Clear Link Between Social Policy and Criminal Justice - Essay Example

There Is a Clear Link between Social Policy and Criminal Justice Introduction There is a clear link between social policy and criminal justice in the sense that, both exist to solve the existing problems in the society. On one hand, social policy denotes implementation of policies that are geared to solve the existing social issues. On the other hand, criminal justice entails an established institution by the government that deals with matters related to maintaining social control, preventing crimes, punishing those breaching the established laws and engaging in rehabilitation efforts. This in essence shows that social policy and criminal justice are related because they both serve the society. In the society, numerous social problems or issues need the intervention of the relevant authorities such as the policy makers or government institutions such as the judiciary. As such, mitigation measures to deal with numerous social issues as evident in the society calls for intervention through implementation of social policies or using the justice system to bring about social control (Diez-Ripolles 2013, p.62). Social policy targets civilians in terms of coming up with policies meant to deal with moral problems inflicting the society. In any country, there are numerous social problems that the government needs to contain in order to bring about social order. Without proper social polies, this may turn into social problems or ills and this is where the judiciary in form of crime justice come in to complement social policy in terms of bringing about social control. The commonly identified social issues include crime, corruption, abuse, healthcare, housing, education, civil rights, and poverty, among other social issues. These issues affect civilians and as such, in any democratic society, it is obvious that civilians are bound to pressure the government to do something about the social problems affecting their lives. This is where social policy play part in establishing mitigation measures (Weaver 2012, p.397). When implementing social policies, this requires the input the country’s lawmakers. They are charged with implementing the laws that affects the lives of citizens. When implementing such policies, the government is required to go back to the public and identify the problems that need to be solved by either introducing new polices or reviewing the already existing policies. Without social policy, it will be difficult for the government to deal with the numerous social problems that affects a country (Rodger 2012, p.413). In any society, there is need to deal with the welfare of the state because, this is important in maintaining a nation’s stability and economic development. However, without properly dealing with the social issues inflicting the society by implementing the right social policies, more problems often arise and it becomes difficult for the government to control. Among such problems include a rise in poverty level, high level corruption, poor education system, domestic abuse and high crime level. With such problems, there cannot be social order in a country. This is because civilians will become engaged in all sorts of anti-social behaviours to survive (Rodger 2012, p.413). In countries across the globe, most government are elected to office with the promise to tackle the existing social issues affecting citizens. In the context of ensuring welfare of citizens, the government need to play a key role in terms of protecting and enhancing the social well-being of the entire nation. This also involves bringing about equal opportunity for all citizens, distributing wealth equally and ensuring there is public responsibility especially to assist the incapacitated in the society (Rodger 2012, p.415). Social policy matters in terms of ensuring that no citizen breaks the law and end up in the court. For instance, to prevent corruption from the public and those working for the government, there is need for implementation of policies that ensure there are checks and balances. This brings about ethics in how public funds are managed because with proper policies, there will be a reduced embezzlement of the public funds. On another note, social policies need to ensure that the welfare of the citizens of a country is safeguarded. In this sense, the policies that are often reviewed include education policy, housing policy and health policy. With regard to education policy, the government must implement policies that ensure that the standards are upheld within the education system (Sack 2013, p.372). As a social problem, it is common to find most education systems lacking credibility by engaging in illegal measures not provided for by the existing policy. As such, in terms of dealing with any problem realized in the education system, the government can review the existing policies and where it is found that officials are breaking the law, and then this is left in the hands of the judiciary to sanction the lawbreakers in this context. In terms of considering housing policy, it is the prerogative of the government to ensure that its citizens have proper housing. Further, the housing policy should protect citizens against exploitation by unscrupulous house owners who charge exorbitant rent. The heath policy on the other hand, and in solving the existing problems in the health sector needs to ensure that citizens get affordable treatment and are not exploited by the health practitioners (Smith 2011, p.999). Social policy and the operations of the criminal justice are almost similar because they exist to resolve matters that affect the public. Social policy plays an important role in ensuring that both public and the private sector comply with the regulations that protect the citizens and ensure that their well-being is prioritized. Social policy in essence, brings a greater level of social order by ensuring that all the institutions that serve the public, work in accordance with the established policies. As a result of the existence of social policy, most countries enjoy social order (Knepper 2012, p.360). This is because the implemented policies have helped to resolve the social problems that mainly create crime, corruption and poverty. These problems need mitigation measure and without proper mechanism to solve social problems, most governments may find themselves dealing with social ills or anarchy (Knepper 2012, p.365). In relating social policy to criminal justice, this institution also exist to bring about social control and order. However, while social policy engages in implementation of laws meant to direct the society, criminal justice on its part, prevent those laws or policies from being violated by the citizens. In any society, there is existence of many social ills committed by people. On one hand, social policy prevents these social ills by enacting policies meant to mitigate such problems. For instance, there could be a rise in crime because of poverty. As a mitigation measure, a new policy can be established that looks at creation of employment opportunities to reduce poverty level, which, in turn, reduces crime rate. On the other