Race and the Criminal Justice System: Racial Profiling Essay Sample

Introduction

Typically, community organization refers to an amalgamation of activities at the community level that is focused on improving the social wellbeing of the neighborhoods, individuals, and groups. This essay seeks to look into the criminal justice system as a community organization which facilitates the ability of the community to enjoy harmony and unity (Holtfreter, 2016). Different aspects of the system will be examined including a brief historical background of the criminal justice system, community partnerships that the system has, the cross-cultural challenges as well as the humanitarian considerations involved. Furthermore, it will also demonstrate how the organizations use volunteers, some of the roadblocks the organizations has faced, its future visions and some of the areas that need to be improved within the organization. Finally, it will discuss some of the possible ways my skills and interests can be of significance to the organization. This essay will reflect on the impact of race and criminal justice system in the overall racial profiling cases.

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Criminal justice is a set of systems and institutions established to uphold the integrity of the society by deterring criminal behavior, sanctioning offenders and establishing rehabilitation institution for those that are seeking redemption from criminal ways. Criminal justice systems are central to addressing the growing social needs (Holtfreter, 2016). The society is made by multiple systems that play their distinct roles in ensuring the stability of the people and systems established. The contemporary society is in need of a reliable and functional criminal justice system to uphold the deteriorating society integrity as a result of increased criminal behavior. Social justice through the criminal justice has a role in ensuring social equality through its ability to address injustice and diversity in the community (Zehr, 2015). People share a common humanity and require equal treatment; the criminal justice system has a role in ensuring that common human rights are upheld, and community resources are equitably shared.

Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is a major problem facing the American people; racial profiling has been instigated by stereotypes and inadequate policies. Racial profiling is a threat to the society progress and the stability of every nation. America is a multi-racial society hence the criminal justice should play a central role through corrective policies and educating the people on the importance of cohesion as a nation. The criminal justice should ensure laws that apply to all races and diversity of the American people and avoid divisive policies. The importance role of the criminal justice system is ensuring fairness and cohesion in the face of a diverse society (Macionis, 2015).

The American justice system is one of the most complex and effective community organizations in the world with a fascinating history spanning to over four hundred years of transformations. The US criminal justice system unlike most other countries, it is not a single institution, but rather it is a network of justice systems at the state, federal and other special jurisdictional levels such as territorial and military courts (Neubauer & Fradella, 2015). Criminal cases that are of national scope are handles by the federal criminal justice system. Some of the cases that are of national scope include the assassination of influential personalities, treason, and espionage among other others. On the other hand, the state justice system mainly hears and handles crimes that are confined to a particular state, situation or place. The aim of these systems is to have the law breakers or offenders to repent or pay for their criminal acts at the same time they thrive at delivering recompense to the victims. Just as other criminal justice systems it is comprised of three components; law enforcement, adjudication, and corrections (Delisi & Vaughn, 2014). Law enforcement involves arresting of the suspected offenders, obtaining and retaining evidence, determining the motive and finishing arrest reports by giving the results of the investigation. Adjudication on the hand infers to the court or legal processes involved in the case. It comprises of the provision of pretrial services, the arraignment of the offender, trial where it is ascertained whether the offender is guilty or not, the next step is sentencing in case the offender is found guilty. The US court system permits death penalty when the crime committed is heinous. The last component is corrections and involves rehabilitation and reform processes.

Implications of Racial Profiling on the Criminal Justice System

Racial profiling in the criminal justice system negatively affects the ability of the criminal justice system to continue cooperating with the communities (Holtfreter, 2016). One of the most influential negative impact of racial profiling is that it results in the alienation of some of the community members towards contributing to the alienation of community members from the policing efforts and community policing initiatives which negatively affects the overall criminal justice system effectiveness (Holtfreter, 2016). Equal service delivery in the criminal justice system is highly biased which limits the ability of some communities to easily access services. Offending and victimization of the people due to their racial backgrounds is a common phenomenal that reduces service delivery.

Criminal Justice System Vision for the Future

The American justice system aims at improving and increasing the efficiency of the system. In a bid to attain its future vision the system has a future vision of recruiting more than 10,000 magistrates to be able to handle the court cases adequately, develop a more diverse magistracy, create new justice hubs and have greater court innovation (Reiman & Leighton, 2015).

Areas That Need to Be Improved

A lot of areas in the judicial system need to be improved; however, the major area that needs urgent improvement is the level of corruption in the system. Corruption has thwarted most of the legal processes and people are increasingly losing trust in the legal system thus to avert this negative public perception the judicial system urgently needs to improve in this area. This can be attained through taking stern actions against individuals who are engaged in acts of corruption. As an individual, I can mainly champion for the sanctification of the judicial system.

Conclusion

Racial profiling is a major problem in the criminal justice system and it reduces the overall delivery of services in equality as well as the functioning of community based interventions. Racial profiling is not a professional approach to providing services and creates prejudice over a certain community within the society. Most of the affected people loses trust and faith in the criminal justice system because it eliminates the continued support which negatively affects the ability of the criminal justice system to attain greater policy coherence in the society. Without the community support and unity due to racial profiling the criminal justice system fails to achieve its mandate. There is need to eliminate racial profiling to increase the overall representation and confidence of all the communities in the United States which facilitates community support.

References

Anthony, T., & Schwartz, M. (2013). Invoking cultural awareness through teaching Indigenous Issues in Criminal Law and Procedure. Legal Educ. Rev., 23, 31.

Delisi, M., & Vaughn, M. G. (2014). Foundation for a temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior and criminal justice system involvement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(1), 10-25.

Holtfreter, K. (2016). Procedural Justice and Legitimacy across the Criminal Justice System Introduction to the Special Issue. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(1), 5-6.

Knopf, A. (2016). 2015 in ADAW: The year in review. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 28(1), 1-5.

Lurigio, A. J. (2012). Responding to the needs of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system: An area ripe for research and community partnerships. Journal of Crime and Justice, 35(1), 1-12.

Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2015). America's courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning.

Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2015). America's courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning.

Newburn, T., & Stanko, E. A. (2013). Just boys are doing business?: men, masculinities, and crime. Routledge.

Reiman, J., & Leighton, P. (2015). The rich get richer, and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice. Routledge.

Weisburd, D. L., & McEwen, T. (2015). Introduction: Crime mapping and crime prevention. Available at SSRN 2629850.