Essay on Criminal Justice: Ensuring Fair Treatment for All

Criminal justice refers to the process through which convicts and crimes are identified, detained, and chastised for the crimes they committed (Cole et al., 2018). The system is composed of three major bodies, which include the police, law courts, and correction centers. Every citizen has a right to be treated well regardless of their status. By realizing that every person has the right to proper treatment requires that criminals have the right to proper treatment without discrimination based on some boundaries such as the race, gender, and physiological well-being of a person, among other factors. Still, there has not been such a perfect system (Cole et al., 2018). This paper discusses some of the difficulties and issues present in the US Criminal Justice System.

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The reason why it is imperative to study the issues and problems facing the criminal justice system is for reform purposes. By studying challenges facing the system, probable solutions can be formulated and hence creating room for reform. An infective criminal justice system can lead to increased rates of crimes if it is not changed (Cole et al., 2018). If the offended feels that whoever offended has not received enough punishment, they may decide to act on their own and hence increasing the number of crimes. Also, if the offender feels that they are not being handled in the right manner by the government, they may go along in causing even more crimes later in life (Cole et al., 2018).

The first issue which is very prevalent is that there is a very high rate of incarceration by the government. It is approximated that about 2 million people have been incarcerated for their crimes, while about 7 million people are under watch by the government (Cole et al., 2018). For the government to watch over such a big population, huge amounts of resources must be at use. Looking at this from an economic perspective, it does not look good. As of the number of convicts who have been incarcerated, it doesn’t augur well to the people in the community from which such people committed crimes (Cole et al., 2018). Some people may think that the government is not dedicated to giving enough punishment to offenders.

The second issue which is very rampant is that prisons are highly populated. Overpopulation of prisons is attributed to factors such as increased investigation, urbanization, among other factors (Cole et al., 2018). The main reason as to why prisons seem to be continually crowded even after building more prisons is the lag in the implementation of depopulation recommendations. Hence, the recommendations are always outdated, making it impossible to cater to the always increasing crime rate and detaining of criminals. Overcrowding has always been a big source of crime in prisons, such as smuggling, sexual harassment, among many other vile crimes (Cole et al., 2018).

The third problem, which is especially in the police, is discrimination (Cole et al., 2018). Just recently, there was an issue of police using extra force when dealing with blacks, especially with the death of George Floyd. The death of Floyd led to riots all through America. Discrimination is a very effective tool in steering violence and even instigating hatred. The government should take such actions seriously and initiate favorable reforms in the police to enhance its efficiency (Cole et al., 2018).

Lastly, there are concerns about handling criminals with mental problems or with terminal illnesses in prisons along with the patients suffer from co-occurring substance use and mental disorders (COD) (Sacks, 2004). Up to the moment, no criminal justice system over the world has been completely effective in properly handling criminals with health and mental problems when detained. The absence of better treatment can be ascribed to the fact that it is costly to handle most of those cases in full. High-cost healthcare is especially in cases of Women with COD. Criminal justice systems should look for ways of striking a balance between reducing the cost and ensuring that such type of criminals is well handled and even treated (COD) (Sacks, 2004).

In conclusion, the criminal justice system faces lots of challenges which require lots of funding. Governments should be supportive to ensure the effectiveness of the system in treating patients suffering from COD (COD) (Sacks, 2004). The reason for ensuring the effectiveness of the system is that the failure of the criminal justice system is the primary cause of chaos. It is also important to consider that criminals are human and therefore require human treatment as well. Therefore, when they are sick, they should be given medical assistance, especially those who are sick mentally, like the CODs.

References

Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2018). The American system of criminal justice. Cengage Learning.

Sacks, J. Y. (2004). Women with cooccurring substance use and mental disorders (COD) in the criminal justice system: a research review. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 22(4), 449-466.