Crime Control
Referencing the material provided in the materials provided for the two-week topic, write a 300-word response.
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/1-7-the-three-cs-cops-courts-and-corrections/
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/1-8-due-process-and-crime-control-model/
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/1-9-how-cases-move-through-the-system/
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/1-10-wedding-cake-model-of-justice/
Topic – CRIME CONTROL/ DUE Process Exercise:
- Discuss what the primary goal of the criminal justice system should be: to control crime, ensure due process, or both?
- Explain how this opinion may get influenced by individual factors, such as age, gender/sex, race/ethnicity, economic situation, a country born in, and more.
- Could goals change with the more education given about criminal justice? If so, make an argument in favor of education. If not, make an argument against educating the public on criminal justice.
Your response must include the following:
- A THESIS A thesis is a statement that must be proved. A thesis makes a claim or expresses an idea. You must be able to agree or disagree with a thesis. Your thesis should be the result of review of the course material, not a hunch or gut feeling.
- AN EVIDENCE BASED RESPONSE: use evidence to support your thesis from the required material. You must specifically reference back to:
- the video or article (cite any quote or example)
- the chapter readings to help you organize your ideas, using facts from at least one section of the chapters that support your argument (reference quotes, statistics, or facts clearly with page #)
- No outside sources.
ANSWER
Crime Control
The primary role of the criminal justice system is to provide justice for all. Justice for all is particular; anything contrary to its definition is injustice. Justice for all means that innocent people are protected, criminals are held accountable for their actions, and a person gets a free and fair trial. Therefore, the criminal justice system should be more focused on ensuring due process rather than controlling crime (McKee, 2021). Controlling crime can be misinterpreted, and often time it is. Many innocent people have been sent to jail for life, without the proper authorities following due process, with the primal aim of controlling crime. The due process entails catching a suspect, initiating proper protocols in the investigations, and taking the suspect to court for a fair trial.
However, this opinion is often influenced by individual factors, especially due to economic situations and race. For instance, the United States has been on the receiving end of the high incarceration of black people. One in four black people is incarcerated at one point in their lives (Gross et al., 2017). This has been narrowed down to many racist police officers, prosecutors, and judges making slapdash and rash decisions regarding black people. According to a study conducted by Montana Innocence Project, innocent black people are significantly more likely to be wrongfully convicted of sexual assault, with some of them sending the rest of their lives to jail while not guilty. In third-world countries, it is a fight between the rich and the poor. For instance, a man in Turkana, Kenya, was sentenced to 10 years stealing a chicken. On the other hand, senior politicians are often found guilty of corruption but still walk free.
Education is thus essential for people to understand the primary goal of criminal justice. Those who persecute need to understand that things like race, economic situations, and gender play a role in influencing cases. Through education, many people can be enlightened and uproot the few individuals who hold key positions and interfere with proper due process.
References
McKee, A. (2021). The Criminal Justice Process. Retrieved from https://www.docmckee.com/WP/cj/criminal-justice-an-overview-of-the-system/criminal-justice-learning-resources-section-1-5/
Gross, S. R., Possley, M., & Stephens, K. (2017). Race and wrongful convictions in the United States.
