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Criminal Justice annotated Bibliography
Criminal Justice annotated Bibliography
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Gottschalk, P. (2011). Police Misconduct and Crime: A Gender Study of Crime Types From Court Cases Professional Issues in Criminal Justice 6 (3 & 4), 75-86.
The research is to study the conduct of the Norwegian police, who have a bad conduct and engage in corrupt activities. The police take bribes and use unnecessary force to make the suspects confess to the charges. The research also analyses the various motives of the crime by the offenders, and the relationship between the offenders and their education level.The other aim of the paper is to highlight the various crimes committed by the police, which include sexual abuse, taking bribes, extortion, corruption, and many others.
The researcher of the paper is petter Gottschalk, a professor at the Norwegian school in Oslo. The paper studies the nature of crimes in the Norwegian police force and the number of police officers and civilians involved in committing the crimes. The other issue studied is the comparison between the number of crimes committed by the male and the female officers and civilians in the Norwegian police force. The paper also studies the crimes committed by the officers and the main contributory factor to
the behaviour.
The research findings showed that there are very many crimes committed by the police officers and civilians, especially between the year 2005 and 2010. Majority of the officers who commit crimes are men, and only a few women engaged in the criminal activities. Out of the 60 officers who faced prosecution, 52 were men while 8 were women. Education level is a contributory factor to the number, and the nature of the crimes committed.
The findings are logical since the researcher conducted the research in which he collected data from the police statistical office recorded between 2005 and 2010. The conclusion is logical since the researcher uses the data collected to conclude his work, such as the number of women offenders are very few, and their crimes are the less serious like theft. It is also true that education influences the behaviour of the police officers. More research is necessary to curb the misbehaviour in the police force in the several parts of the world..
Lambert, E. and Hogan, N. (2011). Association between Distributive and Procedural Justice and Life Satisfaction among Correctional Staff: Research Note. Professional Issues in Criminal Justice, 6 (3 & 4), 31-39.
The purpose of the research is to investigate how the procedural and the distributive justice can help shape the correctional staff job satisfaction, stress, and commitment. The other purpose is to find the relationship between the staff education, motivation and age influence correctional staff. The research explored the relationship between the organizational justice and life satisfaction of the staff.
The researchers of the paper were Eric G. Lamber, who is a professor of criminal justice at Wayne State University, and Nancy L. Hogan, who work as the professor at the State University. The two studied the factors that contribute to correctional staff job satisfaction, stress, and commitment to the organization. The factors included education level, age, level of motivation, and the procedural justice. The research took place in the Maximum Security State Prison, Midwest, where they interviewed all the 600 staff on the matters concerning their job, in which the rate of response to the questionnaires was 67 percent. The analysis was by the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences by the use descriptive statistics.
The results showed a correlation between the job motivation, procedural correction, reduced stress and satisfaction of the staff. As the staff ages, life satisfaction reduces while the education level determines the correctional staff life satisfaction. The organizational justice increases the life satisfaction of the staff in the prison and creates the atmosphere where everyone feels motivated.
The results are very logical as the researchers carried out the research and interviewed the staff to find the stress levels, motivation and the staff correction. The researchers analysed the results and came up with reliable results. The conclusion is sound as it gives the summary of the research findings carried out on the Maximum Security State Prison, Midwest. The research gives a conclusion based on an analysis of the staff, in which most of them responded to the questions touching on the study area.
Criminal Justice Administration. Arguments for Keeping the Jails in Public Hands
Criminal Justice Administration
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Introduction
With the rise of population and the instances of crimes that warrant mandatory imprisonment and confinement, there has been a challenge to the government to manage its correctional facilities. The challenges emanates not only from the high inmates population influx and budget restrictions but also from the emerging challenges and dynamism in the correctional processes that is geared towards need for rehabilitation as opposed to punishments and provision of quality services. As such, there have been several reforms aimed at enhancing the service delivery processes in the correctional facilities such as guidance and counseling , educational, treatments and training. The limited resources and need to offer specialized services efficiently however gave rise to recognition of private correctional facilities as a means to supplement the public based facilitates. The debate however has been based on the legality, efficiency and possible benefits or challenges of such kind of arrangements. As such, the protagonists have based their arguments on whether or not security sensitive services should be privatized and how the possible legal debacles that may rise from a third party liability and failures be handled.
Arguments for Keeping the Jails in Public Hands
The proponents of the public run correctional facilities argue that the arrangement offers the best way to ensue that the set standards are met and maintained. This is because the government is under obligation to ensure that all the policies and laws relation to construction and management of the prison faculties and the related correctional centers are adhered. This may not be forthcoming from the private arrangements where the profit seeking organizations may compromise the standards if not monitored.
