Penal Questions in Election Campaigns - Essay Example

Penal Questions in Election Campaigns

Voters in a political process play a critical role in deciding who to take over the leadership at various levels. All the candidates are vying for political positions regardless of where they are incumbent presenting holding the lead during the election time; they need to available information to the voters. The information about the candidates should be accurate and meaningful so that voters are allowed an opportunity to make well-informed decisions. Voters need to be aware of how a particular candidate is going to do better in various sectors of leadership compared to the other. They also have the right to know if the candidate for the leadership has the requisite or essential qualities to be who they want to be. This includes illustrating that they have integrity, understanding of the law, free from bias to allow the fair application of law and make decisions that reflect the value of fairness and justice. In the United States and the United Kingdom, political campaigns provide an opportunity for voters to understand their candidates. An important aspect of these campaigns involves asking penal questions as a significant way to understand better the criminal and the legal qualifications of the candidates. This paper examines the significance of penal questions in the election campaigns in the UK and the US and whether it is always regretted.

In article II, the framers of the constitution included the requirements for one to be eligible to run for the presidency. This involves checking the criminal and intelligence background of the candidates, including their position on the legal and criminal issues affecting the country. As a result, media, voters, and other personalities ask penal questions to the candidates during especially during the election campaigns (Park and Lartey, 2020). These questions have played a significant role in the election campaigns in the UK and the US. The criminal justice system of the two countries has undergone tremendous changes following the steps undertaken by the leadership of these countries. Over the years, the US, in particular, has faced a lot of criticism of what has been referred to as the lack of commitment to justice and making reforms in the criminal justice system (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Therefore, the focus on penal questions during the election campaigns allows candidates to show their plans on how they would help strengthen the criminal justice system.

Penal questions on strengthening the criminal justice system in the US and UK have often come out during the election campaigns. Candidates have often been taken to task to express their plans on how to lower the rate of incarceration in the country. The United Nations in 2016 filed a special report which indicated that in the United States, there are about 100,000 people who are confined on any given day and some end up spending over a year in jail (Dharia et al. 2020). The issue of incarceration is fundamental in any election period as candidates are asked about what they will have to do to ensure that justice is found.

For example, currently, the United States is about to hold its elections, and the competing presidential candidates have both faces penal questions on the criminal justice system. When faced with the penal questions concerning the criminal justice system, the presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, were taken to task. Joe Biden, in his response, has indicated that he is committed to strengthening America’s justice and reform the criminal justice system (Park and Lartey, 2020). Biden indicated that he is focused on reducing the level of incarceration in the country as well as crime reduction. The candidate has proposed that people using the drug should not be incarcerated but subjected to treatment instead. Trump, on his part, has indicated on protecting the American communities and the rights of all Americans (Park and Lartey, 2020). Thus, the penal questions asked to the presidential candidates in election campaigns have allowed the candidates to turn their focus on how to address the issue of criminal injustice experience. This is evident when Obama, during his time, was faced with the same issue, and his administration did the best by ordering the ban on the solitary confinement of juveniles. At the same time, Obama orders the review of the practice by the justice department (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). The measures taken were a continuation of the delivery of the campaign promises that Obama had made during his time as a presidential candidate. This significantly shows how penal questions play the biggest role in the election campaigns.

Similarly, the ability of any leader to uphold the legal freedom and the rights of people depends on how they have performed in the criminal system. Penal questions focus on understanding the criminal records of the candidates (Park and Lartey, 2020). In the case of the UK and US, any candidate who is subjected to the election needs to disclose the criminal record in order to determine the ability and the credibility of the candidate to defend justice when in the position of the presidency (Dharia et al. 2020). One way this can be achieved is through penal questions that tend to understand the record the candidate holds in criminal responsibility. The questions are based on the prior research about the candidate in an election, especially in line with the criminal record one holds. The panel questions involve asking the candidates about their involvement in the criminal activities and whether they have had an attempt to jeopardize the criminal justice process.

