Introduction to society
The criminal justice system in the United States refers to a body of social and legal institutions that are designed for enforcing criminal law as stipulated in the set of procedural rules. There are separate military, federal and state systems of justice in the United States, and each federal state has its type of criminal justice system. Several major subsystems consist of the United States criminal justice system, and they include institutions such as the police, probation and parole agencies, custodial institutions, prosecution offices, and the courts.
One subsystem we will be discussing is the police, which happens to hold a special role in the criminal justice system, which interrelates and interdepend with the other subsystems, that are the courts and corrections. Law enforcement operates through the governmental police. The United States police agencies include the state police, federal officers, county sheriffs, and highway patrol. The police’s function is the investigation of suspected activities of criminals and handing over of the investigation results to the federal prosecutors. The police are also charged with a duty of detaining suspected criminals waiting to be arraigned law court. They also participate in the deterrence of crime and ensure that the commission of a crime does not occur successfully. Other functions of police include enforcing the warrants issued by the law courts, writs, and orders. Other latent functions of law enforcement include responding very fast to emergencies and public safety threats and the protection of public facilities. Some of the Police dysfunctions include;
Police officers have a difficult time providing essential services to the society they serve. Their job puts them in harm’s way, and sometimes they might be required to use excessive force. Also, lack of proper training and adequate funding for training police officers leaves them at risk. A critical training area, such as tactical training is not well catered for due to a lack of proper and sophisticated training materials. Another dysfunction is the incident of use of force against persons of color and people with disabilities combined with the lack of accurate data and transparency about policies and practices in place of governing use of force.
Social conflict approach and police
Social conflict theory (Blalock, 1967; Guiney 1970) asserts that economic and racial minorities are perceived as threats to dominant groups. The economic minorities in this context refer to the less fortunate or the have-nots, which is defined as the economically disadvantaged people. On the other hand, powerful groups of people can translate their perceptions of threat into public policy; thus, they affect how justice is administered. This group of people is referred to as the ‘haves’; they have a lot of money and possessions-wealthy people. The theory argues that economic inequality is a condition that should be addressed by the police. Police are regarded as the ‘dirty workers’ of the criminal justice system used by the elites or dominant groups to protect their interests. So the economic minorities’ presence poses a threat to them, so they in turn, run to police demanding them to use excessive force on these economic minorities. This situation implies that there will be an unending conflict between the haves and the have-nots, the police use of force and brutality will be directed to the have-nots.
Symbolic interactionism theory and police
The police use very symbolic structures in the line of their professions. They look at the environmental factors and interactions among people to help them control crime. This theoretical framework, as established by Max Weber, a German sociologist who wanted the police to use this theory in understanding various types of human behavior and how social processes evolve in society. Police officers come up with social patterns of people’s behavior, which helps them understand crime patterns, thus concentrating on areas with high crime prevalence. This kind of approach pinpoints specific criminal behavior before the actual crime takes place.
Importance of symbols in this approach
Symbols are known to develop the mind and thus are used as a means for thinking and communicating. The language, which is critical in this symbolic interactionism theory, will help law enforcement communicate to the people what they should do and what not to do. For example, a road sign indicating’50KM/H’ means that speeding beyond will mean breaking the law.
Conclusion
As we have earlier discussed, the Criminal justice system refers to a body of social and legal institutions that are designed for enforcing criminal law as stipulated in the set of procedural rules. It’s also important to note that the United States criminal justice comprises of three subsystems, which include the law enforcement, courts, and the correction facilities, and all of them are interrelated and interdepended. The police core functions are; arresting suspects, prosecute them in courts, and conducting investigations to obtain evidence that will help prosecute the suspect. Thus, there is a need to increase police effectiveness by providing the necessary technology to aide in the investigation and presentation of evidence in court.
References
Justice, B., & Meares, T. (2014). How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 651, 159-177.
Musolf, G. (2008). The Symbolic Interactionism Of Bernard N. Meltzer. Michigan Sociological Review, 22, 112-141.
Wells, A. (1979). Conflict Theory and Functionalism: Introductory Sociology Textbooks, 1928-1976. Teaching Sociology, 6(4), 429-437.
Smandych, R., Matthews, C., Cox, S., Fattah, E., & Trépanier, J. (1987). Police. In American Criminal Justice History: An Annotated Bibliography (pp. 3-57). New York.