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What is criminal justice?

Criminal Justice is a system that deals with the apprehension, prosecution, defense, sentencing, incarceration, and supervision of people suspected or charged with a criminal offense.

Criminal justice issues

The criminal justice system is a complex one that looks at different issues such as individual's rights, social control, theories, and models in pursuit of justice or fairness.

Criminal justice components

Criminal justice involves three main components, which work the different aspects of the system.

• Police – may aid in the detection, incarceration, and supervision of the system
• Judiciary – deals with the prosecution, defense, trials, and sentencing aspects
• Corrections – includes any post-trial correctional supervision or rehabilitation

Criminal justice theories

Criminal justice involves several basic theories relating to individual's rights and social control as expressed through the law. These theories include:

• Restorative justice – Assumes victims may be restored to the way they were before the criminal incidents. Based on common law and traditionally requires wrongdoers to be penalized. Penalties may include community service, reimbursement, and other alternatives to prison.
• Retributive justice – Assumes that a victim of a crime has the right to impose on the criminal what was done to the victim. This kind of justice is comparable to the “eye for an eye” approach and usually involves support for capital punishment and other such penalizations.
• Psychiatric imprisonment – Assumes crimes are a result of an illness. Treatment can include drugs and psychoanalysis, but criminals should be kept confined because they cannot be trusted in society.
• Transformative justice – Assumes there is no reasonable comparison between a victim and a criminal before and after a crime and has faith the offender will not re-commit a crime and a victim will not retaliate. Transformative justice stresses trust in each individual in society.

Criminal justice models

There are models that explain how the different functions of the criminal justice system work. The consensus model argues that the different organizations of the system should work together. The conflict model argues that the organizations should compete.

If you would like to learn more information about the criminal justice system, contact us today to speak with a qualified attorney who can help protect your legal rights.

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