Achieving Criminal Justice: The Role of Social Justice Principles

This essay explores the intricate relationship between criminal justice and social justice, emphasizing that criminal justice cannot be achieved without social justice. It defines both concepts, highlighting social justice as a broader framework encompassing fairness, equality, and equitable distribution of resources, while criminal justice focuses on upholding laws and punishing offenders. The essay argues that criminal justice is a subset of social justice, dependent on its principles. It provides examples illustrating how equal treatment under the law, regardless of socioeconomic status, is essential for maintaining public trust and the effectiveness of the legal system. The essay also examines the impact of social and economic factors, such as poverty and exclusion, on criminal behavior, and the importance of addressing these issues to achieve true justice. It concludes that the foundation of fairness and moral equity is crucial for the success of any legal system.

Criminal justice cannot be
achieved in the absence of
social justice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The term justice is elusive and its meaning vary from person to person. It can change in
different circumstances and can be quite personal in nature. It is often interchanged with the
term fairness. All people want that they should be treated fairly and all have different version of
fairness (Ministry of Justice, 2010). It is the responsibility of society to set laws, moral codes,
sanctions and expectations to ensure that the justice is provided to the masses. Social justice and
criminal justice are the two main examples through which society accomplish goal.
Social justice can be defined as the just and fair relationship between society and
individuals. It is an overarching concept which is concerned about what is fair and unfair, right
and wrong (Young, Adamou and Asherson, 2011). The concept of fairness and correctness are
applied in the society by the principle of equality or equal opportunity of the social justice. It is
the proper and fair law administration that is in conformity with the natural law which states that
all persons should be treated equally irrespective of their ethnic origin, religion, race,
possessions, gender etc. There should be no prejudice on the basis of all these factors. It assigns
the duties and rights in the institutions of society so that basic benefits and burdens of
cooperation can be provided to the people. These institutions generally consist of public health,
taxation, public school, public insurance, public services, market regulations and labour law
which ensures that the wealth is fairly distributed; there is equality of outcome and equal
opportunities (Van Ness and Strong, 2014). For example – equal employment opportunities,
welfare programs, free public education, universal right to vote etc. It is a vast concept and
encompasses equal social, economical and political rights and opportunities.
Criminal justice is determined as the system of institutions and practices of the
government that are directed to uphold social control, mitigation and deterrent of crimes, or
sanctioning criminal penalties and efforts for rehabilitation on those who violate laws. The main
aim of the criminal justice system is to deliver justice by punishing and convicting the guilty and
helping them stop offences so that innocent people can be protected. There are mainly five
components of criminal justice system – enforcement of law, attorneys for defence, prosecution,
corrections and courts (Reisig, Tankebe and Mesko, 2014). All these components play a cardinal
role in the process of criminal justice.
Although criminal justice and social justice are two different aspects yet they are deeply
inter related with each other. Criminal justice is a subset of social justice which is applicable
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when there is violation of principles of fair and unfair, right and wrong according to criminal
law. It is a specific category of social justice and is determined as what is right and fair in the
opinion of culture in accordance with the criminal law. Social justice may be inadequate in
complex and large societies which have diversified cultures, behaviours and religions (Shaw,
Waldorf and Hazan, 2010). Criminal justice is based on more stringent and quantitative codes
that evolve in the form of laws. The objective of both social justice and criminal justice is to
establish control on wrong, unjust or offensive actions that are threatening to the rights of other
people in the society.
It is correctly said that criminal justice cannot be achieved without the social justice. Both
these justice systems are complementary and go hand in hand. The criminal justice is linked with
the wider notions of fairness and equity which are the main principles of social justice. This can
be proved with a simple example – when a person is proved to be guilty for certain crime and
held for punishment in the court of law then, it does not matter whether that person is millionaire
or celebrity or any other guy on the street. Both of them would be given same sentence
irrespective of any other factors (Cashmore, 2010). If in the given example, court has given
punishment to the poor guy and not the millionaire, then, it would be an unfair treatment and
people would not trust law and follow it which will lead to failure of all laws that are made for
the welfare of society and nation as a whole. Thus, it can be rightly stated that in absence of
social justice, the purpose of criminal justice will fail.
