Two Key Concepts: Effectiveness and Efficiency, Essay Example

Wilson’s views helped frame the crime control perspective of criminal justice. According to this view, the proper role of the justice system is to prevent crime through the judicious use of criminal sanctions.  Because the public is outraged by crimes, such as the shootings at Columbine High School, it demands an efficient justice system which hands out tough sanctions to those who choose to violate the law. If the justice system operated in an effective manner, potential criminals would be deterred from committing law violations, while those who did commit crime would be apprehended, tried, and punished so they would never dare risk committing crime again.

Crime rates trend upwards when criminals do not sufficiently fear apprehension and punishment. If the efficiency of the system could be increased and the criminal law could be toughened, crime rates would eventually decline. Though liberals may cringe, it is not a mere coincidence that recent reductions in the crime rate have come at a time when more people are in prison than ever before. Like it or not, the rising imprisonment rate is a direct result of a conservative Supreme Court which has given police a free hand to investigate crimes and make arrests. It can also be attributed to the  “get tough’ attitude of conservative law makers who have put through harsh and mandatory punishments.

Effectiveness and efficiency are key to the crime control model. In the 1960’s when liberals controlled the government they placed restrictions on police, which limited their ability to make arrests. In contrast, crime control advocates do not want “legal technicalities” to help the guilty go free and tie the hands of justice. They lobby for the abolition of legal restrictions that control a police officer’s ability to search for evidence and interrogate suspects with a free hand.  In the 1960’s liberal politicians appointed liberal judges who thought probation was more effective than prison. Crime control advocates are furious when liberal judges let obviously guilty people go free because a law enforcement officer made an unintentional procedural error. These feelings began to pay off, beginning in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan the country has become more conservative and crime rates have gone down. Though crime control may be very expensive reducing the pains of criminal activity, crime control advocates think it is well worth the price.