Question #1
a.
To determine if the current criminal justice system is meeting the needs of older adults, specific issues must be assessed concerning law enforcement, courts, and corrections.
Law Enforcement
When assessing law enforcement, there are many questions to be answered. Researchers must determine what resources are available to allow law enforcement agencies to provide for elderly communities (Van Horn, 2). For example, specialized equipment that monitors seniors’ movements could be used to help locate individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia who wander from care facilities (Van Horn, 4). The task force must also address training concerns dealing with law enforcement officers. Are officers well-trained on elderly crimes and how to best address them? Law enforcement officers should be sensitive to the fact that elderly crimes differ from other types of crimes in that they often require interdisciplinary action among police and social workers (Payne, 607). Another question to be addressed is whether crime rates are falling or rising as a result of law enforcement (Van Horn, 2). This will allow researchers to understand if current interventions are working or making matters worse. The task force should also examine whether or not new relationships have been formed with both public and private service providers to produce enhanced services for seniors (Van Horn, 2). Lastly, the prevalence of policies that criminalize crimes against the elderly (rather than thinking of it as a social dilemma) should be examined.
Courts
There are quite a few issues that must be addressed when assessing the state of the criminal justice system dealing with courts. The task force will need to know what health and social service needs are pre...
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...riencing neglect, physical abuse, financial abuse, and emotional abuse, all while their physical and cognitive health is steadily declining. Thus people from different fields could come together (i.e. doctors, financial advisors, social workers, etc.) to create an action plan that best fits the needs of the elder adult. Another advantage of the multidisciplinary approach is that teams, not individuals, would be responsible for helping elder victims of abuse. The sense of belonging to a team that has an ultimate goal could influence team members to do their part, as each member’s thoughts are extremely important. Multi/interdisciplinary action is necessary because there is no discipline that is capable of understanding all cases or forms of abuse. Multi/interdisciplinary teams ensure that multiple aspects of every abused elder’s well-being is assessed and addressed.
Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.
Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.
With respect to older women, the issue is that there is a serious lack in differentiating between elder abuse and domestic violence. The discrepancy causes confusion as to what agency to report either volunteered or mandated cases of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010). Furthermore, it is because of reporting errors that victims of abuse may not receive the services that are congruent to the type of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010) indicating, “…a lack of centralized reporting of cases….” (Kilbane & Spira, 2010, p. 165).
...lo, Kellen. "Treating Mental Health Issues Can Help Justice System." U-T San Diego: Web Edition Articles 6 Mar. 2014: n. pag. NewsBank Special Reports. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Criminal Justice officials understand the situation in their prisons regarding mental health but have not taken action to fix it. For example, “According to the Department of Justice, abo...
There are better ways to punish criminals and protect society than mass incarceration. The state and local governments should be tough on crime, but “in ways that emphasize personal responsibility, promote rehabilitation and treatment, and allow for the provision of victim restitution where applicable” (Alec, 2014). The government also succeeds in overseeing punishment but fails to “…take into account the needs of offenders, victims, and their communities.” (Morris, 2002: Pg. 1 and 2). Alternatives to incarceration, such as sentencing circles, victim offender mediation, and family conferences, can successfully hold criminals responsible while allowing them a chance to get “back on their feet”. Research has proven that rehabilitation has lowered the rate of re-offenders, reducing the crime rate, protecting communities and also saves a lot of
In today’s society, criminal justice professionals contribute their services to a variety of social issues. A social issue is defined as society’s perception of one’s personal life, also known as a social problem or a social situation. Professionals with our criminal justice system enforce laws, promote good community relations, and are in charge of people’s safety. Three social issues affecting our criminal justice system are being addressed with examples; sex offenses, drug abuse, and hate crimes. There is a wide scope of social issues, yet these three have been chosen to inform one of what they are, how the laws apply, and the impact they have within society.
