Introduction To The Criminal Justice System

entering To The flagitious arbitrator SystemWhat do we destine by the Criminal tingeee System (CJS)?This essay aims to answer the question What do we mean by the Criminal Justice System? In order to do this, we leave start by looking at an introduction to the iniquitous referee trunk and briefing talking finished the distinguish sufficient agencies it is comprised of. We will then go on to look at the triad main government departments and map out their responsibilities. This essay then intends to question whether or non the CJS is actu tout ensembley a system of rules and to discuss conflict that whitethorn arise between the different agencies. In order to understand the system, it moldiness be broken down into three stages. These stages embarrass the police, the courts and the prisons. These can be evaluated to determine whether or not the CJS is effective.The Criminal Justice System is iodin of the main public services in the UK. It is made up of unique(predic ate) agencies that respond to the commission of offences. These work together and sh ar similar aims and objectives. These agencies take the Police Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majestys Court Service, The National Offender circumspection Service and the Youth Justice Board (cjsonline.gov.uk march 2010). All of these agencies be directed by three main government departments. These are the ingleside Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Attorney General. These departments work together and each of these is liable for different services within the system.The Home Office was set up in the 18th century and although many changes have been made since this metre, its make out objective is to protect the public therefore it is responsible for areas such as policing and security. This makes it responsible for all 43 police forces within England and Wales. It is run by the Home Secretary who sets agendas and has management boards in order to make positive(pre dicate) its aims and objectives are carried out and their services are being delivered to the public. The Ministry of Justice was set up in 2007 and took over some of the responsibilities of the Home Office. It is in charge of the justice system with areas such as shepherds crook truth and sentencing. One of its departmental strategic objectives is to ensure a to a greater extent effective, transparent and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public (http//www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/justice-annual-report-08-09ii.pdf p48). It is now headed by the Lord prime minister which can also be known as the Secretary of secern for Justice and like the Home Office, it also has a management board. The Ministry of Justice now also carries out the duties for the Department for Constitutional Affairs which manages the reasoned Services Commission and certain courts. The Office of the Attorney General was complete to provide advice to fair play officials. One of it s main responsibilities is to guard the rule of the law and of public interest (http//www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/AboutUs/Pages/default.aspx). It is accountable for the law offenders department which is made up of agencies like the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Fraud Authority. In order to certify that these three departments work together, Local Criminal Justice Boards were set up. There are 42 of these boards and ensure that all of the aims of the three boards are carried out in their local area.Ashworth (2010) claims that the CJS is not a system. It quotes that To refer to it as a system is merely a convenience and an divine guidance (p71) although Newburn (2007) believes that there is evidence to show that they work in partnership and piece similar goals (p549). Despite these similar goals overall, each stage of the CJS sometimes has different objectives which may result in conflict between the different agencies. For example, the courts may sentence a psyche to prison to be punished, while probation officers would search to rehabilitate them. With these differing objectives, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) was set up to ensure these agencies collaborated effectively and delivered the aims of the CJS. These aims are to prevent and detect more criminal offense, to discontinue victims and witnesses more support and to punish and rehabilitate more offenders http//www.cjsonline.gov.uk/the_cjs/how_it_works/. These aims must be carried out in order for the criminal justice system to be effective.Each of these aims can be applied to the different stages within the CJS. These stages exist of the police, the courts and also the prisons. Each has a different role within the system with different objectives. The police are there to prevent and detect more crime this can be done through arrests while the courts are there to sentence offenders and the prisons to punish.The police are the primary stage in the prevention of crime (Joyce p84). In most cases the agencies never respond at all as the CJS starts with the arrest of a suspect or with the report of a crime. The police have the authority to refer a person to the next stage of the CJS. This is done as they have to enforce the law with the intention to keep the peace. The courts have the power to sentence an offender and a custodial sentence is the toughest punishment the courts can impose while the prisons race is to punish an offender.From this it would appear that the CJS is based upon punishment, however this is not the case. Only particularized agencies focus solely on the penal system. Once an offender is sentenced by the court, the offender enters the penal system (Cavadino p1). The penal system is a system that exists to punish and otherwise deal with those who have been convicted of criminal offences (Cavadino p408). The CJS in the UK is not only about punishment but also about the refilling of offenders. Therefore, it protects the public in both the long and short term http//www.cjsonline.gov.uk/downloads/ act/pdf/CJS_Review.pdf. Rehabilitation believes that punishment can reduce the incidence of crime by taking a form which will improve the individual offenders portion or behaviour and make him or her less likely to reoffend in future (Cavadino p41)The three stages mentioned earlier collaborate well as all three have the objective to protect the public. In order to muster out whether or not each of these stages are effective, they can be measured by a number of different means.BCSPolice statistics absolved up ratesSentencing has change magnitude in recent years. This can be proved by the increase in prisoners. Since 1980 the prison population increased from 42,000 to 85,000 in 2009 (REF). Despite this increase, it cannot be proved that there is an increase in crime as it may be due to stricter and harsher sentences being oblige by the courts. Regardless of this, respondents to the BCS were asked whether they thought s entences were too tough, about right or too sonant, with over three quarters (76%) feeling that sentences were too lenient (Home Office Policing and criminal justice p12). Due to this increase in the prison population, it has been claimed that the conditions prisoners live in has made it difficult to rehabilitate offenders (Joyce p365) and that it is possible that the prisons may be violating Article three of the Convention (Ashworth p316). One of the problems that an increase in prison population has caused is overcrowding. This can lead to inmates being contained to their cells for long periods of time (Ashworth p316) and the denial to rehabilitative programmes (Joyce p377). These overcrowded prisons can lead to aggression and can deterioration a persons health and wellbeing. Other issues that are concerned with prison conditions include an increase in drug use, security problems and also the financing of the prisons. These conditions may also affect reoffending rates due to not being able to rehabilitate a person.Victimisation surveys is a survey which interviews a adjudicate of the public and provide a relatively blameless measure of crime rates (Newburn p62) as they include crimes that have not been reported to or recorded by the police. Despite this, they still cannot be 100% accurate and reliable due to the fact that they exclude victimless crimes such as penalization completionsSelf report surveysIssues influencing the CJSs ability to be effectiveConfidence levels/ triumphReliability of statsThe media can influence a persons perception of the CJS.GOOD The media presents education to the public of crimes. This can be done through new describe and also television programmes such as Crimewatch which give the public accounts of events through real life footage and reconstructions (Newburn p104).BAD