Policy-making is a process that involves the setting of standards and creation of laws that a systematic organization or a government is expected to follow. The process of policy development and implementation is the one that ensures standardization and centralization in the process of initiating, developing, reviewing, approving, implementing, and disseminating a proposed policy. All the officials in the criminal justice system bear the responsibility for shaping the policy development and implementation process in the criminal justice system. The reality is that this process involves much more than having a panel of politicians sitting together and discussing the best way that the criminal justice system can operate. Before a policy is made official, it has to go through a number of reviewing stages and processes. This report seeks to analyze and discuss all the components of the policy development and implementation process and the influences on the same.
Components of Policy Development and Implementation
Governments and organizations make use of policies in the regulation of actions, to facilitate decision-making processes, and to provide direction in policy implementation. Policy development and implementation in the criminal justice system is usually necessitated by the presence of a notable need or issue within the society. The policy development process comprises six components, and these include: problem identification, policy demands, the formation of the agenda, policy adoption, policy implementation, and finally policy evaluation:
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Problem identification
The development of a policy usually begins with the identification of a problem or a potential problem. Some of the common problems experienced in criminal justice include prison overcrowding, the rise in crime rates, or issues regarding the residency requirements for convicted offenders.
Policy demand
Once the policy developer has identified the problem, they should then understand the specific purpose of the policy. This component of the process requires the developer to understand that the problem can be solved either by creating or modifying an existing policy.
Formation of the agenda
Once the committee has decided whether the problem will be solved by the creation of a new policy or the modification of an existing one, the next step is to determine all that the policy is expected to do. All the things that a policy should do and the timeframe within which the objectives should have been met are called the agenda.
Policy adoption
Once all the objectives of the new policy have been met during the policy development process, the policy is taken through two stages of review, after which it can be adopted.
Policy implementation
Upon adoption, a policy is then implemented within the target audience, and this could be the government operations or in a systematic organization.
Policy evaluation
The final component of the policy development and implementation process is the policy evaluation. The area where the policy has been applied is inspected to observe any influence (whether positive or negative) that have resulted.
Influences on Criminal Justice Policy Development
There are several influences that come to play as far as the criminal justice policy development and policy-making process are concerned. The development of a large number of policies is usually based on a certain tragic event that resulted in the desire to prevent the re-occurrence of such a situation. I believe that the research aspect of criminal justice policy development is one of the most important influence. A well-informed criminal justice researcher has a lot of influence in the decision making process in policy development because they provide all the research needed to meet the needs of the policymakers. The law enforcement agencies make use of policy planning agencies to facilitate the disbursement of all the funds needed to create and propose initiatives. According to (Garrison, 2009), researchers have a great influence on criminal justice policy development because they have a better understanding of all the underlying policy, politics, and power dynamics. For this reason, researchers have the greatest influence on the criminal justice policy development process.
Another body that has been of major influence when it comes to criminal justice policy development has to be the media. There are several media bodies that make it possible for the citizens to keep up with the information regarding the crimes and other incidents experienced in the nation. It is a known fact that the media incorporates the most attention-getting stunts to pass their message, and this could result in varying reactions from the public. Whenever a horrific tragedy or crime takes place, the media is usually very swift to inform the public about all the happenings. As a result, the public is very likely to start movements pushing for change and the development of new policies (Micallef-Trigona, 2018).
Concerns Regarding Implementation
A look at the policy development and implementation process reveals several difficulties and concerns. Policymakers are usually over-reliant on the ability of a policy to structure its implementation and the ease with which solutions to a given problem can be attained. The reality is that these preconditions are not always present, and this presents a number of challenges when it comes to policy implementation. One of the major concerns, in this case, is the ability of policymakers to perform stern control on the process of policy implementation. Furthermore, the reliability of the implementation process is not sufficient, nor necessary, to ensure how effective a policy is. In most cases, a public policy can coincidentally reach the set objectives simply because the administration was ‘creative’ in the implementation process.
The second concern is the fact that most policy content is usually symbolic, which makes it difficult to implement it in real life. There are situations where you might find that a policy has several goals that tend to be in conflict with each other, a reflection of the existing conflicts between the policymakers. Also, there are cases where the policymakers might accept to compromise their beliefs for the purposes of reaching an agreement during the process of policy formulation. However, these conflicts could re-surface when the policy reaches the implementation stage (Micallef-Trigona, 2018).
References
Garrison, A. (2009). The Influence of Research on Criminal Justice Policy Making. SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1438306
Micallef-Trigona, D. (2018). Challenges faced in the implementation of policy?. Retrieved from http://beppemicalleftrigona.com/challenges-implementation-of-policy/