Voters get to understand the criminal record of the candidate when subjected to penal questions. As a result, it is easy for the voters to make an informed decision on selecting a particular candidate and leaving out the other one. Most voters are aware that often leaders with poor criminal records would always subject citizens to poor treatment since they lack regard to the rule of law and justice for the people (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Similarly, they understand that leaders that have one time stood on the way of criminal justice would likely not value what freedom and right entail. Thus, penal questions must be asked to the candidates when the campaign to allow the voters an opportunity to get to know their leaders (Dharia et al. 2020). Equally, this is to mean that panel questions are critical when it comes to voters deciding on the person they vote. This is because some of these questions focus on the leaders’ ability to treat the issues related to the criminal system. Voters always would go for the candidate who believes in the justice of the subject and should have portrayed the same during his early years in leadership.

It is always important that voters get to understand the position of the candidate in various aspects of law and how such a leader would relate with the agencies handling such legal matters. For instance, candidates are asked panel questions on their views on the death penalty and whether they support it or not (Park and Lartey, 2020). The death penalty has always been an issue of contestation, and voters have used it to judge their leaders on how they perceive human life. It is important that before the president comes in power, they declare themselves on the issue of the death penalty as it is provided for in the law in both the UK and the US. Similarly, penal questions allow the candidates to state their position on upholding the international human rights standards and what they would have to do to ensure that justice and fairness prevail. This involves protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community through actions and policies, specifically ones that protect transwomen of color. Others include people with disabilities, those with different races, and those who have no place to call home since they all need equal treatment (Dharia et al. 2020). It is during the election time that stakeholders on various legal issues can hold the president accountable for their plans to ensure that there is the protection of human rights and freedom. This can only be made known through the penal questions that the candidates face during this period.

The UK and the US are among the leading countries in matters of the criminal justice process. The constitution in these countries allows the person sitting in the office of the president to have a better understanding of the criminal process to lead the country into secure hands. The penal questions asked during the election campaigns help the voters to identify such a leader. Often, such questions are based on the candidate’s view of the judicial process in the country and if they would make it better while in office (Park and Lartey, 2020). This is fundamentally important considering that the US and UK had faced leadership that at one time had attempted to reduce the powers of the judiciary with the specific reference to the Supreme Court. In most cases, voters want to elect a person who will give respect to the rule of law by empowering the Supreme Court to ensure the effective delivery of criminal justice. Therefore, it is true that during election campaigns, the penal questions focusing on the views and the perceptions of the individual candidates would be essential in allowing them to share about how they will go about with the judiciary and other agencies.

During the election campaigns, penal questions allow the citizens to understand how passionate the leader is towards the administration of justice. Always, the president is confined with a lot of power when it comes to how they influence the administration of justice. However, this passion for having fair administration of justice can be seen as early as before the elections, and this often happens during campaigns (BallotPedia, 2020). Experts in many sources have indicated that leaders can do more than the formulation of policies when they want to deliver on ensuring the justice system is equal to all the parties (Dharia et al. 2020). This, therefore, requires the morality of the leader on the same issue by taking it as a person and wants to pursue it. For example, during the election campaign in 2012, Obama had promised to the review of the justice department, and this was accompanied by the candidate’s passionate talk when he was asked about the same issue during the penal questions sessions (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Therefore, it is true that penal questions are essential when it comes to understanding how passionate the leaders are in handling the issue of criminal justice since its takes more than the policy formulation, and this can be informed during the penal questions that candidates are faced with in campaigns.

The fundamental thing about the criminal process is the issue of funding the entire process to ensure that the dispensation of justice is facilitated for all parties. Besides the empowering of the judiciary led by the Supreme Court, one can tell this commitment through the fund's allocation to the sector and the desire to facilitate the judiciary with the resources that will ensure that the criminal process is continuous (BallotPedia, 2020). The penal questions will extent to asking the plan that each candidate has towards ensuring that there is success in the dispensation of justice in the criminal process. The candidates will use the opportunity to hint at how much their respective administrations will give to support the judiciary to ensure that justice is delivered in all the criminal proceedings (BallotPedia, 2020). By responding to the questions, the voters get an opportunity to listen to all the candidates to make a determination based on the candidate that is likely to address the financial issue affecting the dispensation of justice.