Running of the correctional facilities is a duty of the government that is aimed at ensuring public safety and rehabilitation of the offenders to reform and released them back to the society. According to Austin and Coventry (2001), these are responsibilities which only the government can and should meet so as to avoid the possible legal and political backlashes. As such this is an obligation that is continuous, given that the crime rate is on the rise and the prisons getting overcrowded. Since the government cannot cease to exist, it is correct to argue that the correctional facilities should remain under public administration. For example, the bankruptcy of the privately run facilities may lead to a disastrous outcome such as prisoners being left Scot free by protesting employees whose wages have not paid due to financial problems. Though there may be some arrangements with the private sector such as provision of hedges to safeguard against bankruptcy, it is not guaranteed that the corrupt public officials may not conceal the financial status of a private firm. At the same time, Markey failures may result into collapse of the firms such as regulatory weaknesses as the case of the credit crunch in the mortgage industry. At the same time, there are many hidden costs which only the government may be able to deal with such as medical expenses for the prisoners (Raher, 2002). However, the government may not go bankrupt, generally, as it has many ways of raising funds and redistributing wealth.
The government also has massive resources to train and equip the prison’s security details with the best skills and materials. As such, the security of the inmates and the public would be guaranteed. Further, such capacities gives the publicly run facilities ability to handle both low and high security threat convicts. Since the public correctional services are offered as a public good, there is no profit motive behind it so that the government would not use the opportunity to seek monetary gains. However, if private arrangements are made, there is a possibility of provider’s collusion in the market thus hike the fees. Though this may be avoided through contractual agreements, if demand surpasses supply , the private bodies may gang up to increase feed during contract renewal or renegotiation processes.
Overcrowding of the public correctional facilities is a major challenge that comes with the insistence on the public run facilities. As a result, the convicts are subject to inhumane conditions that is not only degrading but also health compromising. For example, by 2006, in Alabama, the public prisons had a double capacity of prisoners (Johnson, 2006). The other challenge is budget restrictions due to many competing projects that require government funding. This means that less than the required amount of money may be allocated to prisons reforms.
Arguments for Turning the Correctional System over To the Private Correctional Industry
A major benefit of correctional system privatization is that there is possibility for coming up with innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the public administration. The private sector though research and development is known to be very innovative and result oriented. Through this, there is possibility of efficiency and delivery of the services though decentralized decision making processes that is devoid of the executive bureaucracies. The efficiency that is generated from the private sector services would be beneficial to the public and the economy. This is because there would be cost savings in the process (Maahs & Pratt, 1999). As such, the money saved by the exchequer can be used to enhance the development of other sectors of the criminal justice system. This is because under the private arrangement the private investors will be required to manage, build and finance the facilities based on the contractual agreements with the government(Theroux, 1998). Put differently, the government can only outsource the services after a preliminary study, to determine if there is possibility of cost savings. According to Theroux (1998), by privatizing the facilities, it is estimated the cost savings that accrue to the government range between 5-10% , with California , for example realizing between USD 155 million and USD 310 Million reduction in operation al costs of running the public correctional facilities. Emphatically Price (2005), argues that because of the fiscal stress due to high costs of running the correctional facilities, privatization has offered the best way to deal with the challenges.
The other benefit of privatization is that there is possibility of separation of hard core from non hardcore criminals. It is believed that the public correctional facilities that mixes all types of criminals may have counterproductive results as the prisoner may learn the tricks of committing crime and beating the justice system from the seasoned gangsters. As such, the private services offer the best alternative for this challenge given that they may specialize on the services to offer. This way, it is possible to separate non violent from violent criminals and the auspice of alterative imprisonment (Theroux, 1998). According to Wagner (n.d), some prisoners may too violent and need specialized handling as well as elaborate security measures. Further, the private correctional facilities offer a solution to the overcrowding and congestions that characterize the public facilities. As such, the private arrangements that are backed with legislated policies not only help to keep the criminals away from the rest of the society but also helps to amicably address the ‘prison and jail crowding problems’ (Johnson, 2006).
However, privatization of the prisons comes with several challenges. The major challenge that the private sector may face is need to breakeven so as to remain afloat. By attempting to reduce the costs and have a wider margin of net benefits, it is likely that the intended quality of the services may be compromised. This will beat the very logic of the privatization. it is also costly to put up the facilities and raise funds for the same. This challenge is also perpetuated by the fact that there are very many conditions required to be met before an organization gets the government’s approval. Security issues are also a challenge as the private investors must acquire the modern facilities and equipment needed to boost their security. The process to privatize the prisons has also been challenging on the grounds that it may lead to job losses. This is because the private sector may have a lean staff. As such the move has been opposed by several trade unions in the public sector.
