Criminal justice system overview and components

Criminal Justice System

Define the criminal justice system in your own words

The criminal justice system is the vehicle that society uses to enforce the standards of conduct that are necessary to protect individuals and the community. The criminal justice system consists of three main parts: law enforcement, courts, and the jails and prisons.

Choose a crime trend and identify this trend in Louisiana. Create a chart to illustrate the crime trend statistics you chose.

Race relations and poverty have always been a topic of concern in New Orleans, but has become ever so more talked about since hurricane Katrina. It has been reported that New Orleans has one of the highest concentrations of poverty and poor African-American residents in the U.S. In the areas just outside of New Orleans, the poverty rate in the damaged areas of the Gulf Coast (20.72%) is clearly above the national average of 12.4%. The geographic concentration of people experiencing poverty, mostly African-Americans, has contributed to a historic cycle of destruction and suffering. Katrina forced misery upon people from every segment of the social spectrum, but the poor and unemployed, African-Americans, and those who rent their homes were especially affected. "Due to this concentration of damage, the hurricane amplified preexisting disparities based on class and race. Residents in damaged areas were 45.8% African-American, compared to 26.4% in the undamaged areas of the region, 29.9% were under the poverty line, compared to 15.3% in surrounding undamaged areas and 7.6% of the residents in damaged areas were unemployed, as compared to 6% in nearby undamaged areas" (Vorhees, Vick and Perkins, 2007).

The police: Identify the roles and responsibilities of the police after a crime has been committed. What they must do and why?

A police officer's basic tasks include keeping public order and protecting lives and property. A police officer must be watchful for any number of threats, human or otherwise. Once a crime has been committed, detectives take over and engage in searching that ranges from routine questioning to DNA analysis. Sheriffs and state troopers uphold order in bigger areas. Most officers work a patrol in a specific area. As they rise in the ranks, their duties become more specialized. All police officers, because of their exclusive role in society, are responsible for maintaining the trust of the public they serve. Police work is mostly a series of routines: patrols, investigations, and paperwork (Police Officer/Manager, n.d).

The courtroom and trial: Identify a courtroom in your area or state. Identify those who work in a courtroom and describe their roles.

Juvenile Court is the court that has jurisdiction over children. It deals with matters of juvenile delinquency, families in need of services, child in need of care, adoption, juvenile traffic violations, and criminal neglect of family & child support. In the state of Louisiana the following are court personnel in the Juvenile Court: Juvenile Court Judge, Hearing Officers, Court Attorneys, Probation Officers, Case Managers, and Court Reporters (Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court, 2006). The judge is the person who oversees the entire court system. The hearing officers have been appointed by the judge to hear court cases and make rulings. The attorneys are their as both prosecutors and defense attorneys. Probation officers are usually present to make reports to the judge or hearing officer in regards to offenders on probation. Case managers facilitate any paperwork that goes on in the courtroom. And court reporters transcribe the proceedings.

Sentencing and punishment: Explain the purpose of sentencing and punishment, identify forms of punishment, identify some factors of sentencing, and identify who sets the sentencing.

Sentencing is a function that is solely performed by the judge. The court schedules a sentencing hearing, and the parties have the opportunity to make sentencing recommendations. Before a defendant is sentenced the judge is given a pre-sentence investigation report that is prepared by a probation officer. The report contains information about the defendant such as any criminal record, family and financial circumstances, harm to the victim, circumstances of the offense, and sentencing recommendations from the probation officer and others. In addition, victims may make a written victim impact statement and present their statement to the court.

Corrections: Identify 2 to 3 correctional facilities in Louisiana. Provide information about the types of facilities they are (maximum or minimum security); the types of designs; whether they are private or public; their population statistics; and their type of crime statistics.

The Elayn Hunt Correctional Center is the second largest prison within the state of Louisiana. It is a maximum security facility, housing within its confines all three levels of custody: maximum, medium and minimum. "EHCC receives and holds inmates with medium and maximum security for disciplinary transfers, mental health and medical concerns, shock incarceration participants, lifers, and trustees assigned to work crews" (Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, 2009). It is a centralized multi-service facility diversified in functions that benefit all of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. It has an inmate population of 2,105 (Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, 2009).

The David Wade Correctional Center is a multi-level security institution, which opened in 1980. Inmates are kept in restrictive cellblocks, working cellblocks, or dormitories, according to their custody level, conduct, and needs. In 1992, the DWCC became the first state-operated Louisiana correctional institution to be accredited by the American Correctional Association. The DWCC also includes a 522-bed satellite unit, Forcht-Wade, in Caddo Parish. Forcht-Wade houses inmates from the northern part of the state who are being processed into the state correctional system and those who are geriatric or infirm and not eligible for medical furlough. The location of this facility helps it to facilitate the efficient delivery of medical services needed by these inmates as it is located near the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport and its School of Allied Health. The DWCC has a maximum capacity of 1,731 inmates (08-414 Corrections Services - David Wade Correctional Center, n.d.).