Leaders of Criminal Justice Agencies - Case Study Example

Leaders of Criminal Justice Agencies/Organizations Introduction The criminal justice system is a vast field encompassing all the works of the agencies and organizations working in collaboration to bring the criminals to justice (Hess, Orthmann & Cho, 2012). The police officers, lawyers, and the court and correctional systems constitute the broad category that is criminal justice agencies. However, a cause of concern is the establishment of the statistics from the Bureau of Justice, which reflects that 7.3 million people are either in the prison or on parole or probation in the United States (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). A notable observation in this course for the justice agencies is the statistic that persons of color face disproportionate representation and treatment in this group. Notably, with all the vast population of the correctional facilities, as well as, the evidence of the variances in percentages of the disparity between the incarcerated minority populations, the key questions arise accordingly. Such is the question whether all the people from varied ethnicities receive equal treatment when it comes to the unit of law enforcement and the courtroom (Rapping, 2014). Defining the problem The issue of inequality among the varied races constituting the American population remains a matter of national concern and urgency. Evidently, the stretch of the issue is reflecting in the criminal justice system accordingly, a factor that the leaders of the criminal justice agencies and organizations need to reflect upon in order to restore the confidence in justice among the populations. As a leadership issue, it concerns the vast leadership entities, including the management and leadership of the various criminal justice systems (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2007). The leadership ought to factor the issue and approach it accordingly from the understanding of evidence and data analysis from the figures gathered in the course of the problem. It is notable that the prison population in the United States does correspond to the civilian population composition at all. The course is evident from the evidence reflected from the 2009 statistics, which depicted that 12.1 percent of the whole United States populace is composed of the black people. However, the statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which is an agency in the criminal justice system, reported that of all the prison populations, 38.9 percent of the prison population is black inmates (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). The same report depicted that 57.6 percent of the inmates is white, in comparison to the total civilian population composition, in which the whites make 79.6 percent (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). Thus, evidently, comparing the ratios from the analytical perspective, there are too many black inmates compared to their corresponding civilian population composition. This racial disparity raises the entire context of the controversial question bordering the criminal justice agencies and organizations. The question of the problem is why the racial disparity does not reflect equality. The course of the thesis is thus, there is inequality in the application of law from the enforcement agency, as well as, aspects of discrimination from the judicial system, evidently leading to the result in the correctional facilities. The trend in the American criminal justice system reflects accordingly that incarceration rates have quadrupled since the 1980s to date. Moreover, the United States, which constitutes 5% of the world population, evidently has 25% of the world prison population (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). However, the sentencing disparities with respect to race remains the issue of concern, a factor that the leadership of the criminal justice agencies and organizations need to reflect upon accordingly, and establish measures for turning the beliefs entailed about the system. The system reflects from Bureau of Justice that African Americans constitute nearly one million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated people in the prisons (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). Further, quantitative research establishes that the rate of incarcerating the African American people is nearly six times the rate of whites’ incarceration. Further, if the course of the African American incarceration followed same ratio as that of the whites, then the total population of the prisons in America would reduce by about 50%, leading to reduced prison populations (Tarver, Walker & Wallace, 2012). However, the trends in the course of this worrying trend continue to impair the reputation of the criminal justice agencies, with regard to the treatment towards the varied ethnicities. The disparity is evidence of issues of discrimination on the basis of color. Consequently, the evidence of the problem reflects accordingly that the leadership in the criminal justice agencies needs to establish countermeasures that manage the issue at hand. Further, decision-making is a core concept in this issue; hence, the evidence of the vast disparities as entailed in the problem. Identifying the Criteria Like any other organization, the state and local criminal agencies and organizations must cope accordingly with the issues that emerge from organizational management that infringe on the course of activity of the agencies (Hess, Orthmann & Cho, 2012). As such, organizational management ought to establish and employ a given management style to allow it achieves the objective. In this case, the course for the criminal justice agencies is to facilitate crime prevention, adjudication of the criminal offenses as well as, ensure the punishment of the offenders. Consequently, the leadership should engage the varied management styles in place and apply them accordingly to law enforcement agencies, the criminal courts, as well as, the correctional facilities. In approaching the context of the issue, the racial disparity is evidently a conceptualization of the varied mental formulations regarding either race. Thus, the decision support system in the criminal justice system needs to factor the notions and beliefs held by the agencies and organizations regarding the groups that are at the reception of the discrimination. A key suggestion is the use of the management theory as outlined by Frederick Taylor, which outlines the scientific management (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). This system for decision-making emphasizes the need to establish a routine for the varied tasks and approach to the appropriate job assignments based on the skill and ability as well as data and analysis of the same (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). Thus, in this system, the aspect of data and analysis is remarkably significant, a factor that will boost the organizational output of the criminal justice agencies, guiding against the varied occurrences and engagements, which are contrary to the established beliefs regarding the problem of discrimination along ethnic confines. Weighing the Criteria The issue at hand is highly sensitive considering it reflects on the course of handling the responsibilities of the criminal justice agencies. The