Category: Criminal Justice

The criminal justice system is any organization that touches upon the question of law and order in society. As an individual, you can come in contact with the system in a number of ways. If you come in contact with a cop out on the street, you come in contact with the system. If you are called to jury duty, you’ve come in contact with the system. Our prison system, courts, and law enforcement are part of the criminal justice system.

When you vote on laws and legislation, you’re voting to influence the system. Those laws impact individuals in terms of delineating what society will and will not accept. These laws also then dictate how police officers are going to conduct business; they determine sentencing guidelines and who’s going to be kept in custody. When people get out on probation, that’s part of the system. Once you’ve been released from custody, that doesn’t mean you’ve been released from the system. If you’re on parole or probation, you’re still very much connected with the system. The system ripples through society from top to bottom because when you incarcerate somebody, you’re not just affecting them. This criminal justice system is so much bigger than the average citizen realizes and so much more interconnected.

So the criminal justice system is a huge part of our society and a huge amount of your tax dollars are going to support this criminal justice system. Yet most people are really only aware of bits and pieces of it.

National University