Critical Perspectives on Criminal Justice

Running head: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Critical Perspectives on Criminal Justice
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1CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Overview
 The Criminal Justice System in the United States dates back to the colonial days when
the nationals were governed under the British laws;
 The laws and punishments were not considered as just and fair;
 Post the American Revolution, the US Constitution was drafted that guaranteed rights
and freedoms which were not in place during the colonial period;
 This marked the beginning of stipulating guidelines for punishments , crime and
procedures that must be followed to safeguard the rights of the innocent;
Introduction
Criminal justice may be defined as the systems of practices and institutions of
governments that are purported to uphold social deterring or control and mitigating crime or
sanctioning those who infringes such laws. The infringers are deterred with rehabilitation efforts
and criminal penalties (Braswell, McCarthy and McCarthy 2017). The criminal justice system
varies from one country to another. In the United States, after a person is charged of an offence,
they are entitled to certain rights whereas in come other countries the person charged with an
offence are not even entitled to any rights to trials or remain silent on being questioned; instead,
they are sentenced without having any access to such rights.
In the United States, the criminal justice policy has been governed by the 1967
President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice that paved the
way for the enactment of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 1968. This system
promoted an approach towards criminal justice that ensured improved coordination between
courts, correctional agencies and law enforcement. This approach was defined as a criminal

2CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE
justice system, which provided the means for society to implement a standard of conduct that is
necessary to safeguard the community and the individuals of the community.
Issues and Analysis
According to Pakes (2017), although the pattern of initiating a criminal case is similar in
both UK and US that is, it commences with an arrest, there are certain points that differentiates
America from England. After the United States have gained its independence, the country
developed its very own Common law based upon the Constitution. While England , Northern
Ireland, Wales rely on Common Law or case laws, Scotland follows both civil law and common
law amongst which, majority of laws derive from legislation and statutes. The difference is while
common law particularly deals with case laws, the judge made decisions does not bind civil
laws.
Further, in the United States, a lawyer is entitled to deal with criminal or civil matter, in
the UK, lawyers are not called to deal with every matters unlike US where solicitors are involved
in almost every legal matters including representing clients in petty criminal matters. The
solicitors are empowered to act directly on behalf of their clients.
As stated above, after gaining independence, the USA criminal justice system has
undergone several significant reforms and implemented such changes to ensure protection of the
rights of the innocent. Pakes (2017) states that the past three decades have witnessed significant
changes in respect of crimes and criminals, in resources invested in combating crime and in the
institutions that are relied upon to enforce laws and prevent crimes.
One of the significant changes refers to the transformation from the decentralized
approach to criminal justice, which was prevalent since the establishment of the Republic to a