Criminology and Criminal Justice: Q&A on System, Ethics, and Policy

This assignment provides a comprehensive overview of the criminology and criminal justice system, addressing key questions on the roles of theory, ethics, and ideology. It delves into the implementation of public policies, particularly in the United States, focusing on drug-related policies and their impact. The assignment explores the concept of causation within criminal theories and the impact of ideology on criminal justice policies. It also examines the framing of ethics in policy and introduces translational criminology as a modern approach. The student's work references various sources to support the analysis and provides a well-structured response to the questions posed.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Q & A on Criminal Justice System
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Answer to question 1..................................................................................................................2
Role of theory in Criminal justice system:.............................................................................2
Role of ethics in Criminal justice system:..............................................................................2
Role of ideology in Criminal justice system:.........................................................................2
Answer to question 2..................................................................................................................3
Public policy:..........................................................................................................................3
Answer to question 3..................................................................................................................3
Answer to question 4..................................................................................................................4
Impact of ideology in criminal justice policy:........................................................................4
Answer to question 5..................................................................................................................5
Framing of ethics in criminal justice policy:..........................................................................5
Answer to question 6..................................................................................................................5
Translational criminology:.....................................................................................................5
Reference:..................................................................................................................................6

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Answer to question 1
Role of theory in Criminal justice system:
Theories are playing an important role in case to construe criminal justice system.
The criminologists are using theories like sociology or psychology to identify the facts or
explain the parameters of the criminality (Welsh & Harris, 2016). The frame of the
criminology is complex in nature and in the absence of any appropriate theory, it is
impossible to formulate the system. However, those theories should be classified to organise
the primary criminal justice system such as the police and correction; to provide certain
assumption on consensus or conflict (Maxfield & Babbie, 2014).
Role of ethics in Criminal justice system:
Ethics helps to differentiate between right and wrong. The system of criminal
justice use distinct rules, code or regulation. It pronounces certain methods or rules to
determine the legality and illegality of an act. Therefore, right theories should be executed to
maintain the positive framework among the society for the establishment of ethical behaviour
and make a reduction in criminal tendency (Kempadoo, Sanghera, & Pattanaik, 2015).
Role of ideology in Criminal justice system:
Ideology helps to bring a change in the complex patterns and assists to understand
the real meaning of the criminal justice system. The assumptions taken by the ideology are
open in nature and help to take a pre-cautious position in case of implementation of criminal
policies (Welsh & Harris, 2016). Ideologies are considered as hidden agenda of the system of
criminal justice.

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Answer to question 2
Public policy:
In United States, the public policies are implemented by the Federal government.
These policies are made of certain laws and regulations. In USA, the public policies are
enlisted under certain categories such as criminal justice, economic affairs, environment and
six others. Under the category of criminal justice, there are three policies included such as the
death penalties, drug policies and gun control (Blomberg et al., 2016).
Problem on drugs are a burning topic in USA. All the matters and incidents related
to drugs are governed by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act 1988 in USA. The main object of this Act
is to implement certain policies to eradicate all drug related matters from the society
(McSweeney et al., 2014). Drug related matters include drug peddling and other drug related
crimes.
Certain criteria have been taken behind the creation of the drug related policies:
 Prevent the usage of drugs within the society;
 Create positive intervention in the health society;
 Cure the drug related problems such as hallucination or abnormality;
 Stop the chain of drug use and drug related crimes;
 Dismantle the drug peddling;
 Improve the analysis and assessment criteria on the drug related matters.
Drugs affect the society as the youths are getting addicted by this. Anti-Drugs Act
1986 has certain loopholes. Provision of mandatory sentence had created a major impact on
the society and different communities. The lengthy prison sentences are also affects the social

