The Different Ideologies of the Criminal Justice Process

In criminal punishments, what people believe as necessary is usually determined by the punishment theory they subscribe to. They believe in the most appropriate punishment theory that would appropriate for a crime. This system of notions about the aims of punishments spills into the political arena. The goal of punishing the criminals is to prevent further criminal offenses. There are various ideologies regarding the retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and deterrence of criminal offenses in the criminal justice system. Various correctional policies regarding criminal offenses have different views. On deterrence, punishment should be given to discourage such crimes in the future. It helps to discourage both the general public and the offender from committing such crimes. Retributions are based on revenge because what the general society wants is just revenge for the criminal offense. The ideologies on rehabilitation believe that it's like a disease and should be treated other than punishment. On incapacitation, people often believe that criminals should not be rehabilitated but should be locked up to remove them from society. There are two major types of crimes in society. The first are misdemeanors, which are criminal offenses that are punishable by jailing the offender for six months to one year for the petty crimes. The second are felonies, which are criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment of a year or more or death. Crimes against individuals have been categorized into four. The first are crimes concerning properties, which includes those against theft, property damage, and burglary. Secondly, there are morality crimes, which concern sexual abuse such as rape and pedophilia. Thirdly, there are domestic crimes, which involve violence and child abuse. Domestic crimes are the assault behavior between married people, either they are living together or had interpersonal correlations. Lastly, there are white-collar crimes, which are committed by individuals in organizations and government who often act in their legitimate roles. The criminals may take bribes, evade paying tax, embezzle funds, and give false insurance claims. Alcoholism is also regarded as a crime, and around 30% of the arrest dine concerning alcoholism. The United States Supreme court found that drunkenness was not a constraint of symbolic disease, and therefore its arrest and detention doesn't constitute brutal or unusual sanction. While dealing with criminal offenses in the court, there is the jