US Law, Enforcement and Corrections - Coursework Example

Us Law, Enforcement and Corrections

Police discretion

Police discretion refers to the process whereby the police officers have freedom to execute their duties involving the right to choice or judgment. Police officers faces difficulties when it comes to criminal investigation, thus, according to (Gill et al., 2014) the police, at the very micro level can choose from wide range of decisions; whether to search, investigate, bring into judgment, arrest or prosecute. Police discretion entails the aspects of common law pervasion that takes into account the systems that describes the criminal justice at every stage. The criminal justice cases include; arresting the criminals, giving prosecution, trial and finally sentencing an individual. However the execution of police discretion may face contrast by the legal principles that call for the limitation of discretion in the civil law societies.

Discretion is a powerful tool that enables the police officers to enforce law with an aim of maintaining societal order. This reason, legitimacy process calls for the efforts of the police to abide to legal standards in pursuit to their actions. Through legitimacy lawfulness is being practiced and therefore the police officers finds it permissible to guard the people’s rights to liberty, property, intrusion and ensure that there is equal and just treatment to all members of the society . Discretion plays a critical role in the American society, that is, in at least every face of criminal law, there is a reason to put into practice this system of law enforcement. For instance, the criminal justice organization of the United States allows the use of discretion by the judges, prosecutors, police, parole officers and other criminal investigators. The law is put into practice at a very primary level whereby the police normally referred as the ‘gate keepers’, determines which law action to take according to the situation on the ground and whether the decision is within the predefined laws and rules. The action should also be appropriate and in line with professional response.

Control mechanisms available in police discretion

Discretion is the basis of the criminal justice system; therefore, it is only effective when the public opinion does not limit the potential of the criminal justice organization to make rightful decision among other possible courses of action (Alarid, 2016). The authoritative power given to the police to act officially and legally in a pursuit to the law is surrounded by a number of control mechanisms that in one way or the other ease the whole discretion process. For instance, the internal control mechanism takes into account all the attempts that the police officers take to address the inappropriate behaviors. The internal control mechanisms allow the police cops to engage in policies and procedures that are legally acceptable in the real world. The police officers strive to work in consistence to maintain peace justice and harmony in the society. However it doesn’t mean that the police officers need to please anyone but to act in accordance to the constitution in bring justice in the society. The operation of the police discretion is guided by the stipulated guidelines whereby the police officers are required to report any mischievous acts to the concerned authorities so as to provide appropriate course of action.

External control mechanisms are primarily the agencies, departments or individuals who may or may not clearly understand the role of the police in taking the discretion acts. The external control mechanism can be achieved through providing the public civilian review boards, court orders as well as legislative oversights that enables the people to understand the entire process of discretion (Schulenberg, 2015).Control by citizen is achieved by civilian review boards whereby the citizens are required to highest disciplines of the police, get satisfactory response on the complaints filed against the police officers as well as giving the administrators the feedback from the citizens on the other side, the legislative control mechanisms considers the process of law enactment, allocation of funds and giving legislative insights to the concerned personalities.

Ideologies of utilitarianism and deontological ethics

Utilitarianism

The famous theory of utilitarianism was developed in two centuries ago in the Great Britain by t great minds; Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The utilitarianism is classified as a consequential theory that states; the morality of an action is judged by the consequences the action will yield (Alon, 2017).All actions are held to a specific end, and therefore for every act, the victim should match with every character to the end, and the judgment will be based on what the person was engaged in. the positivity of this theory lies on the fact that the moral action produces productive ethics while the immoral actions yields the negative consequences. Having that this theory sticks to morality of our actions and the consequences that come along, the utilitarian defines the moral actions as those that bring happiness while the immoral ones as those that brings us pain and suffering. The intensity and duration of pain or happiness depends on the magnitude of the action taken.

The utilitarianism theory have it that they perfectly found the happiness principal that defines the morality of a society by those activities that increase the amount of pleasure and completely reduces the amount of pain caused to others. Relevantly, in the criminal justice organizations, this theory is justified in that; the police officers are being paid to protect the members of the community. The thieves, rapists and any other person said to bring pain to the society; in this case, the police contribute to increasing happiness and pleasure by arresting he criminals and judging them on the immoral acts they had engaged in. However, on the other side, the utilitarianism justifies the police to arresting and detaining some minor cases though the outcome does not benefit the largest members of the society perfect example to this is arresting a driver who is slightly overdriving to pick her daughter who is late in school. These actions will leave the daughter stranded and anxious while the driver will also be under pressure and stressed over her daughter. Such a pain!

