History of Criminal Justice and Its Impact Today, Research Paper Example

The implication of criminal justice is a set of institutions constituted socially and legally with the responsibilities criminal law enforcement on the basis of procedural rules as well as limitations with clear definition. The history of crime can be traced seven thousand years back in historical accounts of biblical Cain and Abel. Retributive justice in criminal justice has been acceptable since this time. The verse ‘eye for an eye” has been an acceptable rule which is a rule of proportionality in conventional courts. This has implied a penalty in form of pay back which is proportionate to the harm arising from the crime committed. The legal principle has been applicable from the Biblical, Rabbinical as well as the common law.

The civil justice as a concept has therefore applied to the conventional theories related to crime together with punishment. From historical times, the perception of crime has been linked to social, political, economic as well as spiritual problems. Consequently, formulation of public policy with regard to crime required a coherent understanding of the complexities associated with the problem coupled with the dynamic interplay of the associated components.

The dispensation of punishment for crimes committed during the ancient times was the preserve of the kings as well as gods for example, the Hammurabi; the king of Mesopotamia was responsible for the rule of righteousness. Hammurabi was trusted with the duties of destroying the evil doers as well as the wicked and protected the weak from being harmed by the strong. Hammurabi used codes that were carved in a monument which explicitly defined the penalties as well as the expectations of inhabitants. The Hammurabi code comprised matters of family and civil law and breaking the law was punished severely including lose of an ear or hands. The rule of “eye for an eye” was strictly followed during the time.

With the progressive development in the criminal law during 20^th century, it was imperative to shift from the principles of the common law in American jurisprudence with regard to the two components of crime. These are the guilty deed, the Actus Rea, and the guilty mind, the Mens Rea (Kelling & Mary, 2002).

The modern criminal justice in America for example is composed of the federal, the state as well as the military criminal justice systems with adults as well as juvenile systems in each state. In most status across the world, justice system comprises of subsystems including the police as well as other forms of law enforcement agencies, public institutions, the prosecution, the defense office, the trial as well as appellate courts, the parole agencies as well as probation and the custodial institutions such as the prisons, jails, the halfway houses and reformatories (Safferling, 2001).

In some jurisdictions, the justice systems have put in place sentencing guidelines commissions. Public as well as private actors are incorporated in the conventional justice system such as the private defense attorneys, the bail bondsmen, victim compensation boards (Salvatore, 2003). Elected officials in government and legislators also play a vital role in the criminal justice system although they do not play a direct role with regard to individual cases. Their responsibilities include formulation of criminal justice policy as well as the laws. The news media, labor organizations and the business community influences the policies formulated by the legislators due to the stake that they hold in the criminal justice issues.

References

Kelling, G. L. & Mary A. W., (2002). Evolving Strategy of Policing: Case Studies of Strategic Change. National Institute of Justice.

Salvatore, Z., (2003). Human Rights in International Criminal Proceedings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Safferling, C.J.M., (2001).Towards an International Criminal Procedure. N. Y: O U P.