Criminal Justice System and Police
The article under consideration is called New York Times Linked to a Violent Robbery Ring and is dedicated to the case study of the crime committed by the police officer, Emmanuel Tavarez (Sulzberger, 2010, n. p). In particular, the officer was accused of conspiracy to distribute drugs and to commit robbery by using firearms. In the District Court of the United States, the defendant pleaded not guilty. The detainment of the police officer was justified as the court returned the accused guilty of the numerous robbery raid conducted under his control. He also shielded the participants of the robbery rings. Therefore, Tavarez was also recognized as the person that “poses a danger to the community” (Sulzberger, 2010, n. p.).
The article is solid proof of the gap within the criminal justice system, specifically in the sphere of criminal justice personnel. Judging upon Tavarez being a member of the Police Department, the government pays insufficient attention to the education of future police officers. Tavarez ignored his obligation before the Court and failed to enforce the law. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the specific reasons why Tavarez brought himself to this serious crime and exposed the community to danger.
The problem in the sphere of police officer education is evident. According to the statistics, 18 % of departments in the United States require the officer to have at least a college, and approximately 9 % have officers with a two-year degree (Siegel, 2009, 270). The rest of the departments prefer the graduates with criminal justice majors only due to their advanced knowledge of criminal justice and policing (Siegel, 2009, 271). Those deplorable facts show that education is of secondary importance for the Police Department of the United States. Pertaining to the article, the negligence was also revealed by a managerial staff of the Police Department who after Tavarez’s first indictment did not dismiss him from the post.
The facts from the article can be caused by the inappropriate treatment of problems connected with cultural diversity in the United States. In particular, the criminal justice system officials should bear in mind that American society is rather diversifying due to the growth of the Hispanic population. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity to acknowledge cultural disparities and restrictions in order to secure people effectively (Glenn, 2003, p. 98). This rise of awareness, thus, includes the comprehension of cultural issues connected to race, gender, age, and religion. As it can view the knowledge of criminal justice is not enough to ensure society with peace and security, which is exemplified by the article at issue.
Courts in Juridical System
The Court System in the United States has a plethora of shortcomings that negatively influenced the welfare of society. In particular, the article under analysis called Foes of death Penalty See Step forward with High Court’s Ruling discloses the disputable question about the necessity to abolish the death penalty (Anonym, 2002). In the article, the author expresses his negative attitude to capital punishment, especially toward the execution of mentally ill people. However, he also reveals a vigorous dispute concerning the effectiveness of punishment at the national level. Despite the fact, that the majority of the population expresses their consent towards this decision, the Criminal Justice Foundation that certain categories of criminals cannot be deprived of this type of punishment.
While reading the whole article, one can notice that the author’s main idea lied in criticizing the courts for their irrelevant activities which are not fully guided by the principles of justice, security, and democracy. Instead, they are more concerned with political goals that do not presuppose the expression of tolerance to all opinions. At this point, it is possible to talk about the problems in terms of the democracy of the Courts in American and public confidence towards them. In particular, the case depicted in the article provides further discussions on the social situation and public attitude to the lower courts of the United States about their fairness and objectivity. Benesh (2006) states that “it is rather debatable whether the U.S. Supreme Court is attentive to public opinion…since it arguably has little incentive to concern itself with the will of the people”( p. 697). The core factors affecting the confidence of the public in the courts are reduced to the level of crimes, people’s experience in participating in the court cases. The studies have proved that only well-educated people have the highest degree of confidence in juridical establishments.
The consideration of the problems in the local schools depicted in the given article also provokes the question about the court manipulation of the social order within specific layers of the American communities. Their hostility and reluctance to accept the democratic stream are predetermined by their fear to lose authority among the population. The extreme concern of the court by the state involvement in these above-mentioned issues can be appraised as the infringement of freedom of speech. However, their intentions are that sincere. Therefore, the main problem in criminal justice is the abuse of their powers and obligations.
Corrections to Criminal Justice System
The article in question called The Legacy of Juvenile Corrections is dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the juvenile corrections in terms of methods applied to and directed at improving the treatment of the troubling use. In particular, it refers to the history of juvenile corrections, and the specific programs launched. However, history shows that program implementation is insufficient for improving the criminal situation (Krisberg, 1995, p. 122). On whole, the article expresses radical views on tackling juvenile delinquency. Another problem is that most incarceration facilities for troubled youth impose racial diversity factors. About this, the author expresses his concern towards the future of juvenile corrections thus proposing to consider the alternative models of reducing juvenile delinquency.
