Introduction
The USA criminal justice system refers to all the local, federal and state public agencies that handle all crime-related matters. The agencies treat suspects, defendants, and even convicted criminals. All the bureaus are interdependent as the decisions of one agency affects the other agencies. The major components of the justice system include the courts, police departments, and the correction facilities. Moreover, the fundamental structure of the system stems from the judicial, legislative and executive wings of the government.
Assess the Impact of Globalization on the U.S. Criminal Justice System.
Globalization refers to the integration of various global markets, economies, industries, cultures and policy-making worldwide. Under globalization, national and local economies, societies and traditions assimilate via an entangled global network of communication, trade, transportation, and immigration. In the recent past, the criminal justice system has undergone a myriad of transformations. The economic, social, cultural and environmental changes attributed to globalization have had a significant influence on the system. First, globalization has significantly changed the way criminal acts occur. In the USA, current statistics indicates that the incidences of criminal activities have gone up.
Key among the major concerns caused by globalization includes illegal and legal immigration. The issue of illegal immigrants has resurfaced many times in the history of the USA. Most of the illegal immigrants are criminals’ fleeing away from their motherlands. Estimations by the Department of Homeland Security indicate the immigrants have been a threat to security, thereby having an impact on the criminal justice system. Other challenges such as the global dimensions of crimes such as terrorism have also impacted heavily on the system. Additionally, technological advances have resulted in sophisticated criminal activities that have at times proved challenging to the system. Finally, the emergence of transnational organized crime, and the impacts of a more complicated American culture have had a significant effect on the justice system.
The US government has been compelled to create new measures of fighting the new techniques of committing a crime owing to the new patterns of criminal activities brought about by globalization. The globalization impacts have obligated the government to embrace increased recognition, and enhance international cooperation to deal effectively with the emerging threats. Additionally, the USA has put more emphasis on training criminal justice practitioners to help combat the crimes.
Compare and Contrast International Criminal Justice Systems (Civil Law, Common law, and Islamic Law and Socialist Law Traditions)
Globally, there are various criminal justice systems that help each country combat criminal threats. Most of the crimes revolve around violations of both common and civil laws. Additionally, there are Islamic Laws and Socialist Laws that have traditional backings. Such laws have also been incorporated in the criminal justice systems to help combat crime.
Legal experts argue that there are four broad categories of legal traditions, namely; common law, civil law, socialist law, and Islamic law. The common law justice system exists in most English-speaking nations of the world like England, the USA, Canada and Australia among others. The law is unique from other laws in that it relies on a tight adversarial system. In the system, lawyers do the interpretation, and judges are bound by the stare decisis (precedent). Common law attaches a lot of significances to precedence and relies fundamentally on oral systems of evidence where public trial is an essential focal point (The Robbins Collection, n.d.).
Civil law systems are the biggest and most common justice systems in the world. It is practiced in most parts of European Union, Japan, and in most parts of Latin America. The civil law lays more emphasis on a strong inquisitorial process. In the process, the accused are granted fewer rights, and the written law is followed to the letter and subjected to minimal interpretations. In contrast, common laws give the judges much room for interpretations of the written laws (The Robbins Collection, n.d.). In most instances, practitioners of civil law are considered to be above the law as opposed to their counterparts in the common law.
Socialist law traditions have also been in existent for quite some time. It is present in some countries of Asia and Africa, and parts of Latin America, though not widely practiced as compared to both common and civil laws. It is characterized by a process aimed at forcibly rehabilitating or retraining individual into achieving their responsibility to the government. It mostly utilizes administrative rules, where non-legal practitioners aid in making most of the decisions (Scully, 1994). However, most societies that practice the system are either dictatorial or contain some variant of the traditions of the Roman laws.
Finally, the Islamic law traditions mainly draw its procedures and processes from the understanding of the Koran. Globally, it is the only system that has a divine origin. Most of the laws come in the form of orders, commands, or directives that governs a person’s life. Religion and the concept of natural justice play a significant role in the system (Scully, 1994).
