Criminal Justice Enforcement policies Essay

The most severe equity enforcement bequeath achieve elflike if lower-class urban offenders squeeze out throw outvas no coherent port to solve their problems or satisfy their aspirations. At the absolute best it could loose the criminals into a passive underclass which is forever dependent on social welf atomic number 18 benefits. Even then the most energetic and ambitious members of this underclass would in the end be targeted by recruiters for organized crime or terrorist organizations.Social mitigatements simply get out be ineffective if the atmosphere of fear and hopelessness which pervades crime-ridden atomic number 18as prevents local anaesthetic anaesthetic people from taking advantage of them, or if the avail are sabotaged by those who have a jeopardise in the existing situation (e. g. loan-sharks and gang-leaders). So we need a combination of Long-term measures to modify people to improve their own lives. Medium-term measures to mitigate the situation whi le the long-term measures are in progress, and to deal with the difficulties which a few people will continue to scram its unrealistic to expect that we can solve solely urban social problems completely. Improved law enforcement to prevent the situation from getting worsened and to give the locals confidence that their efforts will non be misdirectd by hit-or-miss crimes and will not be sabotaged by those who have a stake in the existing situation.The term law enforcement needs further analysis, which I will supply in the neighboring section. Law enforcement Overview of law enforcement This has tierce main compvirtuosonts Policing The legal ashes Sentencing in this essay I wishing prison construction and operation as part of the infrastructure which supports sentencing. To celebrate space I will not consider the legal system here, since the question specifically mentioned policing and sentencing (references to prisons and the remnant penalty) alone not the legal s ystem. PolicingTo pack crime- bring forth fear and hopelessness and to discourage those who have a stake in the existing situation from sabotaging improvements I recommend the New York policing model (described by Griffith, 1999) zipper tolerance for all crime, even minor vandalism. This will ofttimes deter offenders from progressing to more serious-minded crimes. Making senior local officers responsible for the performance of their units. Information systems which enable officers at all levels to identify and oppose to the highest-priority requirements.To make it clear to local communities that this is for their benefit and not just an lesson in ravening policing, local governments should Explain to local people the objectives of the thrust and the standards which are to govern law of nature conduct. Provide channels through which locals can easily raise and swiftly resolve issues, including any complaints or so the carriage of the police. These channels mustiness be conspicuously independent of the police. Sentencing In nutty cases, e. g. minor vandalism and enthrals, I recommend Community service sentences, where likely in forms which compensate the victims.This alike teach the offenders to get along with observant members of their local communities and hopefully will encourage local people to see some approximate in the offenders. Some offenders should also be compulsory to attend appropriate rehabilitation or training centers, to help them to come through their finances better or to stop using addictive drugs or to manage grievances without resorting to crime. We should probably chasten their community service workload a little to avoid seeing to punish these offenders more severely than another(prenominal) categories. Electronic tags which track offenders movements, to deter a befoolst re-offending or safety valve of community service. Tags will also make it easier to protect former young gangsters against threats and other pressures to re-join their old gangs, and in some cases it may also be helpful to provide with young offenders with panic buttons in case they are attacked by their old gangs or by rival gangs which regard them as easy targets. Prison sentences (described below) for those who violate the terms of their initial sentences without overwhelmingly good reasons.Prison sentences are necessary for serious crimes because the continued presence of serious offenders in their local communities will cause fear and therefore undermine attempts at longer-term improvements. In many cases, particularly for young offenders, work and fostering camps in sparsely-populated areas may be more suitable than traditional prisons such camps would separate the offenders both from the social environments in which they turned to crime and from the lodge of hardened criminals. Escape would be difficult because of the isolated locations and the offenders ignorance of the local geography. The offenders should be required to erect and maintain as much of the camp facilities as possible. This would both teach them they can only get comforts by working and provide a sense of achievement with each improvement in the camp environment. There should be plenty of opportunities to earn privileges by work and by studyal progress. Camps would be cheaper to construct and maintain than traditional prisons.I will explain at the end my views on the death penalty. reducing teenage gangsterism Teenage gangsters desire higher status than they can acquire by legitimate means, and value the regard of their peers more extremely than the opinions of adults. The youths are often born into sub-cultures which are at least part alienated from the rest of our union by Barriers such as privation and discrimination. Sub-culture values such as extreme machismo. Typical crimes include vandalism, assault and murder, and small-scale armed robbery.In addition to their direct costs, these crimes often give ris e an air of fear and hopelessness in the areas affected, which perpetuates the problem by persuading the next generation of teenagers that the only path to safety, status and prosperity is via gang membership. alterative measures In the long term we must remove the motivation by providing accessible legitimate paths to higher status and prosperity Education which is comprehendible to the urban youths but enables them to earn status and wealth in legitimate slipway.For example it may initially have to be delivered in the local patois but it must aim to make students proficient in standard English so that they can enter higher levels of education and / or obtain better-paid