Essay Sample on The Three Major Components of the Criminal Justice System

There are three main components of the criminal justice system. Law enforcement, courts, and corrections make up the system of criminal justice. Each of these components has the capacity to function on its own or in collaboration with the other bodies, to prevent and ensure a criminal is prosecuted and punished if proven guilty (Ashworth, 2015). Every person working in the criminal justice departments, or planning to pursue this field must understand the three components of the justice system.

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Law Enforcement

The function of law enforcement is maintaining law and order on the ground by upholding the law, conducting investigations, and arresting lawbreakers. Law enforcement also serves a very vital role in controlling criminal activities by being present in the community. They make their presence felt by patrolling their areas of jurisdiction. Officers must have knowledge of the rights of citizens and criminal law. This will ensure that they do not go against the rights of the citizens when carrying out their duties. The individuals of law enforcement include sheriffs, federal agents, patrol officers, game rangers, detectives, and other personnel who initiate the first stage of criminal justice.

The Courts

The second body of the system of criminal justice is none other than the courts. The most important members of the judicial system include prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, and members of the jury. It is the duty of a public prosecutor to initiate a proceeding against a suspected offender, and the defense attorney is supposed to represent the charged individual in a court of law. Jury members are selected from a group of voters who have been registered in the jurisdiction of the court.

Those working in the courts have an obligation to ensure that the rights of the person brought before them are upheld, and the trial is conducted in a fair way.

Corrections

Corrections is the third component of the criminal justice system. The duty of corrections is to ensure that convicts serve their sentences in accordance with the courts’ judgment (Clear et al., 2018). Probation officers, corrections officers, and parole officers make up the corrections body.

All these officers should carry out their duties ethically. They are not supposed to bully them in any way. They should supervise the inmates and help them reform.

Ways that these three components interrelate with each other

These three components must work together as they seek to uphold justice in society. As I had mentioned earlier, the main task of law enforcement is to maintain law and order. They also investigate and gather information when a criminal activity takes place. The information collected by the police is very important to public prosecutors. The prosecutors use the information as evidence against a charged individual. Courts cannot function when offenders are not arrested. It is the work of law enforcement to arrest lawbreakers, deliver them to courts, and supervise them until courts sentence them.

After the courts have delivered their judgment, it is the duty of corrections to make sure that those found guilty serve their sentences. They supervise individuals who have been sentenced to either prison, jail, probation, or parole.

These three components must work in unison in order to ensure the criminal justice system functions satisfactorily (Cole et al., 2018). Even though each component has a different role to play, the goal of every one of them is to uphold justice in society.

How to improve law enforcement

In order to improve their efficiency, members of law enforcement should go through a high level of law enforcement training. They should be taught how to interact with society. Law enforcement is all about service and not being mean to the civilians, as many officers believe. Proper training would greatly improve law enforcement.

Police brutality has been very rampant. Most of the time, the offenders get away with the evils they commit. Law enforcement officers who commit crimes should be charged and punished. This would significantly reduce the unethical practices committed by officers.

Suggestions on How to Improve Courts

• The State should make sure that all the people working in courts are well qualified and professional. Every person seeking a post in this field should be vetted properly. This will make sure that those employed value high standards in the court system. The effectiveness of the courts will increase when this is done.
• The court system should embrace technology. Technology has proven to be very important in this generation. It makes work easier, more accurate, and faster. Courts have a very big workload, and using applicable technological equipment will reduce the workload significantly.
• Suggestions on How to Improve Corrections
• Proper staffing and distribution of work are ideal. Corrections officers should not be overworked. Overworking causes fatigue, and this leads to poor results. Corrections should be well-staffed for the proper supervision of inmates.
• The safety of correction workers should be guaranteed. Corrections officers’ should be protected from being assaulted by inmates. Inmates who do so must be punished severely. Valuing their safety will motivate them to work properly.

References

Ashworth, A. (2015). Sentencing and criminal justice. Cambridge University Press.

Clear, T. R., Reisig, M. D., & Cole, G. F. (2018). American corrections. Cengage learning.

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