Justice Mean to Me? What

¶ … Justice mean to me? What exactly does Justice mean, and how does it apply to a criminal justice professional? Justice as such refers to a sense of fairness and impartiality, an evenhandedness, righteousness, and also objectivity and independence in making up one's opinions.

Justice is the concept which must predominate when laws are being made, and for a layman, justice would mean that he would be safe and secure in the knowledge that he would be protected adequately by the law, and by the sense of justice that law must uphold, no matter what.

If, for example, an incident occurs when someone does someone else bodily harm, then it is just and fair that the person should be stopped, and made to pay the penalty for the harm that he has caused to the other. Justice would also mean deciding and making up one's mind, fairly, whether or not an individual actually committed the act that he has been accused of committing; it must be proved.

(What is Justice?) The Youth Justice System and the Criminal Justice System both have the power to decide exactly what the price to pay for one's misdemeanors will be, and thereafter, make sure that the price is paid.

This would therefore mean that when there is justice, then the criminal, found guilty of having committed a crime, would pay for his crime, after a fair trial, and the Criminal Justice System would be within its rights to take a portion of the criminal's time or money or even his freedom, to make him pay for what he has done.

(What is Justice?) In general, the Criminal Justice Division has the right and also, the responsibility to make sure that justice is carried out, and the Court of Appeals has the right to remedy miscarriages of justices, wherever applicable. (Nobles; Schiff, 39) Distributive and commutative justice can also be a part of the Criminal Justice System.

(Baumgarth; Aquinas, 125) When one wished to search for the true meaning to justice, one must first decide the method that he wished to use to search for it, because this would provide a rational answer to the problem. The meaning of justice can perhaps be taken therefore, from its use in legal theory, and thereafter, combining it with a concept of ethics. (Feibleman, 1) For a criminal justice professional, he would study social control, penal law, criminal procedures, social law, evidence, criminology, victimology, and various other components of the justice system.

Each area of study is equally important, and unless all the areas are given equal justice, the professional would not be able to practice law in all fairness. He must be able to implement as many types of justice as are humanly possible in this world, and concentrate on being fair and just in all his judgments of criminal and social behavior.

(What is Criminal Justice?) Therefore, it can be stated that in this context, justice will mean that fairness is upheld, and justice is achieved, by punishing the people who break the law and commit crimes, and perhaps, rehabilitated as well, if possible, and provide full and complete support to the victims of the crime that has been committed, in this way, the criminal justice system would have made sure that the family, the community, and the society are all happier and more safe and secure, as a direct result.

Today, it must be remembered, that the trend is moving away from merely punishing the offender; rather, the focus has shifted form the criminal, to the victims, and the witnesses, and their well being and safety. (Maintaining law and order, justice and prisons) Justice must be maintained, at all steps of the criminal justice system. For example, the first step in the system is for the police to take the report of the crime from the victim, and from the witness.

Next, the crime has to be investigated, and the criminal brought into custody. If the criminal has to be brought to court, then the Prosecution Service takes over, and prepares for going to court.

The case is then tried in any Court, depending on the seriousness of the crime, and if a 'guilty' verdict is reached, then the judge or magistrate awards the punishment, and sentencing guidelines are referred to in the process, to decide whether to issue a fine, or a community sentence, or a prison sentence, or an effective combination of all the above. If the convicted criminal feels that his sentencing was not just and fair, he can 'appeal', and his case would be tried again, if necessary.

(Justice and Prisons, how justice works) It must be remembered that in general, when a crime is committed, it can mean that there has been a violation of a local or a state or a federal law, and for which there was no real justification. However, the term 'justice' can mean different things for different people, and there is no real agreement on what exactly it means. This has what, in fact, led to the many controversies in the criminal justice system today.

There are some individuals who conceptualize justice as meaning 'equality for all', that is, everyone must have the same amount, no matter what amounts they have produced. Some others define justice in terms of 'equity' wherein a person must get benefits in the same proportion to what they may have contributed in production. When this is applied to the justice system, the converse of the principle would apply: the punishment for a crime must be in direct proportion to the intensity of the crime that has been committed.

This is in fact an ancient principle, termed 'just deserts' or even 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'. (Survey of Criminal Justice, what is Criminal Justice?) Some others define justice as being a concept that lays emphasis not on outcomes, but on processes, and justice would be served, if the process is found to be impartial or fair.

This definition of justice is closely related to the legal concept of due process, and omnipresent in the American legal system, wherein due process can be taken to mean 'equal treatment to all' within the legal system. All these different ideas and concepts of justice do tend to create controversy and conflicts within the criminal justice system, and when an individual has protection and assurance for his 'rights', then it is assumed that due process has been fulfilled.

These so-called 'individual rights' are of critical importance to criminal defendants facing the criminal justice system, and equally important is the idea.