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Criminal Justice Trends
CJA 394
Description:
Criminal Justice Trends Paper
Select one of the components of the criminal justice system (law enforcement, courts, or corrections).
Write a 1,400- to 1750-word paper in which you evaluate past, present, and future trends of the criminal justice component you select. Discuss the budgetary and managerial impact that future trends will likely have not only on the component you select, but also on the other components of the criminal justice system. Be sure to include current research data (qualitative and quantitative) in your analysis.
Criminal Justice Trends
The practice of criminal justice must support the fragile balance between individual rights versus public rights. This balance becomes more complex in a multicultural society. The practice of criminal justice is a covenant wherein citizens have agreed to give up some individual rights for the sake of public law and order. In this paper, the evolution of
2. Description:
Criminal Justice Trends Paper
Select one of the components of the criminal justice system (law enforcement,
courts, or corrections).
Write a 1,400- to 1750-word paper in which you evaluate past, present, and future
trends of the criminal justice component you select. Discuss the budgetary and
managerial impact that future trends will likely have not only on the component you
select, but also on the other components of the criminal justice system. Be sure to
include current research data (qualitative and quantitative) in your analysis.
Criminal Justice Trends
The practice of criminal justice must support the fragile balance between individual
rights versus public rights. This balance becomes more complex in a multicultural
society. The practice of criminal justice is a covenant wherein citizens have agreed
to give up some individual rights for the sake of public law and order. In this paper,
the evolution of western criminal justice system will be traced from ancient to
modern times. Past, present and future trends in the criminal justice system will be
assessed as well, including the value of the system in an ever changing society.
The history of crime can be traced back to the first book of the Bible that dates
back thousands of years ago. The account of Cain and Abel records the concept
of a retributive justice. The Exodus account of an ‘eye for an eye” can be restated
in modern times as the concept of proportionality practiced by the justice system,
which means the penalty must be proportionate to the crime. This is a legal
precept followed in Biblical, Rabbinical, and Common Laws. The modern principle
of two or more witnesses can be found in Deuteronomy as well, which means that
direct testimony that is corroborated by outside direct testimony will be admissible
evidence in capital cases. In addition to the concept of retributive justice, there is
also the deterrence principle for the prevention of crime. In Deuteronomy, the
death penalty is imposed on those who refuse to heed the rulings of the court, or
flaunts the rules of the land. The governing principle behind all these edicts is that
the laws of the land should be in accordance with the laws of God, which is a
sacred trust and the observance of which ensures continued blessing for the nation
and the people. Hence, in order to preserve good government, the death penalty is
given on those who hold the laws of the land in contempt (Sterling, 2002).
Judeo-Christian tradition holds that God is the supreme source of the law, while
Roman view is more mundane and maintains that the origin of law can be no
3. higher than man himself. Hence, Roman law is not immutable; it is subjective and
changeable. Persecution is easy because there is no need to follow cumbersome
evidentiary rules. It is a system that is not primarily geared for dispensing justice;
rather, it is a system for maintaining social order, which is suitable for an imperial
order. Whereas Judeo-Christian perspective holds that certain acts are morally
repugnant because they caused harm; Roman view emphasizes the absolute
power of the state wherein policy is paramount, regardless if it is moral or not
(Sterling, 2002).
During the development of the English Common Law, the criminal court began to
distinguish two components of a criminal violation, namely, as “Actus Reas,” which
refers to a guilty act, and “Mens Rea,” which refers to a guilty mind or a criminal
intent. This approach was carried over to the American colonial and post-colonial
laws. However, in the 20th century, the American legal system is moving away
from the principles of common law by marginalizing the element of criminal intent in
order to make the justice system more consistent and less unpredictable. Legal
scholars want to blur the distinction between criminal law and civil law by doing
away or minimizing the requirement of “mens rea.” A growing trend in the 1800s
was Darwinian Positivistic legal philosophy, which was championed by Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr. This philosophy follows a utilitarian approach in observing
rule of law. It
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