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Roles & Needs of a Criminal Justice Professional

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Roles & Needs of a Criminal Justice Professional
Roles & Needs of a Criminal Justice Professional Sarah Cavileer Kaplan University CJ100: Preparing For a Career in Public Safety
September 18, 2012

As we all know – there are tons of social issues within the entire world that Criminal Justice Practitioners deal with, most likely, on a daily basis. One of the many social issues I’ve chosen is Prison Overcrowding.
Prison Overcrowding is one of America’s most critical issues in the Criminal Justice system. Just as the name states, the problem is insufficient jail space – for which the solution would be to build more facilities. What causes this problem? There are a lot of people in the world that believe putting all crime doers in jail is the best resolution. Let’s be honest here and say that this is not necessarily the case. Minimum sentences may also play a major role in the cause of prison overcrowding. Those who are convicted of drug offenses are a direct result of prison overpopulation. Room is consistently being made for these particular non-violent criminals and those who are violent felons are being released on parole as a result.
Our lawful intent is to stop all criminals – most importantly the violent offenders. However, the result has been that criminals that have a history of minor offenses such as: petite theft or dealing drugs, are being sent away for longer terms than the criminals who commit violent acts. The population in prisons have grown so much that most facilities are already packed beyond capacity and many more prisons are needed to be built. However, there are, in fact, alternative solutions to this particular issue of prison overcrowding. Victimless crimes do not always need to be punished by putting people in jail.
Another social issue that I’ve chosen is Immigration.
Immigration raises three significant, controversial issues in the Criminal Justice field. The first significant issue are the Immigrants who have been convicted of crimes – documented and undocumented – are to be


References: http://www.ehow.com/about_5393995_problems-criminal-justice.html https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/158837.pdf http://voices.yahoo.com/issues-within-united-states-criminal-justice-system-5130989.html?cat=17 http://www.ehow.com/about_5548195_problems-within-criminal-justice-system.html http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/03/the-real-problem-with-immigration-and-the-real-solution
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