agencies and organizations are under the legal confines that they should deliver service to the populations without discrimination or favor towards any party, particularly with regards to ethnic alignments. Further, the subject of equality remains most notable in the course of the problem under redress in this discussion (Rapping, 2014). Therefore, formulating a system of addressing the leadership concern and activity of the agencies is essential. Notably, the scientific management approach emphasizes the use of data and analysis to arrive at a decision or conclusion. Thus, reflecting on the conceptualization that is discrimination, this system of decision support will effectively and adequately engage the problem. This is evident from the conceptualization of the evidence of discrimination from the ethnic alignments. For instance, statistics indicates that only 2.6 million African Americans report using illicit drugs, compared to 14 million whites that use illicit drugs. However, the concern arises when the bureau reports that despite there being a five times as many whites as African Americans using drugs, the rate of incarceration of the African Americans is for drug offences is ten times the rate of whites incarceration (Guthrie, 2015). Thus, it is evident that social conceptualization regarding the African American race is key in the course of the issue. However, with the establishment of the given course of measures to address the issue of concern, the scientific management theory will adequately manage the crisis. Notably, the theory emphasizing on data and analysis will imply in this context that he criminal justice agencies should act on basis of established and profound evidence and satisfactory analysis of this evidence, rather than concluding a case at face value (Guthrie, 2015). The hierarchical organization of the criminal justice organizations gives the leadership a notable role in addressing the problem entailed, a factor that the decision support system in scientific management employs accordingly. Thus, this system will facilitate the formulation of measures to support the course in the fight against the disparities entailed in the criminal justice system towards the African American populations in the country. Alternatives In view of the evidence in relation to the problem entailed in the criminal justice agencies, the context of the issue also covers the human aspects. Thus, an alternative approach to the proposal of the scientific management is the use of the human relations system. The human relations system of management is deviant of the human resource management and entails a different approach from the scientific management approach. In this alternative, the human relations system realizes the source of the issue as emanating from the people in the agencies (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). The issue is a result of the morale, values, feelings and beliefs of the people in the criminal justice agencies. The human relations approach is rather participatory; a factor that gives it considerable strengths, considering that legislation already exists outlawing the practice of discrimination against individuals because of their race. However, the criminal justice system exercise this discrimination, easily arresting the African Americans even when they are innocent and condemning them without evidence, all due to the personal values feelings and beliefs of the officers in charge (Guthrie, 2015). However, with the proper mechanisms to guide the values and feelings of the officers, this will aid accordingly in making the facilitators of justice in the agencies to approach the issue from a sober perspective. Consequently, the unfair judgments passed on the people from the African American race will reduce, leading to decrease in the rates of incarceration of the blacks in United States (Guthrie, 2015). The disadvantage of this approach is that it conflicts with the aspect of hierarchical culture, whereas most of the criminal justice agencies including the police and correctional agencies rely on a chain of command. Nonetheless, the realization of the employee values and beliefs will adequately manage the challenge that is discrimination against the African Americans in the pursuit of justice in the criminal justice agencies. Another alternative to consider is the use of the systems management, which in its conceptualization requires a holistic view of the organizational leadership (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). This system requires the management of the personnel as well as the organizational knowledge. This system realizes the complexity entailed in the modern organizational processes, hence, it calls for organizations to act based on the information and data it has access to in the case (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). A successful approach will engage the varied components in coordination, with respect to the differences in specialization and role of action. Thus, with respect to criminal justice agencies, this system will apply accordingly since the agencies exhibit this approach. The course will see the police agency act in independence while the court system and correctional facilities all act in independence. Consequently, the bias against ethnicity that may be evident in the police agency will into affect the decision taken in the court system. Consequently, this separation of functions and approach to cases will adequately manage the course of the leadership of the criminal justice agencies in administering equality with regard to the issue if discrimination. Conclusion The issue of discrimination against the African American population remains evident despite the formulation of legal frames for addressing the issue. The criminal justice agencies are such functional units that propagate the issue in vast aspects, a factor that requires a change in approach from the leadership of the agencies (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2007). Consequently, adopting a different system of management of the agencies will evidently raise a considerable solution to the issue that is the discriminative treatment of the African Americans as being more susceptible to committing a crime. Thus, the scientific management approach, as well as the systems approach is remarkably considerable alternatives to employing in addressing the problem entailed in the criminal justice agencies. References Allen, J. M., & Sawhney, R. (2010). Administration and management in criminal justice: A service quality approach. Los Angeles: Sage. Guthrie Ferguson, A. (2015). Big Data And Predictive Reasonable Suspicion. University Of Pennsylvania Law Review, 163(2), 327-410. Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. M. H., & Cho, H. L. (2012). Introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning. Rapping, J. A. (2014). Retuning Gideons Trumpet: Telling the Story in the Context of Todays Criminal-Justice Crisis. Texas Law Review, 92(5), 1225-1240. Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D. B., & Klofas, J. (2007). Criminal justice organizations: Administration and management. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Tarver, M., Walker, S., & Wallace, H. (2012). Multicultural issues in the criminal justice system. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Read More