The Impact of Cyber Crime and Technology on Worldwide Justice Systems
Cybercrime refers to a criminal activity whereby computers and computer networks act as the principal channels of committing a crime, or violating rules, laws, and regulations. In today’s digital age, where communication online has become prevalent, governments and internet users face increased concerns about becoming cyber attacks targets. The advancement of technology has enabled cybercriminals to continue develop and improve their techniques. The shift has been from theft of financial information to accessing government information and business espionage. Governments must collaborate globally in order to curtail the fast-spreading cyber crime. Governments must work together to come up with an efficient model that will assist mitigate the threat.
Cyber crimes affect not only the country’s defense system, but also its criminal justice system. In essence, most countries have had to come up with effective mechanisms to cushion the ever-increasing numbers of cyber attack complaints. Globally, countries like the USA have taken bold steps to deal with cyberspace crime. For instance, the US government declared its digital infrastructure a ‘strategic national asset.’ On the same note, Israel, Iran, Russia, North Korea and many other countries are now training special agents referred to as ‘cyber armies.’ Such increased vigilance indicates that cyber crime has been a major concern for most countries all over the world (KPMG, 2011). Therefore, the criminal justice systems have to adapt to the fast-changing technological world to contain the criminals.
Differentiate the Policing Systems on a Worldwide Scale.
The emergence of cross-border crimes has brought a lot of challenges to police systems worldwide. The criminal networks working collaboratively globally have created threats to the existing policing mechanisms. Hence, there is a need to understand how different police systems have managed to cope with the changing trends.
The transnational crimes have created incentives aimed at improving the traditional operations of police systems. Law enforcement officers worldwide have had to coordinate their activities better to adapt to cushion and eliminate the threats posed by global criminals. In the traditional setting, urban police officers used to work in the confines of the urban centers. Crime was primary a local occurrence. Hence, their jurisdictions matched the patterns of criminal incidences.
However, globalization led to new security threats such as terrorism. Terrorism and terrorist networks have played a big role in transforming policing systems globally. These terrorists create problems for everyone, though the role of containing them does not belong to anyone. Local police actions can only destroy a small terrorist cell but cannot destroy their active networks. Local, regional and international police systems need to work beyond their jurisdictions to handle such crimes in real time (Sullivan & Wirtz, 2009). Hence, the scenario creates a shift from traditional to modern police practices.
The Major Crimes and Criminal Issues That Have a Global Impact on Justice Systems and Processes
There are serious crimes in various parts of the world that have hard biting effects on justice systems and processes at an international scale. Among the countries that have faced challenges include Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur, Congo among others. For instance, the continuing armed conflict between domestic and international forces and the Al-Shabaab in Somalia has posed serious global challenges. Various criminal justice systems have become engaged in trying to find a long-term answer to the conflict. The conflict has attracted international attention with the United Nations and the African Union coming in to help restore order in the Horn of Africa country.
Similarly, the conflict in Darfur also attracted a lot of international attention. Described as the world’s worst humanitarian crises by the United Nations, the Darfur conflict has impacted heavily on the criminal systems of various countries. The Darfur conflict even went beyond the Darfur region is Sudan and spread to neighboring countries like Central African Republic and Chad. Hence, it had a great impact on the judicial systems of these countries. Much can be discussed on other states that have faced conflicts like Bosnia, Rwanda, Congo and many others. No matter that part of the world the conflict occurs, its impacts will have a global effect on judicial and criminal systems.
References
KPMG. (2011, July). Cyber Crime – A Growing Challenge for Governments. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://www.kpmg.com/Global/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/cyber-crime.pdf
The Robbins COllection. (n.d.). The Common Law and Civil Law Traditions. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/CommonLawCivilLawTraditions.html
Scully, G. W. (1994, December). Law, Liberty and Economic Growth. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/st189.pdf
Sullivan, J. P., & Wirtz, J. J. (2009). Global Metropolitan Policing: An Emerging Trend in Intelligence Sharing. The Journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security, 5(2), 1-7. Retrieved from http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=5.2.4
