Criminal Justice Trends

Criminal Justice Trends Evaluation A number of past, present, and future trends exist in regard to the interface between components of the criminal justice system and criminal justice connections with surrounding society. Conducting an analysis of each of these trends provides an understanding of the value of the criminal justice system and also how it adapts to an ever-changing society. Law enforcement agencies can make predictions for the future of the criminal justice system by placing an emphasis on the developments of the system over the past few decades. Past, Present, and Future TrendsIn the late twentieth century, a number of so called, â€Å"forgotten figures† struggled for an identity and also for equality. Women’s liberation movements began to portray the manner in which the criminal justice system viewed men who committed crimes to include sexual assault as punishments were minimal or at times perhaps even nonexistent for the crime. The media also rarely ack nowledged women who were victims of sexual assault, those of which also had to where to turn to for support or refuge. African Americans, gays, and also soldiers are others who struggled with finding an identity in society hence also within the criminal justice system.During the 1960s, victims’ rights movements began addressing those issued faced by these groups as the criminal justice system often overlooked the needs of each. Each group’s voice was believed not to be heard and at times each was also treated much differently than those who were not of minority by the system. Toward the end of the twentieth century the Victims’ Bill of Rights was passed in 22 states, allowing victims to have a voice hence express their view during courtroom proceeding, during sentencing, and also during parole.Other laws, acts, and policies were also implemented as a prohibition of unfair treatment for all members of society. The criminal justice system continues to expand polic ies and laws to protect society of individual rights and also from the law itself. Technological advances are other past, current, and future trends that should be taken into consideration as past technologies did not possess the capabilities the system has today. For example, the advancement of DNA testing has allowed for the conviction and also release of some individuals who may have been imprison for years and for crimes he or she did not commit.Technological advances have made it possible to convict many more individuals guilty of crimes than even in the past. The same technologies are also responsible for freely those who have been wrongly accused. Such advances have a direct impact on the manner in which the criminal justice system develops and also operates as courtroom judges may order a suspect to DNA testing; otherwise some states have the authority to do so. Years ago, the opportunity to provide such testing did not exist whatsoever which lead to the conviction of many i ndividuals who were in fact innocent of committing particular crimes.The criminal justice system today is an implementation of reappraisals of policies, procedures, and practices of prior decades. As society continues to expand its thinking and mentality concerning issues to include gays and women’s rights, the criminal justice must also in a sense expand its mentality and adjust to a changing society. For example, a decline of women within the criminal justice system may be because women now have the accessibility to similar programs men were entitled to, including educational programs, and also community-based programs. Criminal Justice Trends It is important for us to understand past, current, and future trends throughout the criminal justice system. Trends allow us to identify areas that need to be addressed so we may be equipped to handle them better. Society depends of the criminal justice system in many ways to offer them a sense of justice, safety, and peace of mind. Within this paper I will discuss past, current, and future trends and how it affects and changes our criminal justice system.I will also address recent and future trends and contemporary issues that affect the criminal justice system, as well as the values of the criminal justice system in a changing society. Past Trends Even though to most it may not seem like it, the criminal justice system has come a long way in its dealings with the public. In the past the criminal justice system was viewed as a faceless machine that acted independently of the areas it charged to look after.It seemed that it was better to stay detached from the public in order to rem ain biased in their judgment and to keep their professional appearance. By studying past trends we not only were able to see trends in criminal behavior as well as having the ability to try and create possible projections on why it could lead but, we were also able to view the interaction between the criminal justice system and those it served. Both the criminal justice system and the general public realized the need for cooperation between the two to better the results.Society has always and will always be changing and it is only through ongoing efforts and partnerships within the community that the criminal justice system can stay informed and better understand how to combat criminal trends. By understanding trends in the past and considering how certain criminal events began and where they are now, the criminal justice system has been able to gain a wealth of knowledge about illegal activity and how different attempts to control or stop the actions have worked or failed.By examin ing the patterns of criminal activity and looking at the response is to the different tactics used to prevent them the criminal justice system can actually derive betters means to control possible criminal growth or be better suited to handle the