Criminal Justice Process, Research Paper Example

Civil order control is one of the basic means by which states help ensure the stability of their country. The specific ways that particular states enact and realize civil order varies from nation to nation, and can be understood precisely in terms of ideology. For example, a democracy will have different forms of civil order control, as opposed to a monarchy or dictatorship, since democracy will ideally stress individual liberties. Furthermore, as Stevens notes, disruptions to civic order “is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major sociopolitical problems.” (2009, p. 95) Threats to the civil order therefore can take various forms, for example, terrorist attacks, illegal parades, and sit-ins, (Stevens, 2009, p. 337) which means that instances of civil unrest tend to extend beyond common criminal activity, thus necessitating specific approaches to maintain civil order.

In the United States, for example, police departments located in areas with a high population are often supplemented by SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and PPU (police paramilitary unit) wings, which are intended to divert specific problems, such as terrorist incidents, high-risk warrant situations, barricaded suspect, hostage situations and civil disturbances. (Siegel, 2010, p. 238)

However, civil order control can also be largely preventative, meaning that special criminal justice units will have a patrolling function, also known as peacekeeping patrol. Accordingly, such methods, as Siegel notes, “targets behavior that falls somewhere between criminal and non-criminal.” (2010, p. 239) This means that the patrol officer decides what acts are to be considered criminal, and which acts can be controlled by the patrol. This is an issue of crucial importance for criminal justice, precisely because such civil order control methods do not clearly distinguish beforehand between criminal and non-criminal behavior – they are more concerned with what could potentially become a criminal act.

In a country such as England, the role of civil order control is marred by a different problem of ambiguity, as civil order control is largely a police matter. As Dammer and Albanese note, “The English police, as presently organized, carry out the deviance and civil order control functions of police. There is no separate agency or even a well-defined way to deal with civil order control problems in England.” (2011, p. 98) Whereas England is also a democratic country like the United States, the key difference in criminal justice pertaining to civil order lies in England’s lack of a clear definition of who is to act in civil order matters, which implies that the country has a poor grasp about what civil order control itself means. Whereas military can often assist the police in civil control, such as during 2001’s May Day riots, (Dammer & Albanese, 2011, p. 88) there appears to be a fundamental lack of consensus on the problem. To the extent that civil order problems may also be threats to government, this means that England’s understanding of what it is necessary to preserve political order is much more limited than that of the United States.

However, it is worth looking at this issue from another perspective. As Nelken notes, theorists in the UK “are convinced that military-style policing always alienates police from the community and so cuts down the supply of information.” (2010, p. 20) Therefore, the reason for a lack of exclusive civil order control measures in England can be viewed as a philosophical decision regarding the best approach to criminal justice. The disturbances of the civil order are still police issues, and if they are not treated as such, the political aspect of such disturbances will become even more extreme, since the participants will sense that the government is clearly opposed to them.

References

Dammer, H.R. and Albanese, (2011). J.S. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Nelken, D. (2010). Comparative Criminal Justice: Making Sense of Difference. London: Sage Publications.

Siegel, L.J. (2010). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Stevens, D.J. (2009). An Introduction to American Policing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.