Criminal Justice in Todays Society

Abstract

The modern-day society has evolved, and so are the security and social issues that face it. To determine the specific challenges that face todays society and thus, the criminal justice system, it requires a critical and analytical research study that will filter through the information available and determine the thematic areas that emerge as critical for modern-day criminal justice. Research for this study was done through a systematic literature review method. This research method was considered to be the most appropriate for the current research and the research question. Analysis of the information presented through the reviewed materials showed that several issues are characteristic of todays society that the criminal justice system has to address or factor in its operations to realize its mandate. These issues emerged as common from the reviewed materials; i) rehabilitative and restoration, not just punitive criminal justice, ii) racial equality, iii) evidence-based practices, and iv) integration of technology. Centered on these results, it is concluded that the criminal justice system today is faced with a changing society, change like the crime, and the cropping up of new security threats and challenges. Also, todays society has a whole new expectation of the criminal justice system. First, the criminal justice system today is faced with new security challenges and threats, e.g., terror home-grown and international. To ensure that the system effectively realizes its mandate, criminal justice has adopted evidence-based practices that are proven scientifically to work. Secondly, technology plays a critical role not only in todays society but also in how crime is committed. To effectively meet these challenges, criminal justice in todays society has also integrated technology into its operation. Third, in their operations, criminal justice operatives have to factors in social concepts and other issues that affect their operational landscape. Today, criminal justice has to consider racial equity, especially in multicultural societies, e.g., the USA. The criminal justice system has to undertake a self-review of its operations and processes and determine how they might be biased towards certain ethnic and racial minorities, e.g., African Americans. Lastly, the criminal justice system has to evolve to be a rehabilitative and corrective system, and not just punitive in its operations, especially imprisoned individuals.

Introduction

The role of criminal justice is to ensure fairness, justice, and protection of law-abiding citizens. However, the specific issues that the criminal justice system has to tackles in ensuring its role are constantly changing as society changes. As a result, the criminal justice of any given jurisdiction has to change as per the social environment and the challenges that society is facing (Daly, 2012). The modern-day society has evolved, and so are the security and social issues that face it. To determine the specific challenges that face todays society and thus, the criminal justice system, it requires a critical and analytical research study that will filter through the information available and determine the thematic areas that emerge as critical for modern-day criminal justice. To this extend, a capstone project is deemed necessary (Lee & Loton, 2019).

In todays society, the criminal justice system has to deal with entirely new challenges and scenarios, including terror, multicultural societies, increased migration, a highly diverse demographic population, and the effects of technology. To remain effective and effectively address the new crime challenges resulting from the changing society, the criminal justice system has to evolve (Ritter, 2006). This is important because ordinarily, the typical criminal justice system, and in particular the laws that are in place, remain unchanged for long even after customs and the way of life for a society has changed. This presents the challenges of laws falling into irrelevancy and disuse.

As society changes, it brings changes into acceptable, new concepts, and new strategies and platforms. For example, in todays society, the criminal justice system has to factor in the role of technology in advancing, propagating, and financing crime, the normalization of a same-sex relationship, the legalization of such previously considered illegal substance like marijuana, and the matters of racial bias in the criminal justice system.

Research Strategies

Research for this study was done through a systematic literature review method. This research method was considered to be the most appropriate for the current research and the research question. To better understand the research topic and determine the research question, it would involve a review of the materials that have been published by other authors. There have been numerous research studies, professional papers, and commentaries by authority writers on the emerging issues in the criminal justice system and how the criminal justice system would evolve to align with the merging societal issues. The systematic literature review method would allow for the retrieval and analysis of these materials.

The search for materials was done using the New Jersey State Library database. In addition to having access to this database, it was used because it is a rich resource with numerous professional and academic materials that are peer-reviewed. Also, the New Jersey State Library provided access to other equally resourceful databases, among them the Academic Search Complete database, Arts & Humanities database, and Ancestry Library Edition Database. Several keywords were used for the search on these databases. These keywords had been developed earlier through a review of the literature available on the topic.

The keywords that had been utilized to search for materials in these databases included; Criminal justice in the 21st century, modern criminal justice system, adapting laws to todays social challenges, and challenges facing criminal justice today. These keywords were selected based on their relevancy to the current research question.

However, a search for relevant materials leads to eliminating the Ancestry Library Edition Database as it didnt yield any relevant materials. The search results produced from these databases did not address the current research question, and thus, it was eliminated. Additionally, the keywords modern criminal justice system and Adapting laws to todays social challenges were eliminated as they did not yield materials that were considered relevant to the current research question. To ensure that the materials that emerged from the search were specific to the current research question, and inclusion-exclusion criterion was used. This criterion was vital in sieving through the materials and ensuring that only quality materials were included in the study.

The materials that ended up being included in the reearch had to meet the inclusion criteria (Tompson & Belur, 2016). The inclusion criteria were; i) the materials address the criminal justice system in the 21st century. ii) The material refers to the American, UK, or Australian criminal justice system. iii) The material has been published within the last ten years. iii) The paper has been published in the English language. iv) The paper is original in the category of a research paper, a report, or a commentary.