Corrections programs in the United States are mostly designed for easing the transition of the offenders from the community to prisons and institutions of confinement and vice versa. The problem is that those rehabilitation programs are not always effective since the criminal justice system pays little attention to the matter of security, job training, employment, and counseling. In this respect, the article called Juvenile Corrections in Indiana shows that punishments and fines are not an effective solution to reducing juvenile violence (Cohn and Hinke, 2000, p. 2000). The elimination of violence among the children should imply the policy focusing on the community and home. More importantly, the accent should be made on the process of childhood development but on the result, which is deplorable in most cases. To solve the problem, the author proposes to launch and support the so-called mentoring programs, including family preservation programs, and abuse prevention measures.
Viewing upon the problems revealed in the considered article, it is necessary to consider the community-oriented corrections programs. It means that the legal institutions should pay attention to the environment where children spend their time. Cohn and Hinke (2000) state that changing the communities and schools can only contribute to worsening children’s attitude to the outside world. In addition to this, long-termed transportations can deprive a child of a normal academic study thus lessening his/her involvement in it.
Apart from juvenile corrections, the article discloses an overall picture of corrections programs and their orientation. Both the troubled youth and the adult accused should be committed to the radical process of individualized treatment including educational issues and rehabilitation within the community members. Therefore, the community itself should re-evaluate its attitude to offenders thus giving him chance for improvement.
Community Interaction with Some Part of Criminal Justice
In the newspaper article titled Community Policing: Exploring the Philosophy, the author discloses the concept of community policing that is aimed at enforcing the population to be legally responsible for their actions. The programs implemented is also directed at solving the social problems about the environment a particular community is located. The article also shows that the community policing implementation can influence different aspects of the criminal juridical system (Allender, 2004, p 19).
While analyzing the main idea of the article, the main goal of the contemporary legal systems lies in strengthening the support from the public and raising the legal awareness of the community. Therefore, this interaction between the community and the criminal justice system can improve the situation and decrease the crime rate. More importantly, the strict control on the part of the legal system can also increase the social competency in the questions of justice and criminology.
The implementation of the above strategies can also serve as a preventive measure of the crimes within the community. In this respect, criminal justice is defined as an effective trigger for the non-legal agencies and institutions to be imposed by the responsibility to observe the law. This activity can also lead to the rise of criminal awareness that, in its turn, can contribute to the creation of viable solutions.
Policing can also develop the conditions in communities and neighborhoods that will permit other institutions, like church, family, community, commerce, and government, to cope with urgent problems of society (Duffee and Maguire, 2007, p. 145). Judging upon this purpose community policing serves to encourage a successful community interaction aimed at “problems solving utilizing citizen input, multi-agency efforts to reduce crime” (Anderson et al., 2007, p. 38). Addressing article one again, the author’s definition of the community policy covers both the requirements of the juridical systems and those of the community itself. Finally, the community interaction with criminal justice helps to increase the social satisfaction with the police, which, in its turn is more concerned with social problems due to the implemented programs.
It should be also stressed that the concepts revealed in the article conform to the contemporary tendency of community-based management of criminal cases. In this respect, the author also agrees with the idea that the effectiveness of the criminal justice system is impossible without consideration of social problems within the community and that of an individual approach to each criminal case.
Reference List
Allender, D. M. (2004). Community Policing: Exploring the Philosophy. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 73, 18+.
Anderson, J. F., Dyson, L., and Langsam, A. (2007). Criminal Justice and Criminology: Terms, Concepts and Cases. US: University Press of America.
Behesh, S. C. (2006).Understanding Public Confidence in American Courts. Journal of Politics. 68(3), pp. 697-707.
Cohn, E., and Hinke, W. G. (2000). Juvenile Corrections in Indiana. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 567, pp. 198-208.
Duffee, D., and Maguire, E. R. (2007). Criminal justice theory: explaining the nature and behavior of criminal justice. NJ: Routledge.
Foes of Death Penalty See Step Forward with High Court’s Ruling. (2002). The Washington Times, p. A04
Glenn, R. W. (2003). Training the 21th century police officer: redefining police professionalism for the Los Angeles Police Department. US: Rand Corporation.
Krisberg, B. (1995). The Legacy of Juvenile Corrections. Corrections Today, 57, 122+.
Siegel, LJ. (2009). Introduction to Criminal Justice. US: Cengage Learning.
Sulzberger, A. G. (2010). New York Officer Linked to a Violent Robbery Link. The New York Times. Web.