Exploring Criminal Justice: Assumptions, Theories, and Issues

This essay delves into the realm of criminal justice, beginning with the author's initial assumptions and their subsequent refinement through coursework. It examines the influence of factors such as race, gender, and ethnicity on punishment within the Australian criminal justice system, highlighting the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in prisons as a particularly concerning issue. The essay also explores the concept of masculinity in crime and the role of women in the criminal justice system, discussing various theoretical perspectives such as feminism, radicalism, liberalism, post-modernism, and Marxism. Furthermore, it analyzes the theory of restorative justice and its potential application in future academic work, contrasting it with traditional retributive justice models and emphasizing its focus on rehabilitation and reconciliation. The essay concludes by summarizing the key topics covered and the author's evolving understanding of the criminal justice system, particularly in the context of prison punishment and the application of different theoretical frameworks.

Running head: PRISON PUNISHMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
PRISON PUNISHMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
In this paper I will be discussing about the topics that had been covered in Criminal Justice.
Before joining the class I had certain assumptions about some topics which were proved to be
not completely right, I will also discuss those assumptions. In furtherance to this I will
discuss the topics that I felt were relevant. In this paper I will also discuss the theories
covered in the course which appealed to me the most and which I might use in my future
academic works.
Assumptions
Before this course I assumed that an individual is punished only because of the crime they
have committed. I was unaware of the racism or its effect in the Australian criminal justice
system. But over the course of this lecture I found out that there are multiple factors that
influence an offender’s punishment in the criminal justice system. Some factors that
influence the punishment level and rate include race, gender and ethnicity of a person. One of
the major influencer of criminal justice is the gender of the offender. Initially it was an
unquestionable category in the Australian penal system. However, since the 1970s the
debates were seen to arise about the gender bias within the penal system. The debates on the
gender of the offenders were articulated conventionally by the distinction between the sex or
gender of the offender while they are punished. Although not defined exactly why, but crime
has always been related with the concept of hegemonic masculinity (Carter 2018). Through
the perspective in criminology violence has always been associated with masculinity, even
though it has been observed that violence is committed against both women and men in the
same rate. Another factor that I have learned in the topic of masculinity in crime is that the
prison is considered as the site of struggle between masculinity and the hierarchy existing in

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masculinity. The hierarchy which exists in the prison system is reinforced by physical
violence. The prisoners and guards exert dominance by way of the concept of hegemonic
masculinity (Maycock and Hunt 2018). The role of women in the field of crime and criminal
justice had been largely ignored by the penal system. However, the supporters of the feminist
theories have highly criticized the male dominance over the criminal justice system. From the
1970s the feminist thinkers have considered the women to be the center of their research in
the penal system (Sloan 2018). The role of women in crime and criminal justice system has
been explored by way of various theoretical perspectives such as radicalism, liberalism, post-
modernism and Marxism.
Topic standing out for Me
The most stood out topic for me was the over representation of the aboriginals in the prison
system in Australia. The rate over representation of Australian aboriginals in the prison is
considered as highest in the world (Rudin 2016). This is an alarming concern as it often
portrays the racial discrimination that exist in the Australian criminal justice system (Tubex,
Blagg and Tulich 2018). As per the 2012 statistics the aboriginals represented a little over
27% of the total prison population in Australian criminal justice system. Almost 2000
aboriginals approximately in every 100000 adults are imprisoned in a standard manner
(Australia.gov.au 2020). This rate has been considered as being 15 times higher than non-
indigenous people whose imprisonment rate is 129 in every 100000 adult. The juveniles in
the indigenous communities are 28 times more likely to get detained than their non-
indigenous counterparts and the rate of imprisonment among the women from the indigenous
communities is 29% times higher than their non-indigenous counterparts. A major concern
raised in the topic is the growth of imprisonment of indigenous women in the criminal justice
system in Australia at an alarming rate. another thing that student in a topic for me was

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normalisation of the prison culture among the indigenous people (Humanrights 2019).
Getting detained by the police is such a common experience among the man in the
indigenous community that it has been argued that entering into person has been rite of
passage for them(White, 2015). One such reason for over representation of the indigenous
communities is that in such communities there are recreational facilities for the youth then
there is in a prison (Trotter, Baidawi and Evans 2015). Another reason for a high criminal
record among the aboriginals is that there is very low job opportunities or social sanctions
approved for them.
Theories that would be useful in Future academic work
One of the theoretical that I found that would be useful for my future academic works is the
restorative justice. By the help of restorative justice theory the offender is organised to meet
with the victim for the purpose of reconciliation (Council 2016). The main focus in the
restorative justice theory of punishment is the rehabilitation of the criminals by way of
reconciliation with victims to whom they have committed the crime. This theory of
punishment provides the criminals with a chance of being responsible towards their
misconducts and helps them to become a responsible law abiding citizen (Van Ness and
Strong 2018). The restorative justice theory of punishment has been considered as a genuine
and oppositional alternative towards the theory of punishment of retributive justice (Maruna
2016). Restorative justice puts together a collection of many programs within the traditional
system of criminal justice. Some of the methods used in the criminal justice system in NSW
are conferencing, circle sentencing, and reintegrative shaming (Joudo-Larsen 2014). This
theory will help me in understanding different and conventional approaches in punishment.
As my course is related to prison punishments the restorative justice theory would help me to

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get a perspective of whether desistance towards crime can be best achieved by the
conventional or traditional approach in punishing offenders.
Conclusion
In this paper I have discussed in brief about a few topics that had been covered in Criminal
Justice studies. As stated earlier I had certain assumptions about the prison and punishment
systems practiced in the penal system in Australia which were corrected by way of this study.
I also learned about the theoretical perspectives of various models of punishments one of
which I have discussed in this paper as I find it to be appealing and useful for my future
academic work.

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Reference
Australia.gov.au. (2020). Our people | australia.gov.au. Retrieved 25 January 2020, from
https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people
Carter, K., 2018. Masculinity in prison. In Gender and Qualitative Research (1996) (pp. 6-
21). Routledge.
Council, R.J., 2016. What is restorative justice.
Humanrights (2019). Social Justice and Native Title Reports | Australian Human Rights
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https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-
justice/projects/social-justice-and-native
Joudo-Larsen, J., 2014. Restorative justice in the Australian criminal justice system. AIC
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Maruna, S., 2016. Desistance and restorative justice: it’s now or never.
Maycock, M. and Hunt, K. eds., 2018. New perspectives on prison masculinities. Springer.
Rudin, J., 2016. Aboriginal peoples and the criminal justice system.
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Tubex, H., Blagg, H. and Tulich, T., 2018. Western Australian penal culture and indigenous
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