Abstract
Amid the 1970s, the prevailing rationality in American criminal justice concentrated on ensuring the privileges of criminal respondents while looking to comprehend the main drivers of wrongdoing and savagery. The previous 30 years, be that as it may, have seen expanded enthusiasm for an arranged society, in open wellbeing, and in the privileges of wrongdoing exploited people. This adjustment in demeanors was likely realized by national dissatisfaction with the apparent failure of our public and its equity framework to forestall violations and to reliably hold wrongdoers to ardent gauges of good and bad. In this paper I will be discussing three components that make up our criminal justice system, law enforcement, judiciary, and corrections.
Criminal Justice System Representation
The criminal justice system is “a system that acts to enforce the criminal laws of the country” (Smith, 2017). The criminal justice system consists of three classifications: military, state, and government. Notwithstanding these three classes, each state has separate divisions that hears adolescent and adult cases. When looking at the criminal justice system we must think about the components that make it up and their functions. Law enforcement or police “is a body of officers which represent the civil authority of government” (Whetstone, Kelling, Walsh, Brodeur, & Banton, 2018), which are responsible for maintaining order and enforcing laws within the community. Judiciary, or courts, In the United States there are three main components which make up or criminal justice system that is law enforcement, judiciary, and corrections.
Law Enforcement
The word law enforcement is used to describe agencies and individuals whom are responsible for public safety, maintaining order, and enforcing the law. It also includes detection, prevention, and investigation of a crime, and apprehension and detention of individuals.
These functions are known as policing. Police are often also entrusted with various licensing and regulatory activities known as policing. Police are entrusted with various regulatory and licensing activities. Two examples of policing are “C.S.I.” and “Cops.”
C.S.I.
C.S.I. is a television show with a team of police forensic evidence investigators whom work cases in Las Vegas, NV. It is a controversial show because it is a matter of fact or fiction. Seeing as the crime is solved it depicts law enforcement as consist in finding their suspects and bringing them to justice when this is in fact not the case. This birthed the idea of the C.S.I. effect. It refers to the “public’s misguided belief that all crime scenes will result in recovered DNA and fingerprint evidence which will definitely point to a suspect” (Turano, 2016). In most cases, for example, crime scene investigations may only find a partial print. To find this piece of evidence it would have had to been left behind by the suspect and require a detailed search of the scene by investigators to collect and find it. In season 4 episode 10, Coming of Rage, the character Warrick Brown took a single blood sample near the head of the victim at what appeared to be a violent crime scene. This is simply impractical because evidence collection experts know to use their knowledge to collect samples which are useful in possibly identifying a suspect. This requires several blood samples being collected at violent crime scenes.
COPS
A show originally broadcasted in 1989n by the FOX network, COPS is a reality series which shows the everyday interactions between police officers and suspects breaking the law. It gives an in depth look at the process of officers apprehending suspects breaking the law and answering calls for help. The day to day life of a police officer is stressful from what is shown. A person can tell you about their day but watching sheds light on the day-to-day life of a police officer. Not all episodes reveal the entire process of what happens once the arrest has been made but it does reveal the crime, traffic stop, arrest, and initial charges. People like action and this show gives then exactly what they crave. Officers on this show follow the book but it is what one does not see that is the question. There are no scenes of officers using excessive force, racial bias, or shooting of unarmed suspects which society knows is a major issue. From new coverage it is known that officer involved shootings have not been uncommon as of late. Cases like that of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. “They were black men, killed by police, in deeply segregated communities” (Graham, 2016) caught on camera by bystanders. It is sad living in a society where one must protect themselves with video footage.
Courts
The judiciary is the branch of government which administers justice according to law. The term is used to refer broadly to the courts, the judges, magistrates, adjudicators and other support personnel who run the system. Courts are controlled by judges; whose job is to ensure the law is pursued and manage what occurs in court. They choose whether to discharge wrongdoers before the preliminary. Courts settle dispute, applies the law, and punishes law breakers. “It upholds peace, order and good government. A court is supposed to uphold the rights of citizens to interpret laws. The judiciary must act without fear of powerful interests, and without favoring individual parties. A court’s ability to deliver justice depends on its power to enforce its rulings. Only a court of appeal can overturn the ruling of a lower court.
Hot Bench
In each episode, a panel of three judges, “hears testimony from litigants, then retires for a joint deliberation” (Sheindlin, Douthit, Fitzpatrick, & Leins, 2014-) It opens the public up to a world which is usually off limits. The fact that there are three judges involved one would assume they are going to receive a fair and sound judgement, but everything seen on television is not real. The thought process of a judge is unknown because it is done in chambers away from view. In watching Hot Bench, the thought process is revealed. Shows are edited to show key points of interest or points that peak the interest of views in the 30-60-minute allotted time of the show. In that small window the representation of a judges’ thought process and deliberations are fair. Because shows like this are for entertainment producers in some cases spin this to be funny or ignorant for ratings which in an actual courtroom would considered unacceptable.
Judge Judy
TV programs like Judge Judy are not intense as it would be for assault, homicide, or drug cases. It hears civil cases about, property damage, paternity issues, and unpaid loans to list a few. Judge Judy is frequently rude and obnoxious to litigants in her courtroom which depicts her as a no-nonsense judge but brings about the question if all judges behave in this manner. TV judges are often unprofessional and verbally attack people involved in the case to have better ratings. It is about the ratings and number than cases. Litigants are informed to “direct all concerns and remarks to the bench and not opposing counsel” (Britt, April 2013) which from watching the show one can see this rule seems to not exist. Cases on Judge Judy cover the arbitration process, which consists of conflict resolution without going to court. “The power that Judge Judy and the rest of the TV arbitrators have over the disputing parties is granted by a contract, specific to their case, that they sign before appearing on the show. These contracts make the arbitrators’ decision final and binding, prevent the disputing parties from negotiating the terms of the arbitration, and allow the ‘judges’ wide discretion on procedural and evidentiary rules during the arbitration” (Soniak, 2018).