Every American should have the right to live free from the fear of abuse. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. The National Center on Elder Abuse Administration on Aging (NCEA) stated, “In the United States, the 2010 Census recorded the greatest number and proportion of people age 65 and older in all of decennial census history: 40.3 million, or 13% of the total population. This “Boomer Generation” effect will continue for decades”. This suggests that with the population of elders increasing, the abuse of elders will grow much higher. Elder abuse if defined as intentionally causing harm to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or someone they trust. There are five main types of abuse; Physical, sexual, neglect, emotional or psychological
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2011). America’s courts and the criminal justice system (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
This concept, however, is not new. Problem-solving justice programs can trace their roots to several innovations in policing including community and problem-oriented policing. This was the basis for replacing law enforcement’s traditional role of responding, identifying patterns of crime, mitigating the underlying conditions, and engaging the community (Wolf, Prinicples of Problem-Solving Justice, 2007). New p...
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the year 1980 we had approximately 501,900 persons incarcerated across the United States. By the year 2000, that figure has jumped to over 2,014,000 prisoners. The current level of incarceration represents the continuation of a 25-year escalation of the nation's prison and jail population beginning in 1973. Currently the U.S. rate of 672 per 100,000 is second only to Russia, and represents a level of incarceration that is 6-10 times that of most industrialized nations. The rise in prison population in recent years is particularly remarkable given that crime rates have been falling nationally since 1992. With less crime, one might assume that fewer people would be sentenced to prison. This trend has been overridden by the increasing impact of lengthy mandatory sentencing policies.
Elders in the United States should not have to go through situations of abuse like the one Mildred Mortenson suffered. However, this type of situations happen more often than they should and sadly, there is not enough being done to prevent it. Elder abuse should be recognized as an increasing and very serious problem in our society. As elders grow more physically frail and begin to depend on others to meet their basic needs, they tend to become vulnerable to intentional abuse and neglect within their own home as well as assisted living facilities such as nursing homes. Unfortunately, it is not possible to know exactly how many elders are being abused across the Nation. Due to under-reporting, variations in the definition of elder abuse, and the lack of a uniform reporting system, it is difficult to determine the gravity of this issue causing the problem to remain hidden. However, researchers have reported that “According to the best available estimates, between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection” (Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation in an Aging America). The disturbing situation on elder abuse that the nation is currently facing can be prevented if the government, associations, and assisted living facilities provide effective interventions.
This essay will discuss the role of the criminal justice professional in serving both individual and societal needs. It will identify and describe at least three individual needs and three societal needs, in addition to explaining the role of the criminal justice professional in serving each of these needs. Illustrative examples will be provided for support.
With the substantial increase in prison population and various changes that plague correctional institutions, government agencies are finding that what was once considered a difficult task to provide educational programs, inmate security and rehabilitation programs are now impossible to accomplish. From state to state each correctional organization is coupled with financial problems that have depleted the resources to assist in providing the quality of care in which the judicial system demands from these state and federal prisons. Judges, victims, and prosecuting attorneys entrust that once an offender is turned over to the correctional system, that the offender will receive the punishment in which was imposed by the court, be given services that aid in the rehabilitation to those offenders that one day will be released back into society, and to act as a deterrent to other criminals contemplating criminal acts that could result in their incarceration. Has our nations correctional system finally reached it’s critical collapse, and as a result placed or American citizens in harm’s way to what could result in a plethora of early releases of inmates to reduce the large prison populations in which independent facilities are no longer able to manage? Could these problems ultimately result in a drastic increase in person and property crimes in which even our own law enforcement be ineffective in controlling these colossal increases of crime against society?
...s, public defense providers are committed to providing zealous and high-quality representation and their leaders advocate for criminal justice systems that are fair and equitable. Experientially, attorneys, social workers, investigators, and other staff know the difference they make on the lives of people and communities. However, it is difficult to effectively advocate in the budgetary and policy arena when there is little or no data about our systems or their impact on important outcomes. Our inability to measure client outcomes and assess system performance makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the defense community to quantify the social and economic benefits of a high-quality, well-resourced public defense system.