Good Example Of Politics And The Criminal Justice Profession Essay

Criminal justice and politics go hand in hand each one playing an intricate role in the other. The political system is responsible for creating the laws people follow, police forces and the complete criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is also a primary function of the political system demonstrating that these two things are constantly relying on one another. Legislative issues or politics are the methodology by which assets are appropriated or apportioned. As a celebrated political researcher once commented, Politics in its best description is who is appointed what when they are going to get it and how they will get it. Political contemplations are a fundamental however now and again dangerous piece of criminal equity. For example the decision makers in the criminal justice system or the judges are elected through a political system and in turn these judges help form the laws many politicians follow (Marion, 2002).
When it comes to politics in the criminal justice profession it is difficult to find a place where they are not present. From the very heart of electing the top officials you can find politics. Many states elect there judges through nonpartisan elections systems which attempts to remove any politics from the situation however even in nonpartisan elections there is partisan influence present. Partisan in short is when a party is supported by others so a nonpartisan election would be where the people running would have no political backing supporting there election. There have been many judicial complaints attempting to remove politics from these elections however this is more difficult than it would seem and as of now there is still a lot of politicking present in the elections of judges in the criminal justice system. Criminal equity chiefs are chosen through decision or arrangement (Neubauer, 1979). In a few states, voters choose who will be elected judicially and in other states they are appointed by the governor and both of these election processes involve a lot of politics. Often it is an attorney that has been involved heavily in politics that is chosen as a judge. After the parties are chosen and confirmed senate is responsible for saying if they will be chosen in the end. Such a heavy involvement in politics has a direct impact on the court system in all levels from state courts to supreme courts when it comes to handling and influence being put on the criminal justice environment in whole (Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt).
When it comes to making the laws there is another definite political impact present when laws are established. These laws have politics present in all aspects from the people who enforce them like police officers to the judges that determine an offenders sentencing. The lawmaking process in a whole can be credited for most of the impact on the criminal justice system democratically. Legislators are responsible for making decisions about whether or not to appoint a law and they are heavily influenced by politics. Rules that are put into place determine whether a person will receive a long or short incarceration and probation upon release. This is all controlled by politics that start with the judges who enforce the laws. The decisions can have an impact on many important policies like the get tough action that was put into place as an attempt to combat crime through longer and harsher sentences (Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt). Many judges attempt to assert themselves as independent from politics when it comes to decision making however it is apparent in most situations that there is a large impact on decisions made in courts when it comes to lawmaking that stems directly from politics. A lot of these politics can be attributed to the people in America that are opposed to many of the current laws and decisions. These people may even take it upon themselves to sue the government and its officials when they disagree with decisions by using the disputes system to assert their rights. This puts tremendous pressure on decision makers and judges to abide by many of the politics in the criminal justice system to ensure there position as a judge (Jacob, 1996).
Police officers are influenced on the inside and outside of the department by many varying political factors. There are four types of political influence on the police officer that have been identified. One is police partisan engagements which can be seen when police officers become involved in partisan relationships. This often throughout history has been shown to produce corrupt practices followed by the officers. Police cultural relations are also a concern because they may follow what the community desires rather than what is required of them by law. Police fraternization is another concern because it gets in the way of what is moral and right. This occurs within the department and can affect the decisions that he/she makes exponentially. Last police administration relationships are concerning because this involves the people in charge of the police department. This occurs depending on the head of the police department (chief) s relationships with the local governing bodies. This relationship can affect goals that the department has. Despite the fact that governmental issues doesn't have an immediate effect on the normal, everyday choices of cops on watch, the political society of a group decides the kind of police authorization and the way of departmental strategy (Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt). Type of government (official, leader/chamber, city administrator) has any kind of effect in the degree to which governmental issues shape policing. Governmental issues saturate police divisions in urban areas that utilize a leader/chamber sort of government (Conser, Paynich and Gingerich, 2011).
Prosecutors can be considered the people who are in charge of the most decisions in the criminal justice system. They are in charge before anyone else when it comes to the court system in deciding who will be charged with a crime and who will not. They are also in charge of many other aspects before a case will be presented to a judge like what the charges will be, the length of the sentence to be imposed and how hard they will go after the person who is being sentenced. Although a police officer is a criminals first interaction with the law the prosecutor has the decision on whether the person will be charged with the crime he/she was arrested for. Prosecutors differ depending on their location however overall they are nonpartisan and nonpolitical for all known purposes. They are supposed to make their decisions regarding a case without influence from any outside factors. However in the United States this is not true. From the point of their beginning in the criminal justice system they are elected as a prosecutor and in many cases they openly let public opinion help in their decision making (Tonry, 2012).
Difficult issues for subjects and the offender equity framework can come about because of the amount of politics involved in criminal justice, a methodology through which people embarking on the idea of politicking seize chances to utilize criminal equity issues to improve their own prominence, electability, or force. Political involvement can be watched most promptly in political crusades in which the talk about laws and justice is common. Gaining charge of political decisions is the foe of clear pondering answers for the wrongdoing is (Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt). When politics are present in the criminal justice system it makes laws weaker and corruption a serious concern for everybody both inside of the departments and people that are expected to follow the rules and laws. For example Bangladesh is widely corrupted by politics within their criminal justice system and they are facing serious issues ruling and applying laws as well as maintaining stability. There is something to be said about the people expected to follow corrupt laws there in comparison to what many united states citizens are faced with considering the current amount of corruption implicated from politics inside the criminal justice system in America today (Shahidullah, 2012).
Superfluous political arguments stemming over criminal equity issues is something that can occur when one wins the most votes putting them at the head of a political race, gets to be more critical to open authorities than controlling wrongdoing and attaining to equity can injure the equity process. For example if a person’s desire is to be elected as a judge he/she may be influenced by politics to make certain decisions and in turn may not stay true to the law or what is fair. Something most people do not want to happen is that the equity procedure comes to a standstill and justice becomes something that is forgotten in the political confusion. America has something that is referred to as a commission of sentencing and for a few months consecutively in 1998 they were without anyone to take responsibility for the sentencing. The reason that they had no members was that that Republicans and Democrats couldn't concede to choices that would be on the new committee. This committee was put in charge when chosen by congress members in 1984. The main job of the candidates was to establish reason and foundation of rules for distributing discipline for those declared guilty government law violations (Houghton, Mifflin and Harcourt). In this case there was no way to make decisions affecting very important matters because of the arguments of two political parties that ended up causing serious issues to an important system. Many were not entirely concerned with the disposition arguing that the system would continue with or without these commissioners however they are responsible for many important tasks and the system is in place for a reason making it a serious inconvenience to say the least. One example of something that would be affected if there was no commission was a study that had been put into place earlier in the year to investigate telemarketing fraud and how to increase fines if they were necessary. The problem would be that if there was not a commission to make a decision and not enough votes then the directive would not be able to be put into place. This and many other serious decisions are the responsibility of the commission and without them the criminal justice system is crippled (Judiciary, 1998).

