The role of the judiciary in criminal justice

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminal justice offers justice to people who have committed crimes. The primary
goal of criminal justice is to prevent the convict from committing other crimes and provides
moral support to the victims and their family. The central institution of criminal justice is
lawyers, police and prosecution. Police must enforce the law, protect the people, prevent
crime and punish the violators of the law. The criminal justice works towards delivering
justice to the victims irrespective of their gender, age, caste and religion. It is a lengthy
procedure that involves trails, justification of evidence and finally, justice. However, often
the criminal justice system is biased and takes time to deliver the punishment to convicts who
are responsible for the crime. This happens when the convict comes from an influential
background. This is what happened in the case of Stephen Lawrence. The essay aims at
discussing the ethical and moral issues that were faced by the justice system while punishing
the criminals.
Stephen Lawrence belonged to a black family in London and was a victim of racial
discrimination. He was stabbed in April 1993 in an attack that was unprovoked in Eltham and
was murdered by a group of white men while he was waiting for a bus at the bus stand. What
followed next was a consistent battle for justice initiated by the family of Stephen who was
sure that their son was killed due to racism that prevailed in the society. Though the police
arrested five suspected after a few months of the murder, the charges were soon dropped
when the police said that the ID evidence of Duwayne (Stephen’s friend who was present
with him at the time of the incident) was unreliable. The murder unleashed a series of protests
and cry for justice that was received after a decade of the battle between Stephen’s parents
and the justice system. His mother demanded police reforms within the nation that was being
biased because Stephen came from a black family. The police were also accused of
institutional racism. Macpherson report required the recruitment of more black as well as
minority officers for the safety of these people. The murder brought to the surface the brutal

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE
reality of the society of Britain. It also showed the incompetence of the justice system as they
were initially biased. Had the victim’s parents not fought for the justice of their child the
convict would have never faced any punishment and the case would be regarded as other
unresolved cases in the records of the police.
The murder also showed the unwillingness of the police (another component of the
justice system) to find the convicts. Stephen’s mother accused the policemen who aggravated
her grief as well as uncertainty even after getting hold of the two convicts eighteen years ago.
The widespread murder of Stephen Lawrence, the racism involved behind the killing,
incompetence as well as corruption within the police and the trail after the killing completely
changed the role of police, law as well as politics. The murder very well demonstrates how
the criminal justice principles were not followed concerning Stephen’s death. It was because
of the pressure from the public that the police were forced to find the convict and present
them before the law. A decade long battle for justice uncovered severe mistakes that were
committed by the Metropolitan police that allowed the killers to move freely. Even before
and after the killing of Stephen, there have been racial killings across the globe.
According to Niven and Donnelly (2020), the criminal justice system in England
follows a system in which the magistrate hears opposing views of the case. The defence, as
well as the prosecution, can present their situation according to their plan while abiding by
the restrictions imposed on them. On the other hand, Fujita (2018), describes the criminal
justice system as semi-inquisitorial, where the judge too participates in preparing pieces of
evidence along with the police and dominates the trial process. The same process of
investigation was followed for the case of Stephen, where the judge had little role to play in
the forming of pieces of evidence. According to Wenzel and Okimoto (2016), retributive
justice is a theory that argues that whoever commits an act of crime deserves to be punished
by the institution of law and that the punishment should follow the proportion of harm that is

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE
caused to the victim. In this way, the criminal justice system will be able to maintain law and
order. The theory talks about the rational choice that is made by the criminal to satisfy their
needs as well as wants. The murderers made this sensible choice of Stephen who killed him
to satisfy their ego. On the other hand, Restorative justice according to Wachtel (2016), tries
to repair the harm caused by the crime. It offers an option of reconciliation with the victims.
The theory does not allow the victims to participate in the resolution instead provides the
offenders with the opportunity to make amendments. Furthermore, according to Kim (2018),
transformative theory incorporates a structure that examines the reason behind the crime,
inequality that prevails within the social, economic as well as political system. It considers
the system of criminal justice as unjust. According to this theory, the state perpetuates
injustice to people belonging to different colour, community, women and those who have a
disability. This injustice was seen in the case of Stephen who was murdered for coming from
a black family.
The criminal justice system that was prevailing at that time in the UK was unjust. Had
a black person murdered a white man, then the former would have been given immediate
punishment. But because a black man was killed by white people the justice was received
after a long time. Another instance of a black man named Oscar was killed in 2009 in the
New Year’s eve by the police. Without a cause, the police open shot Oscar in front of
everyone. The police were even being violent and cursing the group. Oscar’s killing once
again brought racial discrimination to the forefront. According to Pew Research, most of the
blacks are treated less fairly by the system of criminal justice than the whites. The blacks face
criminal charges quite often than the whites. The white police officers tend to be more
discriminate towards the blacks than towards the whites. A study conducted by Frank
Edwards, Hedwig Lee and Michael Esposito (2019), too found that black people were more
likely to be killed than the whites by the police.