Corruption Within the Criminal Justice System
Corruption within the Criminal Justice System
I have always had a strong passion for the criminal justice system especially policing. Even as a student at Jessie Jensen Elementary I remember picking police officers for Career Day. However, my admiration for police officers has become pure disappointment. Corruption has become a major issue within police departments.
Unfortunately more and more police officers are being lured into committing corrupt acts. Although corruption with in the criminal justice system has always been around, it is now more evident than ever.
Policing in the United States has been around since the early nineteenth century
(Siegal and Senna 154). Even in the early nineteenth century corruption with in the police department was already a rising issue (Siegal and Senna 154). It is now becoming a major issue that continues to worsen. As we all know police officers are very closely involved with the citizens of our community, but I ask myself how close is to close? Police officers are now betraying their badges with the help of corrupt local citizens by committing the corrupt act of drug smuggling. In St. Louis, Bruce Gales, owner of a towing company, and Sergeant Christopher
Cornell were indicted on multiple charges in the distribution of approximately 120 kilograms and about $ 2.4 million in drug proceeds (“Owner of Wellston Towing”)
Police officers should be setting the example for the citizens by not joining in and bringing more corruption to the police departments. Sergeant Cornell was misguided into crossing the line of crime which caused him to end up throwing his career away, and facing prison time. Sergeant Cornell punishment was only ten years in prison with the privilege of parole. That punishment was definitely not stiff enough especially for the crime he committed. Sergeant Cornell will only spend five out of those ten years in prison since he was awarded parole and will do the other five years out of
I have always had a strong passion for the criminal justice system especially policing. Even as a student at Jessie Jensen Elementary I remember picking police officers for Career Day. However, my admiration for police officers has become pure disappointment. Corruption has become a major issue within police departments.
Unfortunately more and more police officers are being lured into committing corrupt acts. Although corruption with in the criminal justice system has always been around, it is now more evident than ever.
Policing in the United States has been around since the early nineteenth century
(Siegal and Senna 154). Even in the early nineteenth century corruption with in the police department was already a rising issue (Siegal and Senna 154). It is now becoming a major issue that continues to worsen. As we all know police officers are very closely involved with the citizens of our community, but I ask myself how close is to close? Police officers are now betraying their badges with the help of corrupt local citizens by committing the corrupt act of drug smuggling. In St. Louis, Bruce Gales, owner of a towing company, and Sergeant Christopher
Cornell were indicted on multiple charges in the distribution of approximately 120 kilograms and about $ 2.4 million in drug proceeds (“Owner of Wellston Towing”)
Police officers should be setting the example for the citizens by not joining in and bringing more corruption to the police departments. Sergeant Cornell was misguided into crossing the line of crime which caused him to end up throwing his career away, and facing prison time. Sergeant Cornell punishment was only ten years in prison with the privilege of parole. That punishment was definitely not stiff enough especially for the crime he committed. Sergeant Cornell will only spend five out of those ten years in prison since he was awarded parole and will do the other five years out of
Bibliography: Martrinez, Andrew. “Ex-cop, gang members still at large.” The Monitor 26 Sept. 2006 <http://www.themonitor.com/>. Simferopol, Russia. 04 Sept. 2006. Transcript. Lexis-Nexis. U of Texas – Pan American Lib., Edinburg, Tx. 14 Nov. 2006 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>. Siegel, Larry J. and Joseph J. Senna. Introduction to Criminal Justice. United States: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Service. Lexis-Nexis. U of Texas- Pan American Lib., Edinburg, Tx. 29 Sept. 2006 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/>. Safety. Sept. 2005. <http://fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/sept05.txt/>.