Category: Criminal Justice Essay Examples
See our collection of criminal justice essay examples. These examples are to help you understanding how to write essays on crime-related topics. Contemporary study of criminology and criminal justice is also increasingly interdisciplinary and thus features a broad variety of topics on the causes, effects, and responses to crime. Also, see our list of criminal justice essay topics to find the one that interests you.
Sustainability has become a core organizing principle within political life at the start of the 21st century. Sustainability as a political concept has been derived from the notion of sustainable development that was promulgated at the end of the 20th century through a series of high-profile international discussions …
In contrast to the term panopticon, which is the observation of the many by the few, the term synopticon refers to the observation of the few by the many. Originated by sociologist Thomas Mathiesen, the term is often associated with a number of functions and trends related to …
Police officers in the United States carry handguns. The most typical police handguns are 9 millimeter, .40 caliber, and .45 caliber, which can carry as many as 17 rounds of ammunition. When a police officer shoots a suspect, that suspect is likely to die or to be gravely …
Televising an execution involves questions about the legality of the media disseminating images of a state-sponsored execution, as well as the effect a broadcast execution may have on society. Thus, one set of concerns relates to principles of open government and the importance of having actual execution footage …
In recent years, with the advent and popularity of the cell phone, lawmakers have expressed growing concern about the occurrence of distracted driving. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines distracted driving as “any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from …
Therapeutic jurisprudence, a concept developed by David Wexler and Bruce Winick, is used to describe the therapeutic potential of the law. Specifically, therapeutic jurisprudence is a philosophy of law suggesting that legal rules, legal procedures, and roles of various actors in the legal and criminal justice systems can …
Thermal imaging devices detect infrared radiation that is invisible to the naked eye. The devices then convert that infrared radiation into images based on relative warmth. Thus, the device can show areas of a dwelling that are emitting heat. Law enforcement sometimes uses thermal imaging technology to determine …
Three-strikes-and-you’re-out laws, borrowing a phrase from the baseball context, are those laws that impose up to natural life imprisonment on offenders convicted of three offenses, so categorized as strike offenses. Strikes need not necessarily be for violent crimes, but three strikes, according to some state legislatures, renders the …
Torture is a highly controversial practice that is surrounded by a complex ethical dilemma. The use of torture as an interrogation technique is as old as humankind. After the end of World War II, several countries, including France, Spain, and the United States, began working on the Universal …
The term transitional justice (TJ) is of fairly recent creation and is generally taken to signify a process of democratization occurring in a state that transitions from authoritarian rule, war, or internal conflict to a liberal democracy or a state of peace. Associated with the transition is the …
Truth-in-sentencing statutes require individuals convicted of certain types of crime to serve a substantial portion (most commonly 85 percent) of their court-imposed sentence behind bars. These statutes were designed to reduce the use of policies and procedures that allowed for the early release of inmates via “good time” …
Undercover operations involve a variety of deceptive investigative tactics and techniques that are used to collect information leading to arrests. A number of factors make the use of undercover operations necessary including an absence of complainants or witnesses, conditions that make many crimes such as drug trafficking difficult …
United States v. Jones (2012) is a U.S. Supreme Court case requiring police to obtain a warrant when a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device is used to watch the movements of a suspect. All nine justices agreed that a warrant was needed in this case, but they …
On July 25th, 2011, in the case of the United States v. Mitchell, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals became the highest U.S. court to address the use of DNA in the handling of criminal suspects. The application and continued development of techniques for the collection, processing, …
Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges that can be raised when a law enforcement officer entices a citizen into committing a crime that the citizen would not otherwise have committed. Law enforcement officers, particularly those who work undercover, regularly face the ethical question of how far they …
An enduring debate within ethics concerns the extent to which ethical principles should apply to everyone, without exception. Ethical universalism represents the view that they should. Universality of Ethical Principles At its simplest, ethical universalism establishes the view that when individuals make an ethical statement, they are putting …
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Despite strong objections from civil …
A broad mandate to use coercive power is a hallmark of law enforcement, distinguishing it from other civilian occupations. Whether employed by federal, state, or local law enforcement organizations, officers are authorized to use force to protect themselves and others, perform investigative stops and make arrests, conduct searches, …
Homelessness is a growing issue in the United States and in the world. According to a 2012 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are 600,000 to 700,000 Americans defined as “homeless.” These homeless people include a significant number of veterans, former offenders, and …
Values provide the moral foundations that underpin all aspects of a criminal justice system. They are the reference points that offer a moral compass to guide a raft of decision-making processes and to generally inform criminal justice policies. However, in articulating values individuals use different types of justifications, …
