Criminology

A system is defined as a harmonious interdependent organization united by its functions towards a common purpose.  The criminal justice system is identified as the nexus of the different criminal justice agencies and authorities in a country. Particularly, the United States has law enforcement agencies such as courts, police system and correctional facilities operated interdependently on the federal and the state levels. Nevertheless, many regard the criminal justice system as not a system at all because the agencies are not organized, harmoniousdeveloped separately different sources of supportand each had different objectives (Robinson, 20055). The criminal justice is often referred to as a network wherein the action of one group often has an impact to the operation of the others, which forces them to interact. Moreover, the whole network is bound by a similarity in their ideal goals, which is to reduce crime and doing justice (Robinsons, 200514).  Herbert Packer (as quoted in Robinsons, 200517) noted that there are two models of justice due process and crime control. Theoretically, the due process is more just than crime control because it focused on the protection of rights. Nevertheless, if the criminal justice network aims to protect the greater number of people, it is inevitable that come of the rights are violated. In this case, crime control is more important because it reduces crime. However, crime control must be implemented without bias and stereotypical judgments. In the current American society, although crime control is more important it is also more prone to injustice.

There are alternative goals for the criminal justice network, such as serving the limited interest and controlling the population. The criminal justice network functions to benefit people who are in power. The network tries to reduce crime rates, specifically those that are harmful to businesses and politicians. Those in power use the criminal justice network to legitimize their actions and prevent others from going against their decisions. Politics is concerned about the control of the societal values and making others do what you want them to do. The role of politics in criminal justice is to legitimize the authority of people in power as they carry out their personal goalsinterests under the banner of the public good. In relation to this, there are several implications that reflected how McDonaldization affects the criminal justice network. McDonaldization refers to the process in which workers are deskilled and the interest of the corporation is prioritized by committing to programs that increased profit and customers (Robinsons,200545 ). The expenses and the systematization of criminal justice agencies reduced its proponents into assembly lines wherein individuals merely subscribe to certain checklist or what-to-do lists and are only required to follow these for the sake of consistency and efficiency. In the criminal justice network, it is best reflected through police profiling. Furthermore, the criminal justice network focuses too much on deterrence and criminalization of minor offences that increases the population of people incarcerated and trials, which led to higher budgets illuminating how criminal justice focus on profits.

The American Law is reflected by the Constitution and is implemented by the criminal justice network. The laws in its barest are authorized command that was based on permissibility and judgment. The American society is subjected to five different types of laws. The first type, natural law, is concerned with moral principles that are rendered as universal and intrinsic. Second, the positive laws or the laws that are made by humans that are indicated in the statutes or codes created by the government and enacted by the criminal justice network. An example of positive law is the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures (Robinson, 200558). The third type of law is known as the common law composed of unwritten laws from traditions and customs handed down from previous generations such as prohibiting the use of indecent language on public roads. Fourth, criminal laws or the laws that sanction the acts that are against the government. Lastly, civil laws are laws that sanction acts against individuals. Laws are meant to protect the rights and liberties of the citizens. According to the social contract theorists, laws must be made to ensure that the citizens would not harm each other (Robinson, 200564). Nonetheless, the laws in the American society were created and being manipulated largely by business owners and powerful individual to protect and advance their personal interest. Thus, the law failed to protect the powerless members of the society. The notion of crime is carelessly used to acts that are not too dangerous to the society. For example, the USA Patriot Act was passed to expand the ability of criminal justice network in making surveillance in order to protect the country from terrorists attack. In essence, this act subjugates the basic right to privacy of most individuals because criminal justice agencies especially the FBI is allowed to wiretap, monitor emails and calls received, conduct search and issue subpoenas for suspected individuals.

Humans created laws that labeled certain behavior as illegal and therefore, criminal. For example, while killing is a matter of survival in the realm of animals, humans called them crime. Crime is doing something that opposes the law. Street crimes are the criminal offenses conducted in public places. Corporate crimes differ from street crimes because it is made by corporations or a group of individuals that are punishable by the state, not merely by the criminal law. White-collar crimes are the unethical behavior and conduct by a person or an organization with legal occupations to gain economically. Corporate crime is a type of white-collar crime because it is usually conducted by people in the corporate world. The American crime sources are the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCV). The UCR is a statistical report of all the crimes reported while the NCV is surveyed of the crimes that are not reported (Robinson, 2005 106-8). These reports reflect that most of the unreported crimes are property crimes. Moreover, it also shows that most of the people are incarcerated due to street crimes. The author of corporate bandits and who stole your money while you slept initiated a thought process by reconsidering what he was going to do and explaining his observation afterwards. The top executives of the corporations in the United States were found to be involved in fraud and other white-collar crimes.

The typical reason why street crimes got more attention than corporate crimes is due to the intense media coverage focused on violent crimes. More particularly, violence is being dramatized by the media to the point that it encourages copycat crimes (Robinson, 2005124). The media referred to ways by which information and data, especially news, are disseminated. This is done through radio, television, newspaper, journals, and other means to mass communicate. The manner in which the media cover crimes affect peoples attitudes about the crime (Surette in Robinson, 2005129). The focus given on street crimes and the failure to shed light to corporate crimes affects the publics perception of the gravity of the offense. Since media affect the culture and are able to amplify claims of politicians, then the public could be misled regarding the current law-and-order status of the country (Robinson, 2005151). For instance, the presentation of the September 11 terrorist attacks was filled with prophetic stories, music and sounds of impending battle, and headlines that seemed to encourage the attack. This is not a good practice because it instill in the mind of the populace that war is not only inevitable but also preferable.