Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice Essay

The United States Criminal arbiter System is a fundmental part to c stainlesslyer that focuses on harboring citizens in the United States Constiution as well as ensuring from each one individual is law adbiding law and non commiting serious acts of crimes. from each one law was put in responsibility and federal statues to ensure it pass overs and as time has changed some of the laws have not changed. In present day, the condemnable justness system faces comptemporary issues as well as trends that not unless affect today but in the future and how important each member of beau monde hold a significant value to the wicked nicety system. For many decades the criminal evaluator system has endured many issues and problems that be shortly questioning exactly how fair United States Criminal justice system is to citizens and criminals that participate in twain misdeameanor and violent reachenses.The Corrections department is one specific department that faces many controv ersies involving the validilty of ones inherent right of the ordinal Amendment. The Founding Fathers created one of the famous amendments that prohibits the law from enforcing barbaric and foreign punishment in chief city punishment. At one time, capital punishment consisted of electrocution, firing squad, and the gas chamber. Unfortunately, many individuals bank that this form of punishments were criminal and unusual and many states divertd these methods in their executions. In present day, lethal pellet is the modernistic method used in state executions that have not banned the destruction penalty as a form of punishment. The death penalty is used in just now 32 states as of 2014 in time the re-creation of lethal drug cocktail get ups the world ponder if the lethal dead reckoning method is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.The issue of the new combination of lethal injections drugs have many opposers speculating should the death class inmate have the legal ri ght to know exactly what is behind the pertly developed death penalty drugs as well as if it against the Eighth Amendment. Two death row inmates in the State of okeh pleaded with the higher(prenominal) courts to disclose any schooling pertaining to the ingredients of the drugs however the Oklahoma Supreme courtyard specific every last(predicate)y stated, This court holds that the secrecy provision does not violate the inmates ingrained right of access to the courts. The Oklahoma Supreme Court said the exactly lieing issue, then, is whether the states failure to disclose its source for the drugs prevents the prisoners from ambitious their executions using the Eighth Amendments inhibition oncruel and unusual punishment.The court decided it did not(CNN,2014). Following the ruling, the stay of executions of Charles Warner and Clayton Lockett were uplifted and were schedule to a double execution on April 29, 2014 that would forever change the graceful protocols of execution gui delines and the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment. Clayton Lockett original the first injection around 623 pm and hug drug minutes following his injection he was unconscious. After the doctor discover he was unconscious he administered the last two drugs that would execute Clayton Lockett. amongst 644 and 656 pm the doctor that was administering the medical examination procedures of the execution addressed that the inmates vein had collapased that led for the drugs to either absorb in his tissue or leaked out(The Guardian ,2014). Immediately the inmate passed away of a massive heart attack.Following the execution, the other inmate that was supposed to be execute right after Lockett did not face the punishment and currently he is on a 180 day stay until the state government can conduct a full investigation into the fumble execution. Supporters of the death penalty believe the execution was conducted appropriately however opposers believe he faced a slo w painful death. The question the Great Compromiser will the death penalty in the State of Oklahoma be abolished or test the drugs before they be administered on death row inmates. As a lot as someone whitethorn commited such a heinous crime such as Lockett and Warner these offenders argon given rights off all the amendments of the United States Constitution and it is their right to address violations to higher courts so they can determine if it did occur. The death penalty has many advantages and disadvantages and the criminal justice system is constantly fighting the difference to keep it alive and well.prison house overcrowding is another contemporary issue that is currently affecting the criminal justice passim the United States. Society is a strugglee of the consequences involving committing a crime, however for offenses that are considered non-violent and the offender who has not been in trouble with the law in the aside faces severe punishment such as a violent offender . medicate offenses is one crime that caused correctional facilities people to skyrocket and instead of purpose the best alternative for punishment prisons face an unkinown number of crimes within the facilities. In the State of Oklahoma, approximately 26, 539 offenders are incarcerated in priosn whereas probation has a population of21,085(American legislative Exchange Council,2014). Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition(n.d.) states, Prior to the current prohibition era the U.S. Prison population was a quarter of what it is today. But 30 years ago the War on Drugs was launched.Before that the prison population had been level for over 5 decades. 