Criminal Justice System, Essay Example

Introduction

A prison is supposed to be a place where people who have committed crimes are supposed to be detained such that they reformed to be better citizens in the society. In the recent past cases of people coming out of jail either after serving their full terms or bail outs or presidential decree committing the same mistakes again have become common. This has made many people ask themselves what might be the problem. If you are from jail, at least we expect that either you have totally reformed or you have realized the weight of your crimes or better still, you are just afraid to be constrained in the unfriendly environment of prison. However, this hardly seems to be the case. This has made critics question the very essence of our criminal justice systems. It seems there are lessons we are missing out. We need to rethink on how best we can reform our systems such that they serve the very purpose that they were intended for in the first place. This is the core objective of this essay.

How the criminal justice system should be organized to work better

Since the current criminal system seems to have failed or come of age, we need to re organize the whole system. This is the only way our justice systems will serve their purposes in society. The first proposal on reorganizing our criminal systems is a fundamental shift from punitive system to that one of preventive, corrective and restoration. This way we will not have congested prisons, overworked prison officers, and overstretched courts. Surely, this is one of the best ways to reorganize system. Secondly, we need to draw a clear line between politics and criminal justice issues. This way we will be able to come up with good reforms in our legislation systems that are geared to protect the interests of the citizens who are majority. Most of the time laws that are enacted are far too punitive on petty offenders and are literary out of touch with the reality on the ground. Next, we should focus our attention on ways to reduce causes of crime. These includes such issues like creating employment opportunities, reducing the haves and have not’s gap and even supporting the poor to meet their daily needs. These way criminals will reduce and thus give room to the few that will be in prison to be corrected easily. Lastly educating the citizens on how to avoid being victimized by some injustices in the criminal system is a sure way to reform our systems. This comes from the old and archaic saying that “ignorance of the law is no defense.” There are many people languishing in prison not because they committed or planned to commit an offence but just because they were unaware of some laws especially the by-laws governing our towns! Our systems have been known to victimize innocent citizens who are not informed. This way we will stop law-abiding citizens from becoming victims of circumstances because of the injustices inherent in our criminal systems.

Conclusion

Whereas these reforms can go a long way to reduce the challenges facing our criminal systems, it is important to note that some challenges are inevitable. Some citizens who have vowed to remain on the wrong side of law will remain so no matter what we do to reform our systems! Consequently, our criminal systems should be reorganized to take care of such individuals even if it means life imprisoning or executing them! A few errant people should not be allowed to roam around and cause havoc to majority of law-abiding citizens.