Critical Analysis of Chapter 4, 5 and 6 of Exploring Criminal Justice

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There is much to understand from ‘The Essentials of Criminal Justice’ where criminal justice begins with the accused or the criminal. In order for justice to be served, the police system is also something to put into consideration. There is a strong relationship between the courts, juvenile justice system, policy making, administration, corrections, Law and law enforcement. Since there exists deviance in the society, there is need for correction systems to help rehabilitate criminal offenders. Despite deviance in the society, there is need for a justice system to determine whether the accused is guilty and later on give a correct judgment with a corresponding punishment according to the offence and not harsh punishment for small crime. Police play a big role in administering justice. The paper writes a critical analysis of chapter 4, 5 and 6 of the text ‘Exploring Criminal Justice’ by Robert M. Regoli, John D. Hewitt, and Anna E. Kosloski. There is a lot to discover about the police system.

First, Chapter 4 gives information on the history of the police system. Police did not start working in the 20th century but as early as the colonial era back in 18th century. There have been several reforms in the police systems to see the police service we have today (Regoli, Koloski, & Hewitt, 2007). For instance, the police department initially performed few duties but today their duties are extended to a point the police can give fines as well as question a criminal just like a prosecutor would. Generally, the police department has changed today to perform many duties. This is important in the course study and to students since from this one can learn how far the police system have come from and what changes have been done in order to have a better police system today even though it is not perfect.

Chapter 5 on the other hand gives information on legal constraints that police have to encounter in the course of their work. There are several laws that have to be followed for instance search with warranty. There are some situations which can’t wait for the police to obtain a warrant in order to do a search because waiting might subject victims and the police to danger. However, it is the law and the accused can use search without warranty as defense (Schmalleger, et al., 2014). The chapter is important since it teaches some laws which one need to be aware of and how to respond to cases. In order for victims to help police in investigations they must understand some of the legal constraints and can work hand in with the police to obtain evidence adhering to law.

Lastly, chapter six gives the very many issues that the police department faces. Issues such as corruption, false accusations, desertion, and brutality is what is experienced today in the streets either from police side or the normal citizens. The issues make it hard for police to enforce law. The chapter also incorporates real life examples and previous cases on how different issues hinder police work. The chapter is important to the reader for one knows that it is not only the society that hinders the process of justice but the police too. These constraints can act as examples and one can use them as reference.

Conclusively, the authors clearly write the three chapters giving detains with examples. Also, important terms and notes are highlighted thus it is easier for the reader to scheme through to get an idea of what the chapters are about. There is a lot of information to learn about the police department and the authors do it well by explaining some of the details a reader should know.

Reference

Regoli, R. M., Hewitt, J. D., & Kosloski, A. E. (2016). Exploring Criminal Justice. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Schmalleger, F., Donaldson, S., Kashiwahara, K., Koppal, T., Chase, S., Brown, A., … & Marash, D. (2014). Criminal justice today. Prentice Hall.