Explain the criminal justice Funnel. Is this a realistic model of criminal justice in our society?

Introduction

Criminal justice is process that involves series of stages that start with criminal investigation and ends with the act of freeing the person who has offended from correctional supervision. This process incorporates rules and decision making as the central theme. This field has grown significantly over the past years and it is mainly directed towards the study of crime and criminal justice in variety of societies across the world. It is been fostered by the fact globalization as it is the main national trend in most countries in the world. There is need to understand that crime issues and the response from the society members are subject to forces of the globalization (Erin, 2003)

The criminal justice funnelCriminal justice as a process is like a funnel which is characterized by wider top and narrower bottom. There are several cases in the initial stages of the criminal process which are then eliminated as the process continues to the top. Cases are eradicate as the process continues due to the fact that decisions made at any stage influence the number of cases that will proceed to another stage. The number of cases decreases as decision makers discharge other cases and others are referred for analysis. The funnel characteristic of the criminal justice can be best expressed by the fact that there are many suspects and defendants than the inmates. The U.S. constitution mandates the government to suppress any form of deprivation of privacy, life liberty and right to property. This can be effectively achieved through proper criminal justice process (Larry, 2008)

The criminal justice has never been effective and efficient in most societies. In criminal justice process, assessments are in marsed on prudence i.e. the individual exercise of judgment to make choices on possible actions to take. Decisions are sometime made without any formal rules and procedures that can lead to effective implementation of policies hence it can be a true way of eliminating some kind of vices in the society. Police in most cases are never genuine due to the fact that discretion comes into play whenever they are making decisions on whether to carry proper investigation, to arrest or use force in certain criminal issues. The model is not realistic in our societies because prosecutors are given the power to exercise their individual judgment when arriving at decisions on whether to charge an individual with a crime or whether to plea-bargain. The decisions reached depend entirely on the judgment of the prosecutors as they employ discretion when setting bail, accepting or rejecting bail and handling of sentence cases (Larry, 2008)

The criminal justice funnel is not effective and cannot be a realistic model for criminal justice due to presents of informal practices. It is quite imperative for all official courtroom work group to clearly comprehend what occurs more often in the daily life of the society. The informal processes that are sometime used in arriving at conclusions on whether to sentence someone affects policing, plea bargaining. This has been a very common feature in most criminal justice agencies especially among complex institution (Larry, 2008)

Different circumstances have compelled lawmakers to enforce laws whose intentions are perceived as outright unjust by different members in the society. When dealing with criminal cases, improper means for personal gains that are unjust. Criminal justice processes create laws that are direct reflection of values of the population in the society. In most cases, individuals are faced with certain commands that are contrary to the justice and fairness which should prevail in the society. Social antagonism to unfair laws may generate communal customs that can have countervailing effects on permissible interference (Erin, 2003)

References List

Erin, K. (2003). Criminal Justice. 20-68.

Larry, J. (2008). Criminology. 500-510