The Modern Criminal Justice System

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The Modern Criminal Justice System

Modern Criminal Justice System (CJS) denotes components that let the United States guarantees its citizenry impartiality, equality, the acceptable practice of the rule of law, and the implementation of a democratic system. It entails several processes and agencies intended to control crime by imposing fines on people who infringe laws. America does not have a standardized CJS; meaning some systems function on a similar, but individual basis as informed by the fundamentals of an area’s jurisdiction. Tribal, state, county, or city authorities have slightly diverse processes, regulations, and rules for managing crime. Therefore, this essay develops coherent arguments regarding the history and development of CJS in the United States.

How did CJS take Shape?

After the American Revolution, reformers established more unified and professional legal systems. According to Stevenson and Mayson (2018), before the Revolution, Americans did not have distinct judicial processes since colonies operated autonomously; for that reason, they had different courts, punishments, and criminal codes. Perhaps these are the circumstances that increased founders' needs to craft a constitution for the new nation. George and Yoon (2017) recognized that the American Revolution presented a perfect opportunity for reformists to not only to realize homogeneity, but also to guarantee that the new federal and state jurisdictions protected colonists' hard-fought liberties. From these fore goings, the American Revolution signified the beginning of Americans experiencing a cohesive and synchronized CJS. During the adoption of the drafted U.S. constitution, persons demanded to have a CJS that listed and protected their independence as they feared that with the growth of the federal government, their rights would slowly disappear.

Possibly the supreme effort of reformists after the American Revolution was the adoption of the Bills of Rights that augmented the protection of citizens, shaping the CJS. To guarantee the enactment of a highly contentious constitution, Perkinson (2010) postulated that Americans settled on a series of amendments to protect citizens. In 1791, the federal government adopted the Bill of Rights, highlighting the Eighth Amendment that protected people from unusual and cruel punishment following a violation of laws (Stevenson & Mayson, 2018). The constitutional change preferred incarceration as a method of punishment instead of brutal measures, including piercing of tongues, cutting off ears, branding, and public whippings. Consequently, it resulted in the growth of improved prison systems that prioritized isolation, where wardens placed offenders in cells, often with a Bible, to think about their criminal ways, changing for the greater good.

When did CJS take Shape?

In 1826, Edward Livingston wrote the Livingston Code that shaped the future of CJS as it presented different views on criminal jurisprudence in the United States. According to Walker (1997), the document contained four different sections relating to reform and prison discipline, evidence, procedure, and crimes and punishments. Each of the codes, as mentioned earlier, entailed introductory information that detailed its basis and described its underlying viewpoint. George and Yoon (2017) acknowledged that using his systems, Livingston communicated his views on criminal injustice, for example, he stated that his...