Deontological Ethics

The deontologists have their arguments that the human beings have responsibility to carry on their duties on given occasion despite the consequences. The police officers have a right to execute their duties, for instance giving trafficking tickets even if it means minimum pleasure to the larger portion of the society. The main focus in this ideology is duty, and the scientists have argued that his aspect is what the utilitarianism failed to embrace. Furthermore, have it that it the deontological ethics considers important concepts of morality such as the goodwill to do the right thing and not only looking at the consequences of every action. The criminal justice body therefore should exercise their duty by doing the right thing as the only way of bringing morality to the society (Letwin et al., 2016).

Strategies to improve public perception on law enforcement

The law enforcement leaders can adopt communication strategies to improve public relations trust. Effective communication skills entail aspects of good listening, analyzing situations, positioning ideas, decoding, thinking ahead as well as giving the situation a clear perceptions that define what the work of the police officers. In law enforcement, the field of criminal justice calls for all aspects of interpersonal communication with the members of the public that coincides with the enactment of law. The following communication strategies can be used to improve the public perception towards law enforcement;

Creating community immersion programs whereby the officers are engaged in elevating or embracing the already existing community policing (Crawford, 2017). Also, forming coalitions and partnership with members of the society can significantly assist in reducing tensions that may build as result of negative perception of the police by the members of the community. Involvement of police officers in the community programs and other constructive projects that otherwise could bring the public together thus contributing to community peace building.

The criminal justice should be aware of background cultural diversity. Taking into account these two aspects will make the relationship between the police officers and the community members smooth thus eliminating all aspects of duty misjudgment. It’s clear that the negative attitude the public have towards the officers is due to the treatment they get, which only focuses on the ordinance and statute of law without necessary taking into consideration the issue of background upbringing and cultural diversity. When communicating to people police officers should address the above so that the mingling with people and solving the problems facing the society will be easy.

Use of Transactional Mode of Communication

Officers should minimize the use of line channel communication which is characterized directions and orders to the subordinate and start embracing transactional and active listening whereby the members of the society are engaged. In active listening, the officers can create a good rapport thus getting complains from the society, act on the emergencies and provide the public with a relevant feedback.

Examples of deadly law enforcement incidents

A good example cited and proved that the police went too far is in the case whereby a 25-year-old, Laval, said to be schizophrenic and paranoid was being shot dead by the police officers in. On covering the event, the attorney presiding officer, representing the officers under the brutal matters gives sentiments that the Laval attacked the officers before one of them could open the fire gun

Role of Media in Shaping the Public Perception of Law Enforcement

Mass media plays a critical role in the criminal justice system, by influencing the public perception of the crime, victims, execution of duty by the officers as well as the deviants. Studies have shown that the public gets information about justice and the crime from the media sources. For instance, media devices such as the magazines, televisions programs, and documentaries bring into light, emphasizes, and analyses criminal issues and justice on a daily basis. The knowledge obtained by the public about the law enforcement by the justice organs is greatly derived from the media, and it depends on what the people have watched (Hall et al,2013). Various researchers have argued that some elements of media display police officers as efficient while other studies indicate that they are unenthusiastic. The public picks perception of whatever programs they watch and what they hear from social media about the role of the officers as well as their power execution.

Impact of the community policing ideology on police-community relations

Community policing refers to a policing system whereby the officers are allowed to effect their duties, binding the law and the same time respecting the rights and freedom of the citizens. Community policing involves working with or cooperating with the members of the community, helping them in identify and resolve problems that otherwise causes harm to the society. Community police emphasize on prevention mechanisms, early identification and timely plans that are geared towards dealing with issues that before they become ugly menace (Brogden & Nijhar, 2013). 

Community policing affects the community served under various ways. For example, it helps in reducing crimes thus bringing justice at the societal level. Secondly, community policing provides a platform for the police and the national government system to provide the customers with the satisfactory services. This is made possible because the community policing system allows the criminal justice system to fundamentally reach every member of the society, collect information on the negatives and positives of the system, thus having a clue on what areas to enact and areas not to react.

Thirdly, community policing helps in creating relationship since through this process, organizational adoption has been made easy. The interaction of the police officers with the members of the community giving a chance to proper resource allocation as well as proper management of projects as required by the law. The community is assured of direct touch ensured through community policing since the officers can be deployed to various parts of the society to execute their duties. Also, decisions making becomes inclusive since the opinion of the community members plays a critical role, and in this case, the authoritative nature of the police ring is rendered dysfunctional thus increasing flexibility and diversity.

Additionally, community policing allows the process of problem-solving easy because once he community kinks have been established, it becomes easy for the officers t work with the members of the society thus suggesting positive and vast solutions to the broad spectrum of challenges facing the community members. Progressively, new initiatives are implemented thus giving motivation to the local leaders as they feel ha their opinion counts in the law enforcement agencies.

