Criminal Justice Organizations
The entire criminal justice system is made up of numerous organizations which are inherently independent. Some of the criminal justice organizations in various counties include, but they are not limited to, Juvenile Justice Department, Reentry and Integration Department, Probation Department, etc. Although independent, these criminal justice organizations cannot operate in isolation. This is more so the case given the complex and multifaceted nature of the criminal justice system.
County-wide criminal justice organization: Riverside County Probation Department
The County Probation Department, which I manage as the Chief Probation Officer, has three core missions; serving courts, protecting the community, and changing lives (Riverside County, 2018). In seeking to fulfill its mission, the department interacts with various other agencies within the system. These include, but they are not limited to, Riverside County Sheriff, the Law Offices of the County Public Defender, and the Office of the District Attorney. While these are, in essence, county criminal justice organizations, it is important to note that there are various other agencies outside the criminal justice system with which the County Probation Department ought to closely work with. These include, but they are not limited to, Child Support Services, Mental Health Services,...
A good example could be in the case of a delinquency case whereby the case is prosecuted by the District Attorney. A Public Defender is then appointed for the minor by the court. Later on, the minor’s supervision is overseen and supervised by the Probation Officer. Inefficiencies in any one of these departments/agencies could negatively impact the ability of another department to fulfill its mandate.
In essence, cooperation between agencies could be hampered by the said agencies’ political nature. In a study seeking to highlight collaboration in criminal justice, Hollis (2016) found out that poor collaboration and cooperation between agencies came about as a consequence of i) agencies viewing themselves as competitors as opposed to collaborators, ii) poor communication between agencies, and iii) failure to hold agencies accountable for commitments made. In seeking to address lack of cooperation between agencies, these are the factors that ought to be taken into consideration.
To eliminate the competitive spirit, interagency cooperation ought to be encouraged such that individual agencies are not allowed to take credit for accomplishments made.…