Legal issues (criminal and civil)
Before privatization there is need to take into account certain legal issues. First, there is need to enact laws that governs the process so that it becomes more organized and legal. There should be clearly defined criminal offence in relation to the deal so that the penalties that can be imposed upon erection of illegal facilities or failure to adhere to the standards are well stipulated.
The other legal issues relate to handling of the clients and running of the faculties. According to Johnson (2006), there issues relating to the ‘minimum standards in inmate treatment’ that has to be adhered to by all the institutions. As such, before privatization takes place, the government needs to outline how the prisoners should be treated, the access given to outsiders to the facilities and the services to be offered. The criminal and civil issues relating to failure to adhere to such requirements and conditions for privatization should be spelt out before an arrangement is made so that necessary steps can be taken against the firms or private organizations which go against the spirit of correction and rehabilitation of the clients.
References
Austin, J. & Coventry, G. (2001). Emerging issues Privatized prisons . Retrieved August
15, 2010, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf.
Johnson, K., A. (2006). What to Do About the Prison Problem? The Pros and Cons of
Privatized Prisons in Alabama. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from
HYPERLINK “http://www.alabamapolicy.org/pdf/prison.pdf” http://www.alabamapolicy.org/pdf/prison.pdf.
Price, B. (2005). Do economic factors explain prison privatization. Retrieved August 15,
2010, from HYPERLINK “http://soc.kuleuven.be/io/performance/paper/WS1/WS1_Byron%20Price.pdf” http://soc.kuleuven.be/io/performance/paper/WS1/WS1_Byron%20Price.pdf.
Raher, S. (2002).Private Prisons and Public Money Hidden Costs Borne by Colorado’s
Taxpayers. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.afscme.org/docs/colorado.pdf.
Theroux, D. (1998). California Prisons and Corrections: The Benefits from Privatization .
Retrieved August 15, 2010, from HYPERLINK “http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=472\” http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=472
Maahs, J. & Pratt, T. (1999). Are private prisons more cost-effective than public prisons?
A meta-analysis of evaluation research studies Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 45, No. 3.
Wagner, J. (n.d). ail & Prison techniques used by U.S. Correctional Facilities. Retrieved
August 15, 2010, from http://www.jimwagnertraining.com/images/Jail_and_prison_techniques.pdf.
Criminal Justice A summary and comparison and contrast of The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice by Aaron Victor Cicoure
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Criminal Justice: A summary and comparison and contrast of The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice by Aaron Victor Cicourel and Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs by Richard A. Cloward, and L.E. Ohlin
Introduction
The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs are two separate books on criminal justice that may differ to a great extent while they also remain to bear an extent of similarity. Notably, the point of focus of the first text is how juvenile justice is socially organized. On the other hand, the second text deals with the relationship between delinquency and opportunity viz-a-vis delinquent gangs. Yet all the two texts extensively handle causes of crime in the society, the specifics of organized crime, structures set to deal with crime and the overall outcome of the interplay between crime, legal structures, and the system of delivering criminal justice.
A summary of Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs by Richard and Lloyd
In summary, Richard and Lloyd use eight chapters within 232 pages to deliver what makes up the book Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs. In chapter one, they deal with the topic of Delinquent Subcultures. Within this topic, focus is made on the relationship between deviance and delinquency, what makes up delinquent acts and how these acts relate to delinquent subcultures, delinquent norms and the variation and scattering trends of delinquent subcultures (Cloward and Lloyd 1-27). In chapter two, they make a focus on questions that must be answered by theories seeking to explain deviance, its causes and effects. In these, they make further focus on points where pressure originates that pushes individuals into deviating from normative behavior. Further, they review two important issues in these facets which include how delinquent subcultures have evolved, the changes they have witnessed and how persistent they have remained over the years (31-43).
Although both chapters three and four majorly focus on theories, it is noteworthy that the former specifically handles current theories of delinquent subcultures while the latter deals with theories related to goals, norms and anomies. This is the reason Masculine identification and delinquent subcultures, adolescent and delinquent subcultures, lower class culture and delinquent subcultures are among the topics handled in chapter three. On the other hand, chapter four focuses on Durkheim and Merton’s theories in relation to goal regulation, the values of success in the American society and the barriers that hinder legitimacy and success (47-104). With specific concentration on delinquent subcultures, chapters five and six elaborate their evolution and relation to illegitimate means. In chapter five, the techniques of defense are contrasted against guilt with solution generation and decision making processes all being viewed in individual and collective perspectives. Ultimately, the processes through which groups and individuals alienate themselves into delinquency are also examined (108-139). In chapter six, there is an overall evaluation hypotheses related to differential opportunity, learning structures, illegitimate opportunities and social societal organization (144-159).