70 to 75% of people in prison are drug war prisoners. Drug use, arrest and immurement rates along with data on sentence length furnish that people of color unfairly bear the brunt of the drug war(para.4). The war on drugs is the primary reason for the increasingly amount of prisoners in facilities throughout the United States and if state legislation ever comes to the decision to stop the battle more(prenominal) likely overcrowding will not be a substanstive issue. special reasons why the American Corrections system is overcrowded are mandatory token(prenominal) sentencing, denial of parole, unaffordable bail, poverty, and Post Incarceration Syndrome.The final contemporary issue that is face the criminal justice today is the increasing amount of complaints involving natural law officers that are involving in police bruatility and excessive use of force. As society has knowing in the past of consequences of Rodney King, it happened then and it is still happening. However, just because one grasp does it does not mean all of them do it. The most current case involving police brutality and excessive use of force involves the Albuquerque Police Department. Recently, current police officers went against their oath and maliciously killed members of society. The circumstances are unknown and the Justice Department h as conducted a through investigation stating that the police department the officers kicked, punched and violently restrained nonthreatening people, and seldom were the officers reprimanded.Many of the victims suffered from mental illnesses, and some were disabled, elderly or drunk, the 16-month investigation concluded. The changes called for by the Justice Department 44 remedies in all included extensive revisions to the departments use-of-force policies. The term force would be more clearly defined, and officers would have to report to superiors when they used various maneuver chokeholds, kicks, leg sweeps and tackles. Under the recommendations, officers would be trained to rely more on verbal warnings and less on stun guns, and new recruits would be necessitate to undergo psychological, medicaland polygraph examinations to assess their fitness for the job(New York Times,2014). As overmuch as the recommendations should be followed, more cases of police brutatlity and excessive force in Albuqueruqe happen however it seems officers refuse to listen to the recommendations and choose what is best for them. some(prenominal) may regain threatened when they encounter someone but there are other methods instead of physically harming someone or murdering the subject. angiotensin-converting enzyme of the most recent trends that is currently affecting the criminal justices that will more likely affect it in the future is the increasing amount of crimes involving juvenilitys. In the past, youths were not subjected to force out and since the internet evolved and other environmental factors so much is at stake. One particular area where society is seeing violence are in areas that at one time that they thought was serious such as schools and movies. The Aurora Thetre Shooting and various school shootings continue to happen and for innocent individuals fear is in their minds on a effortless basis. The reasons the youth commits serious acts like these vary howeve r most cases manifold the lack of mental healthcare and as well as bullying.The perpertrators feel that the victims hurt them in some manner that led them to harm an entire school. In addition, technology is a severe problem for the criminal justice system today and will continue as long as the internet is available. Identity Theft is the newest trend in computer crimes and all it takes is a click of a button and the criminal soughting out the information can have access to someones life in a matter of seconds(Muraskin & Roberts,2009). Prevention is the only recommendation in both youth violence and cybercrimes that will eventually decrease the current trends occurring in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system hold a significant value in todays changing society by ensuring each citizen of the United States is lawfully protected by their consititutional rights as well as ensuring that local, state, and federal governments following proper protocol, procedures, and polices on tutelage society away from harm that he or she could possibly face.The only problem that society has with the criminal justice system is the lack of apprehension invididuals have based on past incidents and discrepanices that makes persons make the assumption that all professionals do not care of their well organism or are not going above and beyond to protect them. Current trends and comtemproary issues within the criminal justice system willremain in society for many years to come. Capital punishment, prison overcrowding, and police brutality affect the justice system in a renewal of ways but to society each problem can be fixed by following proper procedures. As for trends, technology and youth violence is uncertain but the best method is to find resources and methods to eliminate trends in the cirminla justice system in the future. As much as society places the criminal justice system as good or bad it is something needed to protect everyone from constitutional viol ations as well as from heinous acts of crime.ReferenceAmerican Legislative Exchange Council . (2014). Prison Overcrowding Oklahoma. Retrieved from http//www.alec.org/initiatives/prison-overcrowding/prison-overcrowding-oklahoma/ CNN. (2014). Oklahoma executions back on, as court rules to keep lethal-drug sources secret. Retrieved from http//www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/justice/oklahoma-court-execution-drugs/ Muraskin, R., & Roberts, A. R. (2009). Visions For mixed bag Crime and Justice in the 21st Century (4th ed.). Upper blame River, NJ Prentice Hall. New York Times. (2014). Justice Dept. Accuses Albuquerque Police of Excessive Force. Retrieved from http//www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/us/albuquerque-police-report-justice-department.html?_r=1 Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC). (n.d.). What Causes Overcrowding in Jails and Prisons?. Retrieved from http//www.massdecarcerate.org/download/overcrowding.pdf The Guardian. (2014). Oklahoma execution of Clayton Lockett timeline of the botc hed procedure. Retrieved from http//www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2014/may/01/oklahoma-execution-clayton-lockett-timeline-document