events as they arise. Current Trends There are many current trends that the criminal justice system faces as far as criminal activity is concerned. Increased violence and drug related offences are just two of the many obstacles that they face. Another trend that is developing is the public’s move towards privatized protection.There are a growing number of individuals and families that have begun seeking out more protection than what is offered by the local police department. Residents prefer to now have their own security in place something that is gear specifically towards them. I do not feel that this move comes from distrust in the criminal justice system to fulfill the task however, with the growing relationship being developed b etween communities and law enforcement now see what challenges the local law enforcement agencies have to overcome on a daily basis. With this in mind, the public has begun to move to the privet sector for personal and home security.Moving to gated communities in order to restrict traffic into their neighborhoods as well as neighbors coming together to employ security guards is a sure sign that the public sees that the growing challenges of law enforcement are causing them to strain their resources very thin in order to keep up with criminal activities over large areas. They also realize that regular patrols in their neighborhoods for long periods is something that many local law enforcement agencies can no longer provide so, many other areas have started working with the police departments to form neighborhood watches.This is a program that brings communities together with the common goal of protecting their neighborhood and their families. Home security systems, cameras and motion detecting lights around the home, fences, gated communities, privet security and patrols, neighborhood watches, and building community awareness along with the local law enforcement agencies have been beneficial to law enforcement in cutting down the amount of activity in small neighborhoods and communities allowing them to focus on other areas as well as having the advantage of having extra eyes and ears in several different areas.Future Trends As the growing demands of crimes continue to over burden law enforcement, we will continue to see the utilization of privet sector security by the public. Future trends can often be seen and planned for by following trends from the past and present. For example; (past drug trend) drugs are easy to manufacture and move making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to control. Current drug trend) drugs are still easy to manufacture and the demand has steadily increased making it very difficult for law enforcement agencies to control. (Poss ible predicted future trend? ) Drugs continue to grow presenting an ever growing and evasive element for law enforcement agencies to try and control. By following the trend we can see that drugs are going to continue to grow but, this shows us that it will take a continuing effort and therefore plans can be put into action now to aid in future the future growth. Criminal Justice Trends Criminal Justice Trends CJA/484 3/17/2013 David Sanders Jr The criminal justice system is always changing to help secure and protect society. Even though many times areas of law enforcement are over looked due to changes, the facts still remain that the number one priority of law enforcement is to see that the streets that we walk during the day and night are safe and secure even though one main ingredient has been lost with the progression of law enforcement.So in this paper I will focus on evaluate a few areas that have to deal with the past, present and future trends of law enforcement. I will also sum things up and discuss the budgetary and managerial impact that future trends will likely have on law enforcement, courts and corrections. Now when looking at the past efforts of law enforcement and the way that they went about doing their job it can be concluded that law enforcement were more engaged with the people in the community because they went about doing their job totally different then the way that it’s done in today’ s society.The reason why is because in the late 1800’s and beginning of the 1900’s many people felt safe in secure in their own homes because they knew that they were being protected and taking care of because law enforcement agents walked the streets and made their presence known. The community worrying about being violated was the least of their concerns because they knew that the law was on their side and watching everything that was going on.One way in particular that made the community feel safe had to do with the fact that that law enforcement agents would walk, stop, and talk to the people in the community and get to know them by name and take advantage of the conversation on how they could serve them better. Simply put the community knew the police and the police knew the community. So with that being said a relationship was able to be formed to make the community and the police one because each party wanted the same thing which was to see that justice is uphel d.Law enforcement also relied on the community to be its eyes and ears and help them to solve a crime that had taken place and which the community had no problem doing. However moving onto the present time of law enforcement and the birth of technology becoming more prominent the intimate care given towards the community started to go down to the point where the community no longer trust the police and the police no longer knew how to connect back to the community anymore.With that being said this brings us to the present trends of policing and the birth of technology and how law enforcement has lost its connection that it once had with the community. The birth of technology has helped law enforcement a