Challenges to Implementing Community Policing

Despite that community policing have the above advantages to the society, there are some challenges that have been experienced by the officers in the surge of effective service delivery. Some of the challenges facing community policing at the community level include; lack of effective communication on the criminal injustices that has been experienced before, limited flexibility, control and also tailoring at the community level (Braga et al., 2015). Also lack of trust by some members of the neighborhood will suffocate the efforts of community policing. On the side of the police officers, at times they may decide to work independently I the identification and solving of community issues that neglecting the societal opinion and working below the standards of measure. On critical analysis, the members of the community may also develop resistance towards the implementation of the community policing ideas due to the magnitude of the problems that have been experienced before. Other challenges include; the reluctance of the police officers to share information with members of the public and isolation of officers as well as tough working conditions may bring about friction.

The role of sentencing philosophies in administering punishment

The sentencing philosophies have been beneficial in administering punishment to the individuals who go against the criminal justice laws (Hackett, 2016). The sentencing philosophies have five major purposes in the punishment circle; deterring, incapacitation, retribution, and restitution.

Deterring

Deterring helps in preventing the occurrence of the same crime by the defendant or rather the public, shortly. Deterrence can either be specific or general, whereby specific deterrence refers to the punishment accorded to an individual by the government and in real sense it creates a theoretical fear of not committing the same crime in the future because the punishment might be moiré cruel. On the other hands, general deterrence applies to the larger public whereby they are aware of the defendant punishment, and therefore they fear in engaging in a criminal offense which may cause too much burn to the defendant.

Incapacitation

The defendant is removed from the society by ether incarceration, house arrest, execution or even a death penalty.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation plays a role in modifying the behaviors of the defendant. The court may decide to give rehabilitation with a combination of another punishment such as incarceration or probation. This reduces the congestion in the cells and thus lowering future chances of reoffending (Braswell & Fuller, 2014). 

Retribution

Retribution shapes the society by punishing the defendant in a manner that involves removes or reduces an individual desire for egocentric avengement. The members of the society get purely satisfied when they realize that an individual has been punished for the crime he/she committed. Faith for the criminal justice bodies us the restored because people have believed in the court's system.

Restitution

This is the situation whereby the defendant is called to financially pay the victims the losses he/she caused. The loss, in this case, might be physical property or equivalent to a given amount of cash. Depending on the court ruling, the financial fine might be for the cost of criminal prosecution or even punishment.

Impact of Sentencing Philosophical Evolution on Correctional Agencies

The evolution of philosophical sentencing has impacted the correctional agencies in different ways. For instance, the perception of everyone is equal under the law has been proven otherwise that not all are equal before justice. This has been applicable in the correctional agencies whereby every case is being treated according to the weight it bears. When, for example, police officers arrest an individual a process of law enforcement, the victims either judged on mens rea or actus rues meaning that the act being judged upon should rhyme with eh state of mind of conduct respectively (Braswell & Fuller, 2014). This pursuit gives the correctional agencies a functional tool or platform to base their judgment and thus finding a perfect course to follow.

Risks that caused by the deviants to the correctional employees

The role of correctional employees is to ensure that the individual deviants are under correctional entire and that they adhere to the law. The correctional method administered to the inmates and the enforcement of law works in nature, and by chance, the officers engaging with the deviant people may slip into their traps due to the compromised situations they get themselves locked in. For instance, the police are at risk of getting into gratuity whereby, he/she forced to go against professional ethics in the name of ‘benefits of job (Spencer& Ricciardelli, 2016). This means that the police may compromise for financial favors to fix a crime. At the end of it, he/she is involved in a corruption circle.

Another risk is that an officer might be faced with profanity whereby he /she is forced to use vulgar language because of the working environment or rather the people under his control. The use of abusive and obscene language, such as sexually connected, is considered offensive but in most cases, they are faced with no option because of the work environment and the people they are handling.

Sex on duty is another work-related risks, especially when handling the female and male inmates. When an officer is faced with such a situation, there are high chances of falling into such a trap thus compromising the profession.

How can correctional agencies address employee corruption?

Employees working in the correctional set up have deviated from the norms due to the unethical issues facing them such violence, drug dealing, and bribery. However, there are a number of ways in which the correctional agencies can address the corruption issues facing the employees this reducing criminal injustice and unfairness in the work place. The agencies can set up standards such as code of ethics. Secondly, the agencies should establish rules with standard prohibitions. There should also be trying procedures that should test the police officers who are found under the criminal offense. Another effective strategy is that the correctional board should set up an investigation committee that should do a carry out a thorough search and punish corruption cases that involve the police officers. This should be done carefully and wisely to maintain internal policing as well as retaining the morale employees (Goldsmith & Groves, 2016). Lastly, prudent if the agencies identify and investigate the suspected officers and most importantly carry out background investigation, to find out if the suspect has ever been involved in corruption cases before taking action.