Criminal justice agency policies and implementation

Criminal Justice Agency Policies

The main policy of criminal justice agencies in the United States is to ensure safety for the citizens of the country. As such, agencies such as the police and the court system work to ensure both safety and human rights. Areas such as terrorism, civil rights, community safety, and domestic safety are the focus of these policies.

Terrorism: The safety of United States citizens are ensured by preventing and discouraging acts of terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security for example fulfills this function by monitoring suspected terrorist cells and ensuring the safety of airports in a preventative manner. Citizens are often involved in helping the government to identify potential terrorist threats, and to eliminate these.

Civil Rights: Criminal justice policy is focused upon providing charged persons with the rights that are theirs under the law. An accused cannot be sentenced without a full and impartial hearing. This policy ensures that citizens live in a climate of true justice. It is therefore the policy's intention to assure all citizens who experience legal problems of the best possible treatment in the criminal justice system.

Community Safety: Community policing is a fairly recent addition to criminal justice policy. Through this policy, the community and police work together in order to ensure a safer community. This also serves to optimize the relationship between the general community and members of criminal justice agencies.