jobs. Advice for the teenagers and their families on how to manage their lives, finances, careers and education. Access to resources such as books and the Internet. Public libraries are the most obvious way to provide these. We must also provide legitimate short-term outlets for teenagers ambitions and energie s.The most obvious one is sports, which will particularly appeal to the strongest, most competitive and most aggressive teenagers the potential gang-leaders. I therefore suggest Facilities for those who wish to play miscellaneous sports on a casual basis. Clubs for those who wish to improve their performance and gain wider reputations. Organized competitions and leagues at all levels from local to national, for the really ambitious. Reducing crimes connected because of financial crises Long term reduction in personal financial crises requires a fairly complex package including Improved education to enable people to obtain better-paid jobs. Advice on personal financial management. Hopefully these crises will eventually become less common, but they will probably neer disappear completely, so there will always be a need for palliatives Cheap, quick, reliable legal advice for common types of case. Inexpensive but not subsidized loans to enable people to survive these crises w ithout resorting to crime. Repayment should where possible be secured by small deductions from the borrowers incomes (including any welfare benefits).Credit unions (see ABCUL 2003) should be advance as they provide a sense of local involvement, control and responsibility. Reducing drug-related crimes There are at least two types of drug-related crime Those perpetrate by addicts desperate for their next fix. Those committed as a issuance of the mood-altering effects of some drugs. There are good reasons for believing that the war on Drugs is as unsuccessful as Prohibition was (The Economist 2001 a). dummy up 10% of all arrests in the USA are for drug offenses and about 80% of that 10% are for possession, not for sale or represent (The Economist, 2001 b).We need an objective review of drugs policy. This might well lead to legalisation of some drugs (with regulation of their quality to minimize health risks), which would sharply reduce the prison population and, by lowering th e retail price of legalized drugs, reduce robberies committed to finance purchases. The other long-term remedy is aggressive publicizing about the dangers of specific drugs which are more harmful than alcohol and tobacco. This will of course have greater credibility if it follows an objective review of drugs policy.We also need rehabilitation centers to help addicts and excessive users to give up their habits. Crimes induced by a sense of grievance This category is very diverse, including grievances which a reasonable person may regard as justified, unjustified or partly justified. against a wide range of targets, from individuals to the highest levels of government or society as a whole. For as long as some areas are severely disadvantaged in incomes, jobs, schools, etc. there will be some grievances which are at least partly justified and should be at least mitigated by a combination of economic redevelopment and improved education. centers which advise people on legal ways o f handling their grievances. This should not be limited to what is normally termed counseling but should include coaching in legal ways of influencing the behavior of and or / hitting back at the sources of grievances. The death penalty The death penalty for murder is arguably no more immoral than killing an enemy soldier in a war. But I oppose it because all legal systems are fallible, and its impossible to correct a miscarriage of justice after a person has been executed. Incorrect convictions have arisen in cases where Judges misinterpret or misapply the law (e. g. tenderness on illegitimate Convictions 2004) The defendant had poor legal representation (American University Law canvas 1995 mentions cases where defense lawyers made procedural mistakes in capital cases). Failure of the prosecutors to expose information which might help the defense. Police obtained evidence or confessions improperly, or tampered with or fabricated evidence. Expert witnesses showed bias in f avor of the prosecution either because of their personal opinions or because doing so was to their long-term financial advantage. alas these miscarriages are not rare exceptions Northwestern University School of Laws spirit on Wrongful Convictions found that In the quarter coulomb between restoration of the Illinois death penalty and Governor George Ryans book binding clemency order, 289 men and women were sentenced to death in Illinois. Of those, 18 have been exculpated a rate in excess of 6. 2%. (Center on Wrongful Convictions, 2005) The risk of miscarriages has probably risen after 9/11 because police and prosecutors will be under even greater pressure to close terrorist cases and other high-profile murders.Conclusion The original question is flawed because it does not mark the range of crimes with which it is concerned. presents an either-or choice between stronger law enforcement and prevention, including social services and education, as ways of reducing crime. For t he categories of crime reviewed here both improved law enforcement and preventive measure are needed neither can travel along alone. I oppose the death penalty because justice systems have shown themselves to be too fallible in high-profile cases. ReferencesABCUL (2003), About Credit Unions accessed May 2005 from http//www. abcul. org/ rapscallion/about/intro. cfm American University Law Review (1995), The Death Penalty in the Twenty-First Century accessed May 2005 from http//www. wcl. american. edu/journal/lawrev/45/death. html Center on Wrongful Convictions (2004) Pollock Exonerated accessed May 2005 from http//www. law. northwestern. edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/Pollock. htm Center on Wrongful Convictions (2005) The Death Penalty accessed May 2005 from http//www. law. northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/deathpenalty. htm Griffith, Gareth (1999), Zero Tolerance Policing accessed May 2005 from http//www. parliament. nsw. gov. au/prod/parlment/publications. nsf/0/796C 90ABE8349FDFCA256ECF0008CE11 The Economist (2001 a), Stumbling in the dark (about drugs policy) accessed May 2005 from http//www. economist. com/surveys/displaystory. cfm? story_id=706591 The Economist (2001 b), Collateral damage (of the War on Drugs) accessed May 2005 from http//www. economist. com/surveys/displayStory. cfm? story_id=708550