The main principle of any legislation is that all are equal in the eyes of law. People
cannot be discriminated on the basis of their caste, religion, language, gender, employment or
any such factors in the court of law. The main aim of any law is to provide justice to innocent
and punishment to the guilty and for this it is imperative that all are treated equally. The
importance of social justice in the criminal justice is deeply rooted in the concepts of formation
of law which were formed with an intention to provide justice to the person who was deprived of
his basic rights and needs.
Human beings are social animals who live in society and use resources for their
fulfilment of their needs (Nouwen and Werner, 2010). With the passage of time, world has
evolved drastically in each and every aspect such as increase in population, poverty,
unemployment, competition and the like which have resulted in a number of criminal offences
such as conflicts, theft, robberies, murders, human trafficking and so on. The list of crime is
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increasing at a very fast pace with the increase in negative qualities in people. These are the main
reasons for which laws and regulations came in the picture i.e. to control these offences so that
all people in the society can lead a happy and comfortable life without the fear that something
wrong can happen to them. Some of the major reasons which give rise to offences include greed,
jealousy and desire of the person to go ahead of everyone, societal status, peer pressure, mental
stress and a number of other factors that drive a person from normal human being to a criminal
(DeLisi and Vaughn, 2014). Thus, it is clear that social justice and criminal justice are closely
inter connected and share the common roots from which they evolved.
Justice focuses on the ideals of fairness and morals of equity. Social justice embraces all
the different aspects that are essential in a civilised life. It is wider concept and includes criminal
justice that is an important mechanism for achieving justice (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2015). It is a
part of social justice and ideal of fairness for people who violate criminal law or people who
became victims of such violator. The defendants, victims and other people seek and expect
fairness from the criminal justice system. Moreover, the actions of this system often spark
society as what can be considered as equal justice.
Different countries have their own set of criminal laws that tend to control criminal
activities and provide remedies and justice to the bonafide parties. English criminal law is the
body of law in the jurisdiction of England and Wales that deals with the crimes and their
impacts. It is complementary to the civil law of the country (Hochstetler, DeLisi and Pratt,
2010). The purpose of criminal law is to protect society by detecting and prosecuting the
criminal actions and punishing the individuals who are charged with violation of laws.
Another dimension that should be focused is the two main elements or fundamentals of a
crime – actus reas is a physical element that means guilty act and mens rea is mental element
which means guilty mind. But, England and Wales has strict liability offences whereby
behaviour is criminalized without the need to prove criminal mens rea. This strict liability
offences have had a reverse impact on the wrong doers as they are not given a chance to improve
themselves and lead a normal life again (From criminal justice to social justice, 2010). One of
the important case in this context is regarding young adults. Millions of young adults are
processed by agencies of criminal justice system every year. Though this is justified on the
grounds of its crime prevention efficacy but it is greatly harmful for the lives of young adults that
are considered as one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. It tends to do unnecessary
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damage rather than resolving the disadvantage to the life chances of young adult offenders. This
is the biggest hurdle which prevents them from living a crime – free life and they remain
excluded from the society that triggers them to re-offend rather than becoming civilised persons
(Bullock, 2014). It is vital to understand the reasons behind the offensive acts done by young
adults as they might have faced personal, economical or social problems including blighted
childhoods, poverty, violence, mental distress, exclusion, trauma and other social challenges.
Thus, it can be seen that criminal justice system is not contributing with the social justice as
targetting young adults who come from a poor and exclusion background is only exacerbating
the problems instead of ameliorating them. Criminal justice system has nothing to offer to this
age group for cause of social justice. Therefore, it is inferred that lack of social justice in the
criminal justice system would only increase the problems and crimes rather than reducing them
and thus, principles and ideals of fairness cannot be achieved.
