Criminal Justice

The writings of Alexis de Tocqueville on democracy and prisons, those of Michel Foucault on punishment and prisons, and those of Emile Durkheim on deviance neatly sum up the challenges, contradictions, and controversies with the U.S. Criminal Justice System. Each of these philosophers equated law enforcement, the courts, and crime and corrections as dynamic entities that were a reflection of its cultural institutions and values. In the U.S., the criminal justice system exists to maintain order and to achieve this under the rule of law. The three main components of the criminal justice system (law enforcement, the courts and corrections) are a reflection of American cultural institutions and values. However, in maintaining the rule of law in a democracy the rights of individual citizens and checks upon initiatives of legal officials create a tension between operational consequences of ideas of order, efficiency, and initiative, on one hand and legality on the other. Keeping a social construction perspective of the criminal justice system and the inbuilt tension with democratic systems of justice in mind, this analysis will use the work of Johnson, Crank, and Feeley to discuss three current trends in the criminal justice system that threaten its credibility and stability. These three trends are: the distancing of police from the communities they serve, including increasing racial tensions; th

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o deeply felt sentiments within a society” (15). Like Crank traces social changes that changed perspectives and values with respect to law enforcement, so Feeley demonstrates that changes in American politics and society bring change to the court system. For example, he discusses how applying Constitutional Law to the lower courts and appointing court attorneys for virtually every offense that might end in jail time for defendants as possible reasons for court inefficiency and not increased caseload. Further, he argues that the theory of situated action guides most courtroom proceedings rather than standard rules of law and democracy. Situated action is the context in which courtroom proceedings occur, “the complex character of the immediate situation. The specific act of the defendant, his or her character and background, the organizational constraints and historical patterns of the court, and the nature of the lawyers all contribute to actions and outcomes deeply responsive to local contexts” (Feeley xvii). In other words, Feeley is arguing that while there may be rules, regulations, laws and procedures in place, the situational context plays an even larger rule in determining actions and outcomes. This is why it is criti
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2401
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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