Corrections
Correctional officers are responsible for supervising convicted offenders incarcerated in jail, prison, or on probation or parole. They ensure the facility housing inmates is safe and secure. They oversee the day-to-day custody of inmates and the release process for inmates in some instances notifying the victim of changes in the offender’s status. The redresses segment incorporates prisons, detainment facilities, prison guards, post-trial supervisors and probation officers. These people guarantee that a respondent’s discipline and many of its stipulations are completed.
60 Days In
In this television show seven innocent people volunteer to “spend two months living among the 500-member general population at Clark County Jail in Jefferson, Ind., which houses prisoners charged with offenses from drug dealing to capital murder” (Morabito, 2016). This show represents life behind bars, but not in a very good light. Watching this show and how things play out make it seem correctional officers are aware of most of the things going on but not all. Inmates have ways to still commit crimes within the walls of the jail under their noses. All the depiction is accurate to an extent, the images are not a fair representation of criminal justice because not all jails and prisons operate in this manner.
Behind Bars Rookie Year
This show “follows a group of new recruits at the New Mexico Corrections Academy (NMCA) who are training to have recently joined the ranks at the Penitentiary of New Mexico (PNM). In this show the rookies deal with murderers, gang members, and rapist who prey on the weakness of others. Vigorous training is required to survive working in what is know as the most dangerous places in the world. “The physical and emotional demands often prove too much for some, and even the best training can’t prepare a rookie for the unexpected” (Behind Bars Rookie Year, 2019). This is a fair representation of how life is behind bars and what corrections officers must face day-to-day as a part of their job. It also opens one’s mind to the idea that officers are not being rude but protecting themselves from being weak because convicts will try to capitalize on it.
Conclusion
If asked most people believe these shows are not real and everyone is an actor, but they cannot turn away. These shows, to some degree, have reinforced the thought that they are not fiercely incorrect. ‘NYPD Blue’ used to tout the way that the plot lines of their shows were tore from the headlines…The issue was that those features were constantly shocking. That is extremely the basic issue here is that they’re demonstrating these extremely uncommon kinds of guilty parties and extremely uncommon wrongdoings when that is not what the truth of culpable and police divisions resembles. Law enforcement looks incredibly effective on these shows. Every suspect is brought to justice on most representing a 90% clearance rate. The results are much worst, “for murder, the clearance rate is 61.6 percent. For aggravated assault, it’s 53.3 percent. For rape, 34.5 percent. For property crimes, it drops below 20 percent” (Lopez, 2018). Law enforcement, courts, and corrections are the three components which make up the criminal justice system which one must agree that the system is much more complex than what is portrayed on television.
References
- Behind Bars Rookie Year. (2019). Retrieved from A&E: https://www.aetv.com/shows/behind-bars-rookie-year/about
- Britt, D. (April 2013). COURTROOM ETIQUETTE: HOW TO BEHAVE IN COURT. The Etiquette Issue(28). Retrieved from http://source.southuniversity.edu/courtroom-etiquette-how-to-behave-in-court-132066.aspx
- Graham, D. A. (2016, July 7). The Second Amendment’s Second-Class Citizens. Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/alton-sterling-philando-castile-2nd-amendment-guns/490301/
- Lanz, M. (2016, August 31). Study shows impact TV crime dramas have on perception of police use of force. Retrieved from The Frame: https://www.scpr.org/programs/the-frame/2016/08/31/51755/cops-on-tv-study-shows-impact-tv-crime-dramas-have/
- Lopez, G. (2018, September 24). There’s a nearly 40 percent chance you’ll get away with murder in America. Retrieved from Vox: https://www.vox.com/2018/9/24/17896034/murder-crime-clearance-fbi-report
- Morabito, A. (2016, February 10). A reality show is sending innocent people to jail. Retrieved from New York Post: https://nypost.com/2016/02/10/a-reality-show-is-sending-innocent-people-to-jail/
- Schmalleger, F. J. (2015). Chapter 1: What is Criminal Justice? In F. J. Schmalleger, Criminal Justice Today An Introductory Text for the 21st Century (13 ed., pp. 2-28). Boston: Pearson. Retrieved from https://ebooksbvd.my-education-connection.com/read/9781323641965/filep700049015900000000000000000a0df_xhtml#P700049015900000000000000000A0DF
- Sheindlin, J., Douthit, R., Fitzpatrick, M., Leins, K. (Producers), Sheindlin, J. (Writer), & Beck, K. J. (Director). (2014-). Hot Bench [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from https://www.hotbench.tv/
- Smith, T. (2017, June 7). The Three Components of the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from Legal Beagle: https://legalbeagle.com/6554727-three-components-criminal-justice-system.html
- Soniak, M. (2018, June 13). What Legal Authority does Judge Judy Have? Retrieved from Mental Floss: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29829/what-legal-authority-does-judge-judy-have
- Turano, M. (2016, July 1). On “C.S.I.,” how accurate is the portrayal of crime scene investigation? Retrieved from The Take: http://screenprism.com/insights/article/what-does-the-show-c.s.i-get-right-about-being-a-crime-scene-investigator
- Whetstone, T., Kelling, G. L., Walsh, W. F., Brodeur, J.-P., & Banton, M. P. (2018, February 20). Police Law Enforcement. Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/police
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