Why society needs a criminal justice system

Australian Criminal Justice System

Formal mechanisms are required to make certain there is no bias or discrimination against the people. With informal mechanisms there was unfair treatment of the accused even to the point of receiving unjust sentencing. Those who had the power within the informal mechanisms often received the property or other goods once held by the accused, withhold evidence for personal benefit, or acted as vigilantes exacting their own justice (Lincoln and Robinson, 2010).

Social control is best managed by those that have been elected to oversee the management of the changing formats of punishment for criminal behavior. The formal mechanisms work best when connected with matters of state within society (Roach Anleu, 1998). One theory that demonstrates the interconnected relations is the Behaviorists Concept. This theory asserts that social control lies within governmental administration of what is considered a normal lifestyle through

Legislation, legal action and negotiation (White and Sutton, 1995) . The laws are integrated with the complexities of social relationships in terms of culture, morality, medical administration, and civil service. Punishment due to criminal activity is more attached to violators of the law, prohibit illegal activity, and establishing the guilt or sentencing of a prisoner.

Criminal Justice Components

Legal Component

The aim of the Australian criminal justice system under the legal component is founded on the decree that law and justice are independent of the judiciary system. The basic tenet is that all both native Australians and others within its borders should be treated equally in matters of law and their rights protected. So that people are treated fairly by the officials that have authority whether they are members state or national government. The rights to have an opportunity to face legal proceedings based on precedents and severance of powers are part of the foundation of the Australian legal system. The common laws originated in the United Kingdom. This is not the same as with other countries such as Europe, Japan or South America which have laws established from civil law that originated in Roman legal systems. Similar to Australia are other common law systems in India, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the United States (Lincoln and Robinson, 2010). The basic difference with civil and legal systems are that the judges decree is privy to precedent cases of common law. The judgments are decided based on decisions from former cases.

Law Enforcement Component

The police force in Australia is organized as a national branch which is responsible for investigating federal offences such as illegal immigration and drug related criminal activity. In addition to criminal actions relating to national security or environmental acts. Each state within Australia and the North Territory has its own police force to handle criminal activity based on its own state or territorial law. The Capital Territory is under the Federal Police's jurisdiction.

The police forces have the responsibility of ensuring order in the communities and arresting those that have allegedly violated the law to have the matter resolved by the court system. The courts have the responsibility of deciding the guilt or innocence of the alleged criminal activity. The police have the duty of collecting some evidence and bringing the offender before the court system.

Crime Commission Component

In 2003 the National Criminal Authority was replaced by the Australian Crime Commission which is a statutory organization designed as an independent law enforcement entity that cooperates with the national agencies of law enforcement throughout the country. This is to oversee and coordinate national criminal activity related to organized crime or criminal networked activity. The role is to consolidate and collaborate all departments under an Intelligence law enforcement arm in order to deal with serious crime (Australian Government Dept. Of Foreign Investment and Trade, (AGD) 2011).

Court System Component

The states each have a supreme court that has authority over all the criminal courts. The next functional court level is the district sometimes known as county courts which has the role of handling serious criminal cases. The judge in these cases presides over the proceedings deciding the case that is heard by jurors of 12 that determine guilt or innocence of the accused (AGD, et al., 2011). The criminal offenses are tried at the district or county level. The types of criminal offenses tried include cases of murder, armed robbery, and rape (AGD et al., 2011). Criminal activity of a lesser nature is handled by local magistrates who preside within each community or city who hear the case and then give a ruling. All that are accused in Australian court system are innocent until they are proven guilty with reasonable doubt being the metric used to make the decision. Capital punishment is not a part of the Australian criminal system with no death penalty.

Legal Representation Component

Australian provides legal aid to those unable to afford representation. The funding to cover legal representation comes from the federal government Attorney General office. They have established legal aid provision for each community and for the indigenous Australian peoples.

There are legal services provided through Family Violence Prevention Legal Services that span throughout Australia. They provide services to the Indigenous that have been victimized through violence or criminal actions of assault or abuse (AGD, et al., 2011).

The components of the Australian criminal justice system are interconnected in the ability to work together on a national level. However each state or territory has its own laws and court systems that vary from state to state or territory to territory. Therefore it is not truly a system that works cohesively throughout the country.

The individual states and territories have the authority and responsibility to deal with criminal activity based on the laws each have established through the legal precedents system of government. The law making powers of each state or territory are "separate and independent systems" in relation to police, the courts, prison facilities and all "other corrective and treatment services" (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010).