great deal because it has help to speed up criminal proceedings and also has helped to eliminate wasted man hours to actually find the guy or woman that has committed the crime in question. However on the other hand the birth of technology has stripped away the very core that has mad e law enforcement trust worthy which was its ability to connect with the community.The reason why I say that the trust of law enforcement has been taking away is because there isn’t any more foot patrols done, Law enforcement agents are riding around in cars now neglecting the interaction with the community, but most importantly making the community believe that they really don’t care about them which makes the community not trust them or want to help them. However moving forward and to not bash the officers that have sworn to protect us they’re still some good that has come out with the birth of technology that has taking away the connection that law enforcement once had with the community.One example in particular is that of surveillance cameras that are now all over the place that helps aid law enforcement to be able to see faces of individuals that have committed a crime and gain leads as to who they’re looking for. Law enforcement have also gotten be tter at communicating with one another with the use of 2 way radios to ensure that criminals are apprehended quicker and with using qualitative research to get the right criminal the first time around.But with every positive there is a negative the same technology the law enforcement use to catch the criminals, the criminals are using that same technology to avoid being caught, which also goes back to the point that if law enforcement didn’t abandon the relationship that they once had with the community that the community would be willing to talk and help them out because with every crime committed there is always somebody watching. Moving forward when looking at the future trends of law enforcement it can be said that it’ll probably be better than present day law enforcement ecause they would be able to see what they did wrong and try to improve on it. The reason why is because with progression there is always improvements made on things that were done wrong. For inst ance law enforcement losing touch with the community in present day will be something that I believe would be primarily focus on to get back because stopping and preventing crime is a team effort and law enforcement cannot do it on its own. Even with all the technology in the world nothing can take the place of interaction and receiving information from someone that has actually saw the crime being committed.Surveillance tapes can catch the person in action but they do tend to miss the little details that can bring a criminal to justice much quicker then somebody seeing the crime taking place and reporting it. This is why I feel that for the future law enforcement would engage in getting back to its roots and trying to regain that trust that they one had from the community so that they can work hand and hand together to see that crime is cut down to a minimal or cut down for good.Finally the last point that I’ll like to discuss is the budgetary and managerial impact that futu re trends will most likely have on law enforcement, courts and corrections. This impact will most likely happen in the form of according to the National Center for State Courts the budget getting out of control and the government having to use its efforts to bail it out.The reason why is because with times changing law enforcement, courts and corrections are going to have to constantly stay ahead and have the technology that they need to keep the crime at its lowest and with that happening managing the funds will be hard to do. Crime is not going to stop because law enforcement does not have them money to keep up its going to actually get worse and thrive off of it In conclusion there are many ways to look at the change that has occurred when it comes to policing because in some areas it could be for good where and other areas it could be bad.The reason why is because the past, present and future trends of policing will and continue to be very different from one another. The reason why is because the days are long gone as to where police officers walked up and down community blocks talking to individuals and getting to know them, understand them and overall building their trust. To where know everything is fast paced and police officers are riding in cars and using radios and talking on phones due to the growth of technology.In it can even be said that with the growth of technology that it destroyed the police and community relationship. However with the future of things fast approaching it can also be said that with that relationship lost that it can be gained again because even though technology took it away technology can help make things right because with the growth of it crimes will be able to be solved much more quicker and give the police officer more time to make things right with the community that they had neglected.However one thing in particular that will never change and never go away is the value that police officers hold in the community and in society because without them there would be total madness because there would be no order and no one to enforce the laws to maintain such order that society needs to have to function. References 1. Cetron, Dr. M. J. & Davies, O. 2008) 55 Trends Now Shaping the Future Of Policing http://www. au. af. mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/proteus-55-policing. pdf 2. Craig D. Uchida (2004) The Development of American Police an Historical overview http://www. globalcitizen. net/data/pages/1418/papers/2009042815114290. pdf 3. 2012 National Center or State Courts http://www. ncsc. org/Topics/Financial/Budget-Management/Resource-Guide. aspx