Alan Shank
AJS/582
July 21, 2014
Barry McCrary
Criminal Justice Policy Process
The criminal justice system has multiple functions and takes on many roles within our society. However, there are many areas within the criminal justice field that use improvement and benefit from an overhaul within the system. The largest change within the system can and should be made within the corrections component of law enforcement. Although there are needed changes throughout the system corrections has proven to be the one component that has been ineffective at curbing recidivism in convicted criminals and is currently unable to provide reasonable outcomes for individuals that are released once they complete their sentences. …show more content…
There is also a need in the manner in which law enforcement manages drugs and drug enforcement. This can be handled by making drugs a public health problem instead of a criminal one (Lozoff, n.d.). This can shift a majority of the drug problem onto other services and by decriminalizing drug use and possession individuals can get treatment instead of being locked up for a mental health and addiction problem. This would alleviate overbooked court rooms and prisons allowing for the truly violent and dangerous criminals to be placed in space that is taken up by less violent offenders (Lozoff, n.d.). In changing the way the system manages drugs and drug addicts the crimes associated with drug use can also be decreased or eliminated (Chandler, Fletcher, & Volkow, …show more content…
Given that judicial officials struggle with interpreting some laws how can we expect a law enforcement agent in the field in the heat of the moment to do interpret the same law (Meese, 1982). This also includes removing old laws from the books that are active but are no longer meaningful along with laws that have been replaced by new legislation.
Additionally changing the classification of some lesser crimes from the ranks of being felonies can also ease the burden within the corrections facilities and work to decrease the overall first time offenders placed into violent situations within the prison setting (Judge, 1990). It is known that by placing nonviolent offenders into long term prison terms where they are near more criminal individuals and they can learn new methods to perform criminal actions upon completion of their