Criminal Justice

Identity some of the legal issues associated with police use of force.

3 page Summary/Critique on Law, Court Decisions, and the Police in APA format

ANSWER

Law, Court Decisions, and The Police

Introduction

The court decisions, law, and the police are closely related to maintaining order and measures that seek to lower the risk of disorder in society. The court, law, and police are among the primary components of the criminal justice system. Ideally, laws, court decisions, and the police have played a great role in protecting people’s rights and human rights enjoyment. The criminal justice system entails the police, judiciary, and prosecution to maintain order and governing conduct in society. This paper will summarize the concepts and issues linked to court decisions, law, and police in the administration of justice and order.

Law

Laws are a set of rules generated by state institutions that are mandated to make law by the state authority. Ideally, values and norms have offered a foundation for most of the laws. For instance, the equality of individuals has been facilitated by laws that are against discrimination. Laws have served various functions and jobs in society, such as dispute resolution, social control, and social change (Kratochwil, 2014). Social control entails the process of ensuring that individuals have engaged in the right conduct. The law has been the primary institution used to ensure social control. Ideally, people have varying attitudes, values, and social pressures that require social control. Another function of the law has been dispute resolution, where the legislature intervenes to resolve a dispute through passing a law that may help resolve the issue.

Laws have also been used to bring change linked to support safety and human rights (Kratochwil, 2014). For instance, some laws require drivers to be hands-free of cell phones and wearing a seat belt while driving to facilitate their safety. The established laws have sanctions acknowledged and enforced by the state authorized bodies such as the courts and the police. Although the law is intended to protect the citizens’ fundamental rights, law enforcement has been a great challenge in American society. This has been influenced by the modern state legal codes that impact enforcement of the law through violating norms and rules governing the society. Laws do not always result in social progress and protect individuals’ rights since they can also be used in limiting rights and repressing individuals (Kratochwil, 2014). At some point, the law has supported inequality and served few individuals’ rights rather than serving the welfare of the society and enjoyment of human rights.

Court Decisions

Court decisions have an impact on law, policy, and executive action. This is because a rule established in a legal court decision is either persuasive, binding on and effective for another court or tribunal to decide on a subsequent case with similar facts and issues. The appellate courts and trial courts apply laws that statutes, constitutions, and regulations have generated to maintain social order and uphold justice. The court’s decisions have to be based on how laws are likely to be applied in the future (Kratochwil, 2014). However, the court decisions have been affected by various external and internal factors such as ideological, legal, and political influences.  For instance, judicial decisions impact sentencing, but their freedom of choice is influenced by the sentencing structures and terms within a certain state.

Considerably, the court system’s divided decisions have led to many dissenting opinions, lack of leadership, and collegiality on the court (Bailey and Maltzman, 2011). However, its believed that the court decisions are grounded on what the law states and what evidence shows. Therefore, the court verdicts have to be transparent and accessible. This is because the court’s function is to adjudicate legal issues between parties and conduct the administration of justice concerning the rule of law.

The Police

The police are characteristically responsible for upholding public safety and order, law enforcement, detecting, preventing, and interrogating criminal activities (Walker and Katz, 2012). The police have a significant responsibility to scrutinize crime fairly concerning the criminal justice system. Considerably, the law enforcers’ public respect has decreased, with most viewing the police as enforcers rather than guardians. The police have been linked to the enforcement role rather than the protector role. This has decreased the public trust and confidence in the law enforcement agencies.

Relatively, the police have focused on community policing practices which ensures collaboration between communities and policies to ensure local public safety. Effective implementation of community policing demands the police officers to gain sufficient training on community collaboration and engagement. However, there is an imbalance between police officers’ accountability and discretion due to police use of force. Police unwarranted use of force and police brutality are some of the police misconducts. The use of force has presented one of the most controversial law enforcement issues (Ouellet, Hashimi, Gravel, Papachristos, 2019). Police use of excessive force has violated human rights due to racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture and beatings. Improper use of force has led to legal issues such as the right to equal protection, right to security, and liberty.

Conclusion

In summation, there is a relationship between laws, court decisions, and the police in maintaining order and upholding justice. The laws are written by the legislators and enforced by the police, judges, and prosecutors. Different laws exist in the justice system. However, judicial decisions have influenced the implementation of these laws. Police brutality and excessive use of force have led to legal issues such as violation of human rights. The police perform duties assigned by the law but have failed to completely adhere to the law due to abuse of authority. Therefore, the police, laws, and court decisions greatly affect the upholding of rights, social order, and problem-solving.

References

Bailey, M. A., & Maltzman, F. (2011). The constrained court: Law, politics, and the decisions justices make. Princeton University Press.

Kratochwil, F. (2014). The status of law in world society: meditations on the role and the rule of law (Vol. 129). Cambridge University Press.

Ouellet, M., Hashimi, S., Gravel, J., & Papachristos, A. V. (2019). Network exposure and excessive use of force: Investigating the social transmission of police misconduct. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(3), 675-704.

Walker, S., & Katz, C. M. (2012). Police in America. McGraw-Hill.