Should crime prevention be a priority for the criminal justice system Essay

Should crime prevention be a priority for the criminal justice system - Essay Example (Pfeiffer, p 55, 2003) A Research conducted by the Heart Research Associates Inc. on the perception of the public on crime prevention found that majority of the people believed in a more pro-active rather than reactive approach. This research was conducted in the year 2002. But ten years ago, when the public was asked about what they thought about crime prevention, 42% said the criminal justice system should focus on punitive action while 48% supported crime prevention. These statistics have changed drastically with time. In 2002, when a similar research was conducted by the same research company, it was found that 65% of the public believe in dealing with root causes while 32% wanted more severe measures to take precedence in the criminal justice system. The survey also indicated the following preferences. It should be noted that most of the time, there are cases in which people break the law because they have no where else to turn to. Such people normally come from deteriorating neighbourhoods. They feel that there is not much that can be done about their situation and they opt to choose crime as their only means for survival. Most of these criminals normally have very low educational backgrounds. Consequently, their options in the formal employment sector are quite limited. They need to earn a source of livelihood and still have to meet their daily needs. However, the public only offers them temporary jobs that do not pay as much. Some individuals may feel the need to deal with this lack of necessities through crime. Overly, the underlying problem is education, if the government was to invest in education of such criminals then there would be no need to commit crimes and all the other issues will fall into place. (Maguire, p 207-265, 2000) Most criminals commit their crimes because their neighbourhoods make it easy for them to do so. In most Cities, there are certain localities that have been ignored by the governing

Models of Criminal Justice System in England and Wales Essay

Models of Criminal Justice System in England and Wales - Essay Example These delegate the Police with the responsibility of the control of crime (Lea 2002, pp.32,67); the Prison Service, to run prisons; the Probation Service with the role of rehabilitation; the Crown Prosecution Service, for bringing action against those suspected of committing a crime; the Magistrates' Courts and the Crown Court with the responsibility of dealing with the trial of suspected criminals; the Court of Appeals for the final conviction of the perceived criminal; the Prison Service, for running prisons; the Serious Fraud Office for the investigation of frauds and other similar offences that affect trade the corporate world (Davies, Croall & Tyrer, 1995, pp.274, 342, 121, 152, 156, 274, 133). A new CJS agency in England and Wales took effect in 2001. The new Criminal Defence Service was established by the Access to Justice Act of 1999 which also established a Legal Services Commission which supervises this new agency (Wheeler 2006,p.165). This provides state-employed defence counsel that serves as lawyer to indigent defendants (Hirschel et al 2007,p.176). The CJS in England and Wales is essentially rooted in three principles. The first is that an accused is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty by proof beyond reasonable doubt. The second is that the criminal justice system is basically adversarial in nature i.e. that the accused is aided in his defence by a counsel while a prosecutor tries to prove that he is guilty and both parties face each other in court as adversaries (Davies, Croall & Tyrer 1995, p.193). The third principle states that there is criminal liability only when there exists in the actor