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outcome and a need for introducing a public policy has been cropped up. Social theories have
been taken to educate the people about the harmful aspects of drugs.
Answer to question 3
Apparently, all the criminal theories are casual in nature and the main objective of
those theories to concentrate on the cause of crimes. Certain approaches have been
instrumented for point out the reason of casualness of the theories. Professor Mark Stafford
approaches that the there is a lack regarding the policy applications are being found in case of
non-casual theories. The criminal theories are intended to identify multiple causes in case of
social as well as experimental science (Wikström & Treiber, 2016). Sometimes the theories
are depended on the statistical variables that make the criminological theories complex in
nature.
On the other hand, the term cause has not been defined particularly. According to
H.L.A. Hurt, causes are interfering with the certain cause of effects to change its definition.
However, there is no concrete example of causation under criminal theories and that makes
the explanation of causation critical and complex.
Answer to question 4
Impact of ideology in criminal justice policy:
Ideology is one of the central elements to resolve the complex pattern of the
criminal justice system and help to understand the changes made in the system. The term
ideology has derived from the principle of political philosophy and social theories. Criminal
justice system lacks of explanatory power and ideology helps to understand the basic
principles of the general theories (Welsh & Harris, 2016). Recently, an attempt has been
made to analyse the behaviour of court, police and correctional matters critically and an

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additional concentration has been given on ideology due to that. Ideology is regarded as an
analytical object of choice. Ideology helps to generalise the policies of criminal justice, which
helps to expand the ambit of criminal justice. Ideology was introduced to make new ideas and
the roots of the criminal justice policies are influenced by the socio-political disciplines.
Therefore, ideology has created important impact on the criminal justice policies.
Answer to question 5
Framing of ethics in criminal justice policy:
Ethics consist of certain principles that decide whether a thing is right or wrong.
Ethics have certain direct effect on the criminological theories. It has been observed that
many factors were considered illegal when they were went against the principle of ethics.
According to Gert, ethics are delivered certain code of conduct by conceptualise the
behaviour of the individual and pointed out the wrong things harmful to the society
(Braswell, McCarthy & McCarthy, 2017). In the words of Joel Finberg, the hatred of the
community has been expressed by way of crime. In order to establish justice in the society, it
is important to implement code of conduct in the society. Ethics are playing an important role
in this case. Legal tendency has been observed to incorporate the law with ethical standards.
Answer to question 6
Translational criminology:
The term translational criminology is a part of modern criminal justice. It becomes
necessary to translate the scientific inventions into the criminal policies to prevent the same.
The main objective of this criminology is to weaken the barriers situated in between the

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fundamental and applied research and to create a dynamic line between research and practice
(Davis, 2017). A systematic approach has been made by the translational criminology to
bridge the gap between research and practice. The bridge was based on knowledge
dissemination by way of correct evidence implementation.

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Reference:
Blomberg, T. G., Brancale, J. M., Beaver, K. M., & Bales, W. D. (Eds.). (2016). Advancing
criminology and criminal justice policy. Routledge.
Braswell, M. C., McCarthy, B. R., & McCarthy, B. J. (2017). Justice, crime, and ethics.
Taylor & Francis.
Davis, M. S. (2017). The Role of State Agencies in Translational Criminology: Connecting
Research to Policy. Springer.
Kappeler, V. E., & Potter, G. W. (2017). The mythology of crime and criminal justice.
Waveland Press.
Kempadoo, K., Sanghera, J., & Pattanaik, B. (2015). Trafficking and prostitution
reconsidered: New perspectives on migration, sex work, and human rights. Routledge.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2014). Research methods for criminal justice and
criminology. Nelson Education.
McSweeney, K., Nielsen, E. A., Taylor, M. J., Wrathall, D. J., Pearson, Z., Wang, O., &
Plumb, S. T. (2014). Drug policy as conservation policy: narco-
deforestation. Science, 343(6170), 489-490.
Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned
Change. Routledge.
Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned
Change. Routledge.

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Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal Justice Policy and Planning: Planned
Change. Routledge.
Wikström, P. O. H., & Treiber, K. (2016). Situational theory: The importance of interactions
and action mechanisms in the explanation of crime. The handbook of criminological
theory, 415-444.