The law is developed for the benefits of all the citizens and not for a particular section of
the society. It is therefore important while taking any actions that the court of law considers both
the aspects of the case rather than providing justice to the victim (Ford, 2011). As, the criminal is
also a human being and it is very possible that crimes conducted are not always due to guilty or
malafide intentions but may be done negligently or mistakenly or due to some other mental
distress that arises due to poor upbringing or other reasons as mentioned above. It is crucial that
the law maintains a balance between moral aspects and criminal aspects so that the purpose for
which legislation was made can be fulfilled.
Social justice is a broader concept that encompasses ideals of fairness and equity on
social, political and economical grounds. It tends to provide equal treatments to all the persons in
the society without any discrimination on the basis of caste, colour, creed, religion, gender,
education etc. While, criminal justice system seeks to identify criminal actions and punish the
guilty when there is violation of criminal law (Banks, 2012). It is a subset of social justice which
is applicable when there is violation of principles of fair and unfair, right and wrong according to
criminal law. Therefore, the statement that criminal justice cannot be achieved in the absence of
social justice is justified as when the basic principles of fairness and moral equity that form the
foundation of laws and legislations are not achieved, then, the law would fail in providing its
justice for which it was formed. Hence, it is crucial to understand the relationship between these
two systems of justice which is embedded in the society from long time ago.
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CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, it can be concluded from the above report that justice is an elusive term
whose meaning varies from person to person and changes with the circumstances in which
justice is sought. It is generally, interpreted as fairness. Two examples through which justice can
be sought by the society is social justice and criminal justice. Social justice is a overarching
concept that is concerned with the principles of correctness and fairness in the society based on
the notion of equality and equal opportunities. Criminal justice is a subset of social justice that
applies when the principles of just and unjust, right and wrong are violated according to the
criminal law. It can be articulated that both these concepts have evolved from the same roots and
it is impossible to achieve criminal justice without social justice. Criminal justice system is based
on social justice that plays a key role in achieving the purpose of criminal law.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banks, C., 2012. Criminal justice ethics: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Bullock, K., 2014. Introduction. In Citizens, Community and Crime Control(pp. 1-24). Palgrave
Macmillan UK.
Cashmore, A. R., 2010. The Lucretian swerve: The biological basis of human behavior and the
criminal justice system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(10),
pp.4499-4504.
DeLisi, M. and Vaughn, M.G., 2014. Foundation for a temperament-based theory of antisocial
behavior and criminal justice system involvement. Journal of Criminal Justice. 42(1).
pp.10-25.
Ford, S., 2011. A social psychology model of the perceived legitimacy of International Criminal
Courts: Implications for the success of transitional justice mechanisms.Kelly, L., 2011.
‘Social inclusion’through sports-based interventions?. Critical Social Policy. 31(1).
pp.126-150.
Hochstetler, A., DeLisi, M. and Pratt, T. C., 2010. Social support and feelings of hostility among
released inmates. Crime & Delinquency. 56(4). pp.588-607.
Ministry of Justice, 2010. Breaking the cycle: effective punishment, rehabilitation and
sentencing of offenders (Vol. 7972). The Stationery Office.
Nouwen, S. M. and Werner, W. G., 2010. Doing justice to the political: The international
criminal court in Uganda and Sudan. European Journal of International Law. 21(4).
pp.941-965.
Reisig, M. D., Tankebe, J. and Mesko, G., 2014. Compliance with the law in Slovenia: The role
of procedural justice and police legitimacy. European Journal on Criminal Policy and
Research. 20(2). pp.259-276.
Sensoy, Ö. and DiAngelo, R., 2015. Is everyone really equal?: An introduction to key concepts
in social justice education. Teachers College Press.
Shaw, R., Waldorf, L. and Hazan, P., 2010. Localizing transitional justice: Interventions and
priorities after mass violence. Stanford University Press.
Van Ness, D. W. and Strong, K. H., 2014. Restoring justice: An introduction to restorative
justice. Routledge.
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Young, S. J., Adamou, M., and Asherson, P., 2011. The identification and management of
ADHD offenders within the criminal justice system: a consensus statement from the UK
Adult ADHD Network and criminal justice agencies. BMC psychiatry. 11(1). p.32.
Online
From criminal justice to social justice. 2010. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/criminal-justice-social-justice>. [Accessed
on 11th March 2017].
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