The search results were analyzed to determine their suitability to the inclusion criteria. The first analysis was done on the topic. Topics that did not suit the research question were dropped. Next, selected materials were analyzed at the abstract level. The abstract is a snapshot of the entire paper, and thus, abstracts that were deemed irrelevant to the research questions were dropped. Lastly, the materials were analyzed at the full-text level. This involved reading through the entire paper at the content level and materials that were irrelevant or didnt address the research question were dropped.

To ensure thoroughness in the selection phase of the research, the materials were analyzed by two persons. The first person was the Principal Investigator (PI) for this research, the first reviewer, after which the selected papers proceeded to GM for the confirmatory review.

A Review of the Literature assignment

Criminal justice, especially in the US, has been criticized as being simply warehouses where convicts are stored to await release into the public to continue offending. However, research has shown that in the recent past, the criminal justice system has become increasingly more rehabilitative, it factors in racial disparities to ensure equal justice is served to all ethnic minorities in the US, and that there has been increased believe of evidence-based practices, and more integration of technology-based strategies. Several researchers have noted that there are new crimes in todays society that are more advanced, and the relationship amid the offender and the victim has changed (Matthews, 2020). This is because most offenders are skilled persons who lack the opportunities,...…the criminal justice system.Crime and justice: A guide to criminology, 289-406.

Epperson, M., & Pettus-Davis, C. (Eds.). (2017).Smart decarceration: Achieving criminal justice transformation in the 21st century. Oxford University Press.

LeClerc, B., & Savona, E. U. (Eds.). (2016).Crime Prevention in the 21st century: insightful approaches for crime prevention initiatives. Springer.

Lee, N., & Loton, D. (2019). Capstone purposes across disciplines.Studies in Higher Education,44(1), 134-150.

Manaliyo, J.C. (2016). Barriers to community participation in crime prevention in low-income communities in Cape Town. International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies, 8(1).

Matthews, R. (2020). New times, new crimes: Notes on the depillarization of the criminal justice system. Critical Criminology.

Owusu-Bempah, A. (2017). Race and policing in historical context: Dehumanization and the policing of Black people in the 21st century.Theoretical Criminology,21(1), 23-34.

Ransley, J., & Mazerolle, L. (2009). Policing in an era of uncertainty.Police Practice and Research: An International Journal,10(4), 365-381.

Schmalleger, F., Donaldson, S., Kashiwahara, K., Koppal, T., Chase, S., Brown, A., ... & Marash, D. (2014).Criminal justice today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Tompson, L., & Belur, J. (2016). Information retrieval in systematic reviews: a case study of the crime prevention literature.Journal of experimental criminology,12(2), 187-207.

Annotated bibliography

1. Crowder, S., & Turvey, B. (2013). Ethics in the criminal justice professions Chapter 1. Applied Issues for Criminal Justice Students and Professionals, pp.1-19. ?https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-404597-2.00001-2

This textbook is a guidebook for criminal justice professionals and students who need help in knowing, understanding, drawing connections, and resolving criminal justice issues. Chapter 1 of this book introduces readers to the foundational concepts necessary for understating criminal justice issues in the right context. In the chapter, the justice, and ethical concepts and issues are defined, legal justice mandates are defined, criminal justice system pillars are explained, and the importance of ethics to criminal justice professionals and the justice system is expounded.

2. Skolnick, J. H. (1994). Justice without trial: Law enforcement in a democratic society (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Macmillan.

In this text, the author and researcher look at police practice and culture, obedience to established laws regarding stops and arrests, law versus order in democratic societies, and political accountability. The researcher approaches the study by utilizing interesting criminal justice research techniques. The researcher interviews both suspected criminals and police. The researcher also follows police on patrol and attends interrogations to get a better insight into police culture and mentality. This sort of approach and research was not mainstream at the time the researcher used it.

3. Mauer, M., & Epstein, K. (2012). To Build a Better Criminal Justice System. Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project.

This work contributes to the body of literature available on matters of crime and penalties to improve lives and reduce harm. The project, which it is a part of, was created to start a conversation on sentencing and public safety. The essays that form the project are broad-ranging in terms of strategy and vision. They include viewpoints from thought-leaders on crime and sentencing, including policy advocates, practitioners, and academics. The contributors envision a society where public safety does not come at the cost of millions being incarcerated. Their views on the matter are diverse.

4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). The Criminal Justice System and Social Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Proceedings of a Workshopin Brief.

In this paper, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines Committee on Law and Justice hold a workshop to evaluate how the criminal justice system impacts the core status of individuals as part of the society and to debate the next steps for policy, practice, and research. Among the core issues discussed were: criminal justice and social exclusion, the criminal justice systems collateral sanctions, and inequality within the criminal justice system.

5. Ritter, N. M. (2006). Preparing for the future: Criminal justice in 2040. NIJ Journal, 255, 8-11.

The writer of this book makes predictions for the criminal justice system in 2040. The researcher particularly focuses on how criminal justice systems worldwide will be affected by globalization, technological advancements, demographic changes, massive waves of migration, multicultural populations, and terrorism.

6. Suri, H. (2020). Ethical Considerations of Conducting Systematic Reviews in Educational Research. Systematic Reviews in Educational Research, 41.

This work focuses on how reviewers can use philosophical traditions such as virtue ethics,…