Criminal Justice Trends Narrative Essay
It is important for us to understand past, current, and future trends throughout the criminal justice system. Trends allow us to identify areas that need to be addressed so we may be equipped to handle them better. Society depends of the criminal justice system in many ways to offer them a sense of justice, safety, and peace of mind. Within this paper I will discuss past, current, and future trends and how it affects and changes our criminal justice system.
I will also address recent and future trends and contemporary issues that affect the criminal justice system, as well as the values of the criminal justice system in a changing society. Past Trends Even though to most it may not seem like it, the criminal justice system has come a long way in its dealings with the public. In the past the criminal justice system was viewed as a faceless machine that acted independently of the areas it charged to look after.
It seemed that it was better to stay detached from the public in order to remain biased in their judgment and to keep their professional appearance. By studying past trends we not only were able to see trends in criminal behavior as well as having the ability to try and create possible projections on why it could lead but, we were also able to view the interaction between the criminal justice system and those it served. Both the criminal justice system and the general public realized the need for cooperation between the two to better the results.
Society has always and will always be changing and it is only through ongoing efforts and partnerships within the community that the criminal justice system can stay informed and better understand how to combat criminal trends. By understanding trends in the past and considering how certain criminal events began and where they are now, the criminal justice system has been able to gain a wealth of knowledge about illegal activity and how different attempts to control or stop the actions have worked or failed.
By examining the patterns of criminal activity and looking at the response is to the different tactics used to prevent them the criminal justice system can actually derive betters means to control possible criminal growth or be better suited to handle the events as they arise. Current Trends There are many current trends that the criminal justice system faces as far as criminal activity is concerned. Increased violence and drug related offences are just two of the many obstacles that they face. Another trend that is developing is the public’s move towards privatized protection.
There are a growing number of individuals and families that have begun seeking out more protection than what is offered by the local police department. Residents prefer to now have their own security in place something that is gear specifically towards them. I do not feel that this move comes from distrust in the criminal justice system to fulfill the task however, with the growing relationship being developed between communities and law enforcement now see what challenges the local law enforcement agencies have to overcome on a daily basis. With this in mind, the public has begun to move to the privet sector for personal and home security.
Moving to gated communities in order to restrict traffic into their neighborhoods as well as neighbors coming together to employ security guards is a sure sign that the public sees that the growing challenges of law enforcement are causing them to strain their resources very thin in order to keep up with criminal activities over large areas. They also realize that regular patrols in their neighborhoods for long periods is something that many local law enforcement agencies can no longer provide so, many other areas have started working with the police departments to form neighborhood watches.
This is a program that brings communities together with the common goal of protecting their neighborhood and their families. Home security systems, cameras and motion detecting lights around the home, fences, gated communities, privet security and patrols, neighborhood watches, and building community awareness along with the local law enforcement agencies have been beneficial to law enforcement in cutting down the amount of activity in small neighborhoods and communities allowing them to focus on other areas as well as having the advantage of having extra eyes and ears in several different areas.
Future Trends As the growing demands of crimes continue to over burden law enforcement, we will continue to see the utilization of privet sector security by the public. Future trends can often be seen and planned for by following trends from the past and present. For example; (past drug trend) drugs are easy to manufacture and move making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to control. Current drug trend) drugs are still easy to manufacture and the demand has steadily increased making it very difficult for law enforcement agencies to control. (Possible predicted future trend? ) Drugs continue to grow presenting an ever growing and evasive element for law enforcement agencies to try and control. By following the trend we can see that drugs are going to continue to grow but, this shows us that it will take a continuing effort and therefore plans can be put into action now to aid in future the future growth.
