Category: Criminal Justice Essay Examples

Paternalism describes a particular type of intervention in an individual’s life. As the name suggests it implies a caring, fatherly, parental relationship, in which the paternal authority carrying out the intervention is motivated by a sense of responsibility that echoes the relationship between parents and their offspring. From …

The current model for justice in the United States is one of “war making,” as in the “war on crime” that has been waged for nearly four decades. Critics note that such a model has been in effect with little to show for its efforts. Recidivism and incarceration …

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, spawned from the colonists’ experiences with general warrants issued by the English crown, purports to require a search warrant for all searches by law enforcement and other government officials: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, …

Plato (ca. 428–347 B.C.E.) was a classical Greek philosopher, writer, mathematician, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, and founder of the Academy. Plato was a highly intelligent individual with a range of knowledge in ethics, politics, and metaphysical and epistemological issues. Although the exact dates of his birth …

Plea bargaining is a procedure used to adjudicate criminal charges in lieu of trials. Central to this procedure are offers by government officials (typically either prosecutors or judges) to reduce the amount of punishment those charged with crimes receive if they agree to waive their right to trial …

Historically, police corruption has been a persisting, serious, and in some cases pervasive feature of police services. Corruption can be seen as a kind of occupational hazard for police, with the nature of police work offering an unusually large number of opportunities for corrupt behavior. Moreover, features of …

Rationalizations (or neutralizations) are often used by individuals to minimize deviance, misconduct, or criminal behavior while still presenting an image of conformity. Whether termed rationalizations or neutralizations, these allow individuals to release themselves temporarily from conventional morality and engage in deviant or illegal behaviors. These techniques also serve …

Profiling can broadly be defined as an investigative tool that helps predict the personal characteristics and motivations of an unknown offender. The category of profiling includes a variety of techniques and practices, such as analyzing the individual and geographic characteristics of crime scenes, which each contribute unique information …

Values are deeply held beliefs about what is right and how to achieve it. A value system combines one’s collective beliefs and places them in order of importance. Values trace back to early years, and encompass the formative influences of family, society, and institutions. Values play out in …

Police–citizen interactions are influenced by any number of variables, not the least of which is trust. Trust is difficult to measure in this context but plays out in the interactions between police and citizens. When citizens trust the police, they are not inclined to doubt or question police …

The origins of criminal justice in the United States as conceived by John Locke, and later as reconceived by John Rawls, emphasize the concept of an “unbiased adjudicator”—a person or institution of deliberation without a stake in the outcome of a decision. This basic theory outlines the difficulties …

Polygraphs, commonly referred to as lie detectors, are electronic instruments commonly used during pre-employment background investigations and in criminal investigations, although on a more limited basis. The ethical issues pertaining to polygraph use are essentially deception, coercion, and justice. Additionally, for polygraphs to be used ethically, the competency …

Pornography generally refers to sexually explicit materials, including movies, television, Web sites, books, and magazines depicting various aspects of sexuality. This material ranges from “soft-core” to “hard-core” pornography. Soft-core pornography generally includes sexually explicit materials involving nudity and does not directly include images of intercourse, although intercourse may …

The term positive law refers to what is also sometimes called “black-letter law”; that is, positive law is law that is written down, on the books. Positive law is law that exists factually as law because it has been duly passed by a legislature, or duly stated by …

Postcolonialism describes an era, worldview, and intellectual discourse of the events of the mid-20th century. Like other schools of thought, it reflects a paradigmatic shift buoyed by new material conditions. Postcolonialism both celebrates the end of colonialism and examines the aftereffects of colonialism in contemporary times. It is …

Power is a concept that cuts across a variety of social science disciplines, including sociology, political science, and criminal justice. Power is located at all levels of social life, from personal interactions, to relationships in institutional settings such as schools and prisons, and to the highest levels of …

Ethical pragmatism is an often misunderstood topic because many people misunderstand the meaning of pragmatism. While pragmatism is often thought of as meaning “as long as it works,” or even “trial and error,” pragmatic thought actually is closely aligned with scientific reasoning. However, one cannot make ethical decisions …

The professionalization of America’s police forces that began in the early 1900s has had as an obvious consequence an increasing reliance on science and technology to address the crime problem. To this end, police have utilized crime mapping and criminological theory to complement foot and random motor patrols …

Preventive detention is the incarceration or detention of an individual deemed to pose a risk to society. Versions of preventive detention operate both within and outside the criminal justice system. Within the justice system, both pretrial detention and the criminal detention of dangerous persons differ from traditional criminal …

Broadly, prison abolition concerns a critical movement to rethink penology and the reliance on incarceration as the primary tool of punishment. Advocates of prison abolition encourage greater criminal justice imagination and call for the use of more productive  alternatives to the incarceration of mostly poor, minority, youthful men. …