Conclusion

The American criminal justice system is corrupt with many political disparities when you consider the amount of politics that play a role in every single piece of the system. Police, judges and court systems are flooded with many different political aspects and it all begins with the amount of politics involved in the system. Politics are present from the very elections of the officials that are appointed to uphold the laws that citizens are expected to follow and command the presence of those charged with enforcing them. The laws themselves are wrapped up in diverse amounts of political campaign and for many this has become an increasing concern. The truth is no matter how broad the attempts are to refrain from political influence while serving in the criminal justice system there is little room to attempt to do so. In other countries this type of system has amounted to a mass amount of corruption and difficulty enforcing the laws enacted to ensure the safety of the communities and with so much political involvement in the United States the question arises about how corrupt the current system may already be. However since politics are governed by laws and laws are widely influenced by politics the two are so closely attributed to one another it is difficult to imagine how one would work without the other. One thing is definitely apparent and that is that there is a lot of politicking present in the criminal justice system no matter the attempts by some to assert that this is not a fact.

References

Conser, Andrew, Rebecca Paynich, and Terry Gingerich. Law Enforcement In The United States. Jones & Bartlett, 2011. Print.
Jacob, Herbert. Courts, Law, And Politics In Comparative Perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Print.
Marion, Nancy E. Criminal Justice In America. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2002. Print.
Neubauer, David W. America's Courts And The Criminal Justice System. North Scituate, Mass.: Duxbury Press, 1979. Print.
Shahidullah, Shahid M. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2012. Print.
Tonry, Michael H. Prosecutors And Politics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012. Print.
Judiciary, Administrative. 'The Third Branch'. Uscourts.gov. N.p., 1998. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Houghton, cliff, Cliff Mifflin, and Cliffsnotes Harcourt. 'The Politics Of Criminal Justice'. Cliffsnotes.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.