Law Enforcement: The Key to Effective Criminal Justice Systems - Essay Sample

Introduction

Law enforcing agencies within the criminal justice systems include the courts, the police, and corrections facilities; they work towards achieving a common goal which is establishing a safe community. Despite getting tasked with different responsibilities, the law enforcement agencies work to maintain law and order by ensuring rehabilitation is accessible, crime perpetrators get apprehended and punished to the full extent of the law. The effectiveness of criminal justice systems solely depends on proper leadership and management. This paper discusses the aspects of management, leadership, organization and their importance to the criminal justice systems and generational differences in the criminal justice workforce, as well as their leadership aspects.

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Management refers to the continuous process of organizing people, finances, and resources to achieve tasks that positively contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. Management always gets grouped into the following tiers the low, middle, and upper levels of management. An organization refers to a socially constructed group that pursues a common goal. Organizations always get perceived to benefit a particular group, either the client or the management. In the criminal justice context, criminals and public members benefit whenever justice gets served since the victim is arrested and charged. Organization in the criminal justice system is service-based. It focuses on the identification, prevention, processing, and deterrence of criminal acts and crimes. Members of the same organization are guided by shared values, missions, visions, and strategic goals. Managers are leaders of all agencies in the criminal justice system. Managers get tasked with guiding and organizing their subordinates to attaining organizational goals. It is always imperative for law enforcement administrators to familiarize themselves with their prospect tasks; it enables them to build trusting and respectful relationships with their subordinates since it impacts change and fosters cooperation.

Managers within the criminal justice system are tasked with planning, commanding, organizing, coordinating, and providing feedback to their immediate bosses. Further, managers handle critical roles such as training, staffing, leading the organization, socializing employees, controlling, and disciplining staff. With the ever-changing nature of the work environment, managers are bound to face difficulties while making decisions, formulating goals, framing policies, and creating missions (Zabel et al., 2017). In criminal justice agencies, a leader’s responsibility does not always link to their job descriptions. It gets evidenced by law enforcement directors in police departments respecting and observing the chain of command, particularly, rank structures existing in the organization. By tending to the citizens’ needs, officers demonstrate their leadership roles (Zabel et al., 2017). Additionally, a leader must possess the ability to use their position to foster positive influence among his subordinates to achieve organizational goals (Zabel et al., 2017).

Learning organizations should get established within criminal justice agencies since they contribute to individual empowerment. Learning organizations encourage information sharing among colleagues, participation in decision-making processes, and teamwork. As a result, members of staff become stakeholders contributing to the overall fulfilment of an organization’s mission. Learning organizations comprises of both women and men who remain committed to life-long learning, forward progress, and the organization as a whole in a dynamic fast-paced globally connected world. Learning organizations in criminal justice systems endeavor to establish adaptive processes to external changes and achieve sustainability in the future.

The modern-day criminal justice systems incorporate different generations in its human resource workforce. The term generation refers to a specific group of individuals born within a particular era categorized by age groups. There are four categories of generations involved in the criminal justice system workforce, namely; Generation X, millennials, veterans, and baby boomers. Individuals born in the period between 1946 and 1964 are veterans, while those born in the period between 1922 and 1945 are baby boomers (Kadish et al., 2016). Generation X are individuals born between 1965 and 1980, while millennials were born between 1981 and 2000 (Kadish et al., 2016). Each of the generations mentioned earlier conforms to unique personalities, behavior patterns, beliefs, attitudes, and values towards their criminal justice workforce. As baby boomers and veterans prepare for retirement, individuals from Generation X and millennials are starting their careers. Generational differences arise from different life experiences, knowledge, restraint, logic, understanding, and judgment (Kadish et al., 2016).

Different aspects of leadership and management should get employed when dealing with different generations. Veterans are the most loyal to the criminal justice profession. They are cautious of security, dedicated and committed to collaboration and teamwork. On the other hand, baby boomers are self-reliant, result-oriented, loyal, and optimistic. Baby boomers often prioritize work before personal life. Baby boomers lack interest in technology and are likely to resist changes in the organization. Baby boomers are likely to follow a chain of command and will require getting directed by their managers. General X individuals are independent, self-driven and are likely to resist authority. They depend on technology, are loyal, and are constantly updating their application and knowledge at work. Finally, millennials are collaborative and non-conformists. They are hardworking, eager to belong to a team, capable of multi-tasking and resilient.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the establishment of efficient agencies in the criminal justice system depends on having proper leadership and management. Management controls resources, and finances to help contribute and achieve an organization’s mission. Members of the same organization are bounded by common goals, beliefs, and cultures. In criminal justice systems, managers are considered to be leaders. The workforce in criminal justice systems consists of different generations, including veterans, baby boomers, generation X, and millennials. Different traits presented by the different generations originate from past experiences, logic, knowledge, or understanding.

References

Kadish, S. H., Schulhofer, S. J., & Barkow, R. E. (2016). Criminal law and its processes: Cases and materials. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

https://www.amazon.com/Criminal-Law-Its-Processes-Materials/dp/1454817550

Zabel, K. L., Biermeier-Hanson, B. B., Baltes, B. B., Early, B. J., & Shepard, A. (2017). Generational differences in work ethic: Fact or fiction?. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(3), 301-315.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-016-9466-5