Policymakers and criminal justice administrators
Discussion 8
I believe policymakers should focus more on crime (safety) when developing criminal justice policies. I think every state and government should focus on protecting their citizens from harm. Public safety should be made paramount in any nation. Criminal justice should exist to improve public safety. This should be done by reducing crime. Crime, which threatens public safety, should be combated in meaningful ways. Rehabilitative programs, policing, laws, sanctioning options, and prevention efforts. Policymakers and criminal justice administrators should, therefore, focus on maintaining the safety of every citizen. Maintaining the safety of people means protecting them from harm and thus protecting the right to life. I believe the right to life surpasses all other rights, and that is why the government should primarily focus on maintaining the safety of the public. That is why the government should enact laws and enforce policies that protect their citizens from any acts that threaten their safety. This is mainly done by punishing offenders. The method of punishment should be considered so that the other three critical goals are achieved as well.
Officials can stay focused on maintaining public safety by enforcing laws and implementing them. The rules should be meant to combat crime.The officials should have preventive measures that ensure people are not involved in criminal activities. Those who break the laws (which is inevitable) should be punished and rehabilitated so that they can fit into society. However, punishment should not be considered as the sole method of reducing crime.
I think the Systems Improvement Solution approach is not a feasible solution to the criminal justice system. First, it is an expensive approach, and implementing it will lead to compromising other goals of criminal justice. Still, it is a lengthy approach, and it may not achieve its goals at all. It is a time-consuming method that may take decades to be implemented.
The part of the book that resonated most with me the most the part that talks about the four goals of the criminal justice system. The four goals are safety, justice, accountability, and efficiency. I find these goals challenging to be achieved all at once. Achieving one goal may lead to the compromise of other (s). For example, it isn’t straightforward to achieve public safety and justice without spending. This compromises the goal of efficiency. In my view, it is impossible to achieve public safety and justice while at the same time, remaining accountable and efficient. It isn’t very easy for all of them to be delivered at the same time. He alleges the current criminal system to be wasteful, but he fails to understand that for efficiency to be achieved, money has to be spent. If we spend less, then we perpetuate injustice and endanger public safety.
Insufficient funding for implementing SIS is one of the pitfalls to be avoided. SIS requires a lot of money for research, which may not be available. SIS is still useful despite its cost as it offers the solution to the ailing criminal justice system.
Discussion question
One of the goals of criminal justice is public safety. Public safety is maintained by reducing crime through punishment, rehabilitative measures, and enforcing laws. Is the death penalty a proper method of reducing crime and maintaining public safety? Should it be legalized or not?
References
Mears, Daniel P. (2017). Out-of-Control Criminal Justice: The Systems Improvement Solution for More Safety, Justice, Accountability, and Efficiency. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1316614044