PRACTITIONER INTERVIEW

PRACTITIONER INTERVIEW

Purpose

Interviews serve as one of the effective ways which researchers and social surveyors use to collect information about an issue. It even becomes better when the interviewee and the interviewer get into good terms. Here, the interviewer, who is the researcher, gets an opportunity to extract the required information (Edwards & Holland, 2013 29). For instance, the relationship between criminal justice and public safety is an issue that one can gain knowledge if they consult a significant stakeholder in the security, correction of the judicial institution. In the case of this interview, there is the need to gain information about how criminal justice decisions relate to public safety for an urban area. Public safety is a vital area of discussion that needs the attention of the concerned government bodies. The process of ensuring a high level of public safety is involving. It does not only include the reduction of criminal activities but also ensuring that the criminal justice system makes decisions that do not negatively affect the future of public safety. This interview goes a long way in bringing into attention the effects that the poor choices in the criminal justice system have on public safety. It is from the provision of this information that the involved stakeholders will devise ways to deal with the issue professionally. The interview involves a police officer as the interviewee. The choice of the police officer as the interviewee was arrived at since they get into firsthand contact with crime cases before taking them to the judicial system. When the prosecuted people get back to the community, it is the police officers who arrest them if they get in the wrong path of the law (Montgomery & Griffiths, 2016 6).

Background

Recently, urban areas across the world have experienced an increase in criminal cases. In the middle of these crimes, the public living in such regions feel that their safety is at stake. When such situations occur, the police are the first person that the public reaches for reporting. They expect that the police will come in handy to ensure that the law has been enforced. In this interview, therefore, the cops deem relevant for providing information to relate crime rate and public safety. In reaching a police officer stationed in our neighboring urban region, who regularly carries out patrols in the area covered by his station. The police officer and I are usually in good terms and have known each other for a considerably long time now. I, therefore, saw it better to engage him in the interview, for he would be in a position to provide information with openness. Since the police officer participates in all-time patrol, he must have at one or several times come across crime cases. He has also forwarded several instances of crime to the criminal justice system for prosecution. The police have knowledge about criminal cases and the way they are prosecuted in the corridors of justice. I, therefore, thought that he would offer information on the relationship that suffices between the criminal justice system and public safety.

Interview

The criminal justice system proves useful in the delivery of verdict for the petty criminal and corruption cases. According to the view of the police officer, the majority of these cases possess concrete and tangible evidence, which, when timely presented, offer a good start in the case. The courts also strive to ensure that they complete them within the least time possible. It could be thought that the reason behind the haste and strife and haste in completing these cases is due to the involvement of public resources.

Additionally, the availability of evidence that showcases that the suspects were involved in the corruption cases enhances the easier verdict delivery. In other cases, the police officers who are responsible for tabling evidence to the justice system do an excellent job, which makes it easier for verdict delivery. When it comes to crimes that violate public safety, the courts do a considerable act to society. Some courts, even if they do not find adequate evidence to punish the criminals, do not let them out to the community. Such individuals are prone to destroying the wellbeing of the public safety and hence should not be allowed to the society. The police officer, therefore, finds it a good act of the judicial system to withhold the violent crime suspect as a way of enhancing public safety.

The criminal justice system seems to take a considerably long time to provide a verdict in other cases. According to the interviewee, not all cases that are delivered to courts by the police force reach their judgment in the shortest time possible. It takes more than even a year to produce the verdict for a criminal case, with some of them being major. In the view of the interviewee, the judicial system’s reluctance is making the complainants feel that their justice is being denied. When it comes to public safety, it is the criminal activities that result in a non-conducive and secure environment. Therefore, with slow delivery of justice for the criminal suspects, the society which the criminal terrorizes, fear for their safety. Many are the times that illegal activities occur when a court ruling favors the suspects. It can, therefore, be thought that the suspects are solely responsible for the crimes that interfere with public safety. In a nutshell, the police officer feels that even if they try their best to enhance public safety by arresting crime suspects, the criminal justice system fails on its part.

The judicial system is working towards enhancing its technological advancement when dealing with most of the criminal cases. While this seems to be an effective strategy to cope with ever-changing illegal activities, the judicial system is presently not prepared for these changes. According to the interviewee, the criminal justice system needs to change its tactics in looking at the provided evidence. The future of the criminal justice system, therefore, needs to keep pace with the changing trends in crime. Secondly, the interviewee pointed out that there is currently a dramatic increase in the population. The increase comes hand in hand with increased diversity in cultures and languages. The criminal justice system, having known this fact, needs to focus on ensuring that their staffs are comfortable with the diverse languages spoken by the suspects and complainants. By having the staff speaking the languages similar to that of the criminal suspects and the complainants, the judges will not need some people to interpret to them the court proceedings. From the interviewer’s view, the interpretation of the court’s proceedings could lead to the interpreters giving information that favors their clients in the case.

Compare and contrast

Looking back at the materials covered in this course, my interviewee was not out of order when giving his views and experiences concerning public safety and the criminal justice system. Talking of the things that the criminal justice system has managed to do, the course contents relate closely to the interviewer’s sentiments. It is easier to deliver verdict for a short period when complainants present adequate evidence to support petty crime as well as corruption cases. According to the course materials, the court, when presented with enough evidence it can maneuver about the case and deliver a verdict after a short period. Whereas the faster delivery of verdict is envied by those that it favors, some those against it do not hesitate to question the court procedures that arrived to the verdict. Also, the course materials resonate with the police officer’s statements that the law enforcing officers have a vital role in delivery of justice through presentation of adequate evidence. According to Daly & Sarre (2016 2), the public need to cooperate with the police officers and other prosecutorial investigative personnel to get evidence that will make the court deliver verdict in the shortest time possible. Here the people ought to have developed the goodwill and be ready to participate in collection of evidence. They also need to resent information that will lead to prosecution of the suspects that interfere with their safety.

From the course materials, there is the portrayal of the courts’ failure when it comes to delivery of justice for major criminal cases. Many of these criminal cases have a profound negative effect to the public safety. Whereas it is the responsibility of the courts to provide justice to both the complainants and the defendants, the former feels that their justice is denied whenever there is delay in verdict delivery. However, according to the course materials, the courts must stick to the provided evidence in order to deliver verdict which will be satisfactory to both parties. It is normal for the people whose safety is affected by crimes to feel insecure whenever there is delay in justice. These people also feel that the court is not concerned about their safety whenever it delivers ruling in favor of the suspects. The course contents however contrast with the police officer’s recommendation that the court ought to withhold the suspects for the safety of the public. According to the course contents such an action by the court can only occur when the suspect is found guilty. It would be unfair for the court to hold an individual who has not yet been pronounced guilty of crime that violates the public safety. Daly & Sarre (2016 2) also supports the fact that there are times when the criminal justice system seems ineffective in justice delivery. Other than what courts perceive as inadequate evidence, the political class has some hand in the delay of justice. The political can make amendments in the law or pass new laws that do not favor verdict delivery in a short time.

When it comes to the changes that are occurring in the criminal justice system, the course contents relate with most of the interviewee’s sentiments. The criminal justice is facing a drastic evolution with major population increases which come with diverse cultures. According to the interviewee, the increase in cultures in the country has resulted to the need for translators in the court sessions. In the course contents, the increase in the cultures has a slight effect on the presentation of evidence in the court sessions regarding the criminal cases that pose a threat to the public safety. Most of the courts are already equipped with staff from different cultures that take care of the cases that are presented in different languages.