminal justice system both more effective and more just.
