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Criminal Justice System Reforms

The role of the justice system, as well as correctional facilities and prosecution system, is of great importance in society as it reforms individuals regarded as social misfits into people who fit perfectly in the community. However, this does not happen quickly. There has been a system of correction whereby there have been many cases of incarceration and treatment of prisoners in a way that does not consider them as very important. Different individuals have supported this for an extended time. There is also a new way of correcting criminals and that guilty of other offenses which involve more community involvement, making the criminals beneficial to society, and trying to reform them in a “friendly” manner. Many individuals have criticized the process of bringing this into effect. They cite the harm the criminals and those guilty of different offenses have brought to society. The justice system is about serving social justice by making those who have caused society pain to suffer and repay (Richardson et al. 7).

Therefore there are two sides to the criminal justice process. The side that supports acts like incarceration and the other activities and strategies that have been in existence for a long time can be explained as using crude methods to get justice and the new techniques that look at criminals as people who got into the wrong side because of their circumstances. Therefore the former seeks to establish methods that correct the criminals without applying a lot of pain onto them since maybe it was the surrounding circumstances at the particular times that pushed them to act in specific ways. Both of these methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the process of changing from the already established process of justice prosecution into the new one with lesser incarceration and friendly methods and promoting fairness is complicated in most times impossible since there are many barriers and challenges which come with the desire to bring about this kind of change(Richardson et al. 9).

The criminal justice system has had its way of operation for a very long time. It has been termed as inhuman by most individuals, and this has been due to the extreme measures of prosecution and correction taken against the criminals. This has effects like psychological torture and anguish, as well as being physically hurt at times. These undesirable effects are some of the factors that have pushed the campaign for better ways of handling criminals and coming up with a justice system that is better and which aims at their correction and not their suffering. The suggested criminal justice system combines different approaches which focus on reducing unnecessary incarceration, being fair, and concentrate on criminal correction. However, this approach also has its challenges. First of all, is the laxity with which most people perceive it such that if fully employed, there will no longer be a correction but a bunch of criminals waiting to get out and commit the same crimes they were convicted for. A challenge like this one is one of the many that makes this new criminal justice reform system rebelled by several people(Richardson et al. 16).

The other negative aspect of the reformed criminal justice system is that it may increase the workload of those who are putting it into practice, making it very difficult to be accepted as it is always the wish of anyone to use less energy in any job they are doing. Therefore in the desire to put in fewer efforts, those involved in the criminal justice system and the correction of the criminals may not accept any reforms because they still wish their jobs to remain with less workload.

Reform-minded prosecution is the change that has been proposed by many different scholars and professionals in the field of the justice system. However, there are so many challenges that have been focused on by this article. In addition, path dependence is also an essential aspect to consider when trying to make changes because based on past experiences, there can be concrete evidence that the reforms needed in place will work or not work. Therefore path dependency is an essential part of the reforms which cannot be ignored (Richardson et al. 12).

One of the challenges towards reform-minded prosecution is that individuals based on their firm beliefs trust that the old ways of dealing with criminals are the best way and therefore systemically refuse to change into reform-minded prosecution. However, this is at a personal level whereby certain offices only hold onto something very firmly while other people change towards new methods of trial and treatment of criminals. The other issue that arises is a situation whereby the prosecutors fear what may be brought by the reform-minded approach because most of the time, they feel like they are becoming responsible for what they do. In case anything wrong happens, there is the fear of carrying the burden. There are also confusions about how reform-minded prosecution does not encourage dependence on prisons and jails. At the same time, the traditional justice system entirely depended on and supported the jail and prison systems. Therefore connecting the present and the past becomes a challenge to the prosecutors (Richardson et al. 10).

The other issue that makes reform-minded prosecution difficult is the focus of the prosecutors on single case decision-making. It leaves out many other cases not attended to and therefore faced with a similar challenge. Most of the prosecutors always choose what is accessible and what they can quickly deal with and which they have been familiar with. Communication is also another challenge that makes reforms challenging to come up with since most people fail to communicate either. They are in fear because they still believe that traditional methods are best and the implemented reforms are just on the testing level. The establishment of reform-minded prosecution requires a profound change of prosecutorial field, which has had its way of operation for a very long period. However, this is possible with determined and fully determined prosecutors that everything is done for the good of society (Richardson et al. 20).

In conclusion, therefore, the criminal justice system is on the verge of change. According to this article, it is a good change as the traditional extreme practices are being done away with only what is necessary.

Work Cited

Richardson, Rebecca, and Besiki Luka Kutateladze. “Tempering expectations: A qualitative study of prosecutorial reform.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (2020): 0022427820940739.