Solution
Definition of crime and its relationship to the law
According to the oxford dictionary, a crime is defined as “an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law.” In actual sense, crime can be termed as any action committed against morality or public welfare. It may be legal or illegal. When considered illegal the crime is the cause for the committed evil or injury. In the legal crime context, the consequences of the crime are not in direct connection with the agent but other parties.
There is a distinct relationship between crime and law. In other words, there could be no law if no crimes were evident in the world. In order to determine that an action is a crime there must be a spelt out law. It is the law that differentiates what is wrong from what is right. With this basis, crossing the boundary between the right and wrong defines whether one is within or without the law hence judged a criminal or an innocent person. Two commonly adopted models to determine whether an action is wrong are
- The consensus model
In this model, the assumption is that almost all groups of people have same morals. It has a greater probability that a wrong committed in a certain group of people shall also be acknowledged as a crime in another group of people regardless of the background or the geographical separation. In this, model citizens agree on which actions are lawful and which are unlawful hence to be regarded as crime.
- Layers of the wedding cake model
This model assumes the fact that the severity of crime range from simple mild crimes to serious ad complex ones. It has four layers; the top layer consists of the most public crimes. They can be termed as the celebrity cases. The second layer consists of serious crimes such as murder and arson. They may be referred to as profile felonies. The third layer includes the property crimes while the fourth layer refers to the crimes less serious than felony.
Government structure and how it applies to the criminal justice system.
The government for any crime committed is punishment. This is the structure of the law in any context of government. In order to understand the application of the government in the criminal justice system, it is worthy understanding the justice system. Criminal justice system refers to the set of agencies and processes that a government establishes in order to make a fair punishment to the lawbreakers. It hence brings to the attention that the system of the government has different arms in order to achieve the goals of giving a fair judgment. In almost all types of jurisdiction, there must be a constitution. A constitution carries the set of laws governing law enforcement in any federation or state.
Choice theories and their assumptions in regard to crime
A choice theory as in the context of definition refers to the personal understanding of the environment or the world that surrounds them. This is in relation with how this world affects those within and without it. In the context of this work, choice theory explains the reason why a criminal opts to engage in this offensive activity. It explains that this could be because of the person’s perception to the background and the assumptions that it is satisfactory to have it adopted. Choice depends on a free will. Since in a sovereign state a person is free, they have a freedom of choice, either good or bad. An elaboration of this defines the assumptions of choice theories as
- A people can choose any behavior on the basis of rational calculation
- Choice is always directed to improve on the personal pleasure
- The human race is always rational.
Components a criminal justice system
The criminal justice system has got five components. These are; - The law enforcement, prosecution courts, defense attorneys and corrections.
The role undertaken by the law enforcement component is to take reports for any crime that happen within its government boundaries. The officers in charge gather all the investigations regarding the crime committed and provide protection these filed evidences. This component has the power to arrest suspects and carry investigations later if need be. These suspects act like testimonies during a court proceeding.
Prosecution
This is the next component of the criminal justice system. Its officials are the lawyers and prosecutors. These also represent the government in the court arena right from when the case is filed through judgment process, until the suspect is proved guilty or innocent. They provide a free and fair environment to have a court ruling of the best order. They are charged with the responsibility to question the suspects
Defense attorneys
These are lawyers by profession and are hired by suspects to defend the accused against the crimes they are taken, as suspects of it are also normal occurrence that they can be assigned by the court. They almost have a similar role with the prosecutors differing in the fact that former represents the state while the latter defends the defendant.
Court
This is an arena where crime proceedings are heard and judged upon. The role of the court is assumed by the judges. They are charged with the mandate to either release the suspected before trial basing on the evidence that present in the crime. They also give orders for sentence if the suspect is proven guilty.
Corrections
These are the known jail attendants their main role is to safeguard and supervise the criminals while in prison. They also have a duty to see to it that those in community on probation enjoy the required rights and that they answer to the relevant authorities when required.
Goals of a criminal justice system
The fundamental and the most basic goals of a criminal justice system are preventing occurrences of crimes. They ensure that crimes do not occur just for granted. In addition, that law and order is implemented. Again, they are focused on seeing that the public is protected in the sense that the victimized and their families are well supported and protected. Another aim is that those that have been released become good citizens and abide by the law.
According to my own way of thinking, I can say that criminal justice system is really a system. It has got various processes that qualify it to be a system. It has the investigation process conducted by the law enforcement department, the prosecution process where the suspect is questioned in the aim of identifying the truth, it has got the court process where the suspect is given room to bargain, and ruling is done. With all these processes it qualifies to bear the name system since a system from definition is set of processes that work together to achieve a certain goal.
References.
Hawkins, J. D. (1996). Delinquency and crime: Current theories. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Helfgott, J. B. (2008). Criminal behavior: Theories, typologies, and criminal justice. Los Angeles: SAGE.
