Criminal Justice: Challenges and Developments
The criminal justice system in the United States, and indeed anywhere in the world, is a governmental tool to ensure the safety and security of the citizens of the country. Certain areas have however been considered in research to steer away from this goal. The public has for example lost a considerable amount of trust in the system as a result of apparent oppressive practices in the system. Furthermore alcohol has been proved to be a problem in many crimes; yet many of the prisoners with drinking problems remain untreated, and crimes are perpetuated as a result. There are also however significant developments within the system, including IT advances, which could help to create an increase in job opportunities in a variety of departments.
Perceived Oppression in the Criminal Justice System
The United States prison system appears to be the icon of years of accumulated oppressive practices against especially African-Americans. Indeed, according to Parenti, the 900% growth of the Justice Department's budget over the last 20 years seems to have mostly been used in order to build an increasing number of prisons. These are used to house an increasing amount of prisoners (currently around 60% of all prisoners) incarcerated for non-violent drug crimes. Furthermore about one out of every three black men in their twenties are under criminal justice control or are sought under warrant.
A further criminal justice problem has arisen as a result of September 11, 2001. Surveillance practices have been increased to include "suspicious" persons, meaning that anyone of Arab or similar Eastern descent is the victim of more often than not invasive surveillance practices. This is a perpetuation of what Parenti calls an "over-policed, surveillance society." Indeed, Arabs have been added to black people as a profile for likely criminal or terrorist activities.
Despite the popular explanation that the prison boom is economically driven, Parenti suggests that the root of this problem should be sought elsewhere. The economic problems associated with prisons seem to substantiate this view. Prisons are not, according to Parenti, profitable in economic terms. The profit derived from the prison system occurs in terms of what Parenti calls the capital and ideology of white supremacy. This is true even in these enlightened times of equal opportunity and an end to human rights abuses. Parenti identifies two specific issues perpetuating the problem of human rights violations within he criminal justice system: the first is creating political obedience, and the second, regulating the price of labor. This is a political legacy brought about from the earliest inceptions of abuse for the sake of the maintained supremacy of colonizers. It is unfortunate that the criminal justice system should be a pawn for the state's abusive policies. The prison system is thus used not so much to protect the public against crime, as is popularly believed, but instead to keep from losing the clandestine policies of oppression still present in the state.
This then culminates in a problem of communication, or rather lack thereof, between the oppressive government, criminal justice organizations and the public. The public is being deceived by means of pro-police and pro-justice maxims that are often less than true. The oppression of Islam and Arab people could be taken as the most recent example of this. Bush's "war" on terrorism has become an oppressive practice criticized by many. In the same way the overstrained prison and criminal justice systems have become tools of oppression rather than tools of fighting crime.
In terms of policing, oppressive practices from the criminal justice system and state in general have also translated themselves into the police force itself. This was especially so during the turbulent 1960's and 1970's, when one's skin color or hairstyle could dictate to the police whether one is liable to criminal activity or not. In many of these cases the "innocent until proven guilty" paradigm is reversed and any black or currently Arab person is guilty until proven otherwise.
The problem here is furthermore not only one of communication, but also one of leadership. At the highest level of leadership, the President tends to advocate oppressive practices to the criminal justice system. The police is thus heavily influenced from governmental officials to adjust their paradigm to one of oppression and racism. Protecting the public thus becomes protecting the public as long as the correct skin color is involved.
Such problems can however be dealt with through correct leadership practices and communication between criminal justice organizations and the public. There has for example been a change in police department hiring practices, in that an increasing...
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