However, even with the dominance of the penal questions in the election campaigns, it is never regretted since they help to uncover crucial things about the candidates and how they relate with the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is one sensitive area that affects both the United States and the United Kingdom. These countries have made significant steps in strengthening their criminal process (Park and Lartey, 2020). It is important leaders who take over the country are well aware of the various aspects related to the system. This makes it important that all candidates are subjected to the questioning in line with the penal issues to hold them accountable when they finally get to the office. The responses the leaders give will be the convenient in measuring the success they have once in the position they are seeking. The fundamental thing is that the criminal justice system needs continuous strengthening, and it is not regretted when penal questions are asked during the election campaigns (Dharia et al. 2020). Rather than posing regret, the questions allow leaders to give a planned framework on how to handle the criminal process to ensure that rights and freedoms are granted for the people in the respective countries.

Conclusively, it is, therefore, true that penal questions are significant during the election campaigns and serve a great purpose and, therefore, not regretted. Leaders, especially at the position of the presidents, have the obligation of ensuring that the rights and the freedom of people are protected. The United States and the UK have made significant steps in strengthening the criminal justice system. Therefore, penal questions allow them to share their plans and strategies with the voters, which then influence voters to decide on the choice of the leaders they feel are suitable. Similarly, leaders need to have an understanding of the various aspects that crucial in the criminal process, and this means they also need to have a good criminal record. The questions are, therefore, essential in the campaign as they help the elected leaders focus on making the system much better.

For example, currently, the United States is about to hold its elections, and the competing presidential candidates have both faces penal questions on the criminal justice system. When faced with the penal questions concerning the criminal justice system, the presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, were taken to task. Joe Biden, in his response, has indicated that he is committed to strengthening America’s justice and reform the criminal justice system (Park and Lartey, 2020). Biden indicated that he is focused on reducing the level of incarceration in the country as well as crime reduction. The candidate has proposed that people using the drug should not be incarcerated but subjected to treatment instead. Trump, on his part, has indicated on protecting the American communities and the rights of all Americans (Park and Lartey, 2020). Thus, the penal questions asked to the presidential candidates in election campaigns have allowed the candidates to turn their focus on how to address the issue of criminal injustice experience. This is evident when Obama, during his time, was faced with the same issue, and his administration did the best by ordering the ban on the solitary confinement of juveniles. At the same time, Obama orders the review of the practice by the justice department (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). The measures taken were a continuation of the delivery of the campaign promises that Obama had made during his time as a presidential candidate. This significantly shows how penal questions play the biggest role in the election campaigns.

Similarly, the ability of any leader to uphold the legal freedom and the rights of people depends on how they have performed in the criminal system. Penal questions focus on understanding the criminal records of the candidates (Park and Lartey, 2020). In the case of the UK and US, any candidate who is subjected to the election needs to disclose the criminal record in order to determine the ability and the credibility of the candidate to defend justice when in the position of the presidency (Dharia et al. 2020). One way this can be achieved is through penal questions that tend to understand the record the candidate holds in criminal responsibility. The questions are based on the prior research about the candidate in an election, especially in line with the criminal record one holds. The panel questions involve asking the candidates about their involvement in the criminal activities and whether they have had an attempt to jeopardize the criminal justice process.

Voters get to understand the criminal record of the candidate when subjected to penal questions. As a result, it is easy for the voters to make an informed decision on selecting a particular candidate and leaving out the other one. Most voters are aware that often leaders with poor criminal records would always subject citizens to poor treatment since they lack regard to the rule of law and justice for the people (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Similarly, they understand that leaders that have one time stood on the way of criminal justice would likely not value what freedom and right entail. Thus, penal questions must be asked to the candidates when the campaign to allow the voters an opportunity to get to know their leaders (Dharia et al. 2020). Equally, this is to mean that panel questions are critical when it comes to voters deciding on the person they vote. This is because some of these questions focus on the leaders’ ability to treat the issues related to the criminal system. Voters always would go for the candidate who believes in the justice of the subject and should have portrayed the same during his early years in leadership.

It is always important that voters get to understand the position of the candidate in various aspects of law and how such a leader would relate with the agencies handling such legal matters. Read More