The seventh chapter of the book is centered on the differentiation and explanation of different subcultures. Ideally, it groups delinquent subcultures into three major categories which include criminal, conflict, and retreatist subcultures. It distinctly exemplifies each of these subcultures and expounds the relationship link among them (161-178). Lastly, the eighth chapter has major focus on how delinquent subcultures have persisted or changed in the past. In a double ended perspective, it reviews patterns of persistence as well as patterns of change (187-193). In summary, this book attempts to review and unravel all the issues related to gang behavior and delinquency. In this sense, it travels from opportunities that prompt delinquency, the process of crime commission, gang and individual psychology, and the effects as well as possible controls for delinquency.
A summary of The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice by Cicourel
The other text The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice by Cicourel, there is a different approach but which is also made within eight chapters. In attempting to demystify how juvenile justice is organized, Cocourel takes us through a comprehensive travel of theories relating to juvenile justice, those of delinquency and their relationship with the rule of law, controversies in how social organizations are depicted in the society, law enforcement agencies and their practices and ultimately a close review of various court hearings.
Chapters one and two of the book majorly focus on theories and the rule of law. In these chapters, Cicourel seeks to explain issues like objectification and verification of theories and the fact that the reality of knowledge of everyday activities applies in such processes. He moves on to define all the primary issues that relate to theories in juvenile justice and then places a specified perspective on the relationship between theories of delinquency and the rule of law (Cicourel 1-57). Using specific statistics and progressive analysis, Cicourel manages to present the rates at which delinquency takes place in the society. There is the link between these rates, established institutions in the society and the whole societal setup in terms of organizational setting (58-110).
In chapter four, emphasis is laid on the different ways in which social organization occurs in the society and how each of such organizations develop conversational depictions of juvenile justice (111-169). Chapter five reviews the law enforcement agencies that mostly involve in juvenile justice. Examples of these include the police and officials in the court systems among others. Comprehensively, the common practices such agencies engage in, especially when they interact with juvenile justice are also reviewed in a detailed way in this chapter (170-242).
The author makes a tentative shift to do a specific analysis of a group within the society in chapter six. This is the middle class in the society with the specification of middle income families. Practices related to law enforcement, how they relate to, and how they affect the middleclass are analyzed keenly and in detail at this point (292-326). Before finalizing the book, the author presents a number of court hearings with which a number of negotiations of dispositions are indicated. After this, he presents the concluding remarks on the book.
Comparison and contrast of The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs
There are quite a number of commonalities found in these two books. First, it is worth noting that both the texts are on criminal justice and summarily present the problems brought about by crime and the processes of remediating such problems. Again, it is identifiably notable that both the texts start by disambiguating various theories that affect crime. In The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice, this is covered in chapter two as Theoriesof delinquency and the rule of law. In a similar way, Delinquency and Opportunity: A Study of Delinquent Gangs has this presented in chapters two and three as Questions a theory must answer and Some current theories of delinquent subcultures.
It is true that both the texts touch on delinquency, however, topical coverage differs greatly. While delinquency and gang behavior remains the major point of focus in Cloward and Lloyd’s text, the book by Cicourel touches on delinquency as part of the social organization of juvenile justice which is its topic of coverage. This is even more evident by the fact that the former goes into detail and gives a comprehensive analysis of subcultures of delinquency in different perspectives while the latter does not. In its review, the latter also does a specific detailed analysis of a societal category which is the middle income families, an element that is conspicuously missing in the former.
In a closer perspective, the text Delinquency and Opportunity a Study of Delinquent Gangs presents to the society the major perspective that issues like inequality and unemployment can be real causes of crime. And that it is negatively or positively that opportunities will be used escalate crime or reduce it and better the lives of youths and other citizens. This is however after a comprehensive analysis of the crime causative factors. On the other hand, The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice could be considered an effective redefinition of contemporary criminology. This is because Cicourel uses new theory and methodological approaches in defining how various facets of juvenile justice are organized.
In a way, there is thorough research done in this book as it proves that delinquency is not evenly distributed in the society but occasioned by various events and causes. In reviewing the pressures that play part in this, he analyses how schools, the police, courts and officials, probation officers, and other institutions play part in deviance. In sum, both the texts, though similar and different in various ways, are quite comprehensive, well researched and relevant to students and practitioners in criminal justice.
Works Cited
Cloward, Richard A., and Lloyd E. Ohlin. Delinquency and Opportunity A Study of Delinquent Gangs. United Kingdom, London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Cicourel, Aaron Victor. The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice. New York, NY: Wiley, 1995. Print.