hand, the criminal justice can act on the same issue, but by apprehending those breaking the law and given punishment as a way to reduce crime rate (Epperson 2013, p.96). While there are many issues that affect the society, social policy cannot deal with all these issues. As such, the criminal justice work in hand with social policy to ensure that all the measures taken by the government succeed in maintaining social order. Most of the identified social issues cannot be addressed only through implementation of polies since some of the problems are entrenched in the society (Miller 2004, p.557). While there can be policies meant to address issues such as abortion, domestic abuse and drug abuse, this cannot be prevented by only implementing policies to mitigate such problems. These problems also need the intervention of the criminal justice. For instance, where a country is fighting against increased incidences of abortion, policy alone will not assist in preventing this issue. There is a need for the criminal justice to intervene to prevent increased cases of abortion. This may involve apprehending the doctors carrying out abortion and punishing them with imprisonment or heavy fines. As such, this will help to control incidences where there are more cases of abortion in the society (Epperson 2013, p.97). On the other hand, despite the existence of a number of policies that deals with domestic violence, the society still witness rampant cases of domestic violence. As such, stiffer measures are required for those inflicting injury on others in order to reduce violence in the society. Conversely, an implemented policy to prevent the under age from drinking, needs the help of criminal justice to punish adults who sell maybe alcohol to the minor. In one way or another, most of the implemented policies require the assistance of the judiciary to ensure that they are followed to the letter (Nagin 2013, p.652). Another issue that links social policy with criminal justice is that, while social policy tackles the root cause of the problems, the criminal justice tackles the consequences of such problems. For instance, social policy may be geared towards reducing drug abuse among the youth. While the policy may call for building of rehabilitation centres around the affected neighbourhoods. However, the consequences of drug abuse include engaging in crime, and this is where the criminal justice come. Their main aim is to punish those committing crime in the society as a measure to reduce crime rate (Bancroft 2012, p.67). In essence, the criminal justice has been established purposely to fight crime in the society. This is made possible by apprehending criminal offenders or suspects, who are punished either through imprisonment or fined. This means that the criminal justice deals directly with the existing social issues without looking at the causes of such issues. In this sense, it is clear that the criminal justice in a similar way to social policy have a clear understanding of the root cause of the problems existing in the society and which land most people to court. In dealing with social problems, both social policy and criminal justice seems to focus on a particular group in the society. For instance, it is hard to find social policy or criminal justice focusing on or attacking the affluent in the society (Dzur 2003, p.304). Both institutions are bent on the disadvantaged in the society; this is because most social problems affect the poor in the society. For instance, poverty has often been identified as the root cause to most of the social ills existing in the society. This includes, an increase in crime rate as a way of surviving their hardships or domestic violence resulting from alcohol and drug abuse. However, for the criminal justice, social control is of utmost priority and mainly targets sections of the society that face numerous social problems. On the same note, policymakers will look like they are not doing anything to solve the problems that affect the society. As such, they also maintain their focus on the disadvantaged in the society; this is where most of the implemented policies are directed. However, while one deals with policy making, the other deals with enforcing justice (Stephen 2009, p.205). In conclusion, as a result of the numerous problems that affects the society, there is a need for governments to come up with measures to deal with such problems. In an attempt to have some sort of social control, governments engage in implementing policies meant to mitigate the identified social issues that affects citizens. However, there are times when such policies do not meet their goal, but rather result in an increase in social ills that include increase in crime rate. As such, this is where the criminal justice comes to provide social control. This is achieved in most cases, by arresting offenders and charging them for violating the existing laws meant to create social order (Pierce 2012, p.15). References Bancroft, K 2012, ‘Zones of Exclusion: Urban Spatial Policies, Social Justice, and Social Services’, Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, Vol. 39, no. 3, pp.63-84. Diez-Ripolles, J 2013, ‘Social Inclusion and Comparative Criminal Justice Policy’, Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention, Vol. 14, no.1, pp..62-78. Dzur, A 2003, ‘Civic implications of restorative justice theory: Citizen participation and criminal justice policy’, Policy Sciences, Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 279-306. Epperson, M 2013, ‘To What Extent Is Criminal Justice Content Specifically Addressed in MSW Programs? Journal of Social Work Education, Vol. 49, no. 1, pp.96-107. Knepper, P 2012, ‘An International Crime Decline: Lessons for Social Welfare Crime Policy? Social Policy & Administration, Vol. 46, no.4, pp. 359-376. Nagin, D 2013, ‘Evidence and Public Policy’, Criminology & Public Policy, Vol. 12, no.4, pp. 651-679. Miller, L 2004, ‘Rethinking Bureaucrats in the Policy Process: Criminal Justice Agents and the National Crime Agenda’, Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 32, no. 4, pp.569-588. Pierce, J 2014, ‘Social Construction and Policy Design: A Review of Past Applications’, Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 42, no. 1, pp.1-29. Rodger, J 2012, ‘Regulating the Poor: Observations on the Structural Coupling of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a Big Society. Social Policy & Administration, Vol. 46, no. 4, pp.413-431. Sack, F 2013, ‘Social structure and crime policy: The German case’, Punishment & Society, Vol. 15, no.4, pp.367-381. Smith, M 2011, ‘Analysing policy delivery in the United Kingdom: The case of street crime and anti-social behaviour’, Public Administration, Vol. 89, no. 3, pp.975-1000. Stephen, D 2009, ‘Time to stop twisting the knife: a critical commentary on the rights and wrongs of criminal justice responses to problem youth in the UK’, Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Vol. 31, no. 2, pp.193-206. Weaver, B 2012, ‘The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and Opportunities for Social Policy’, Social Policy & Administration, Vol. 46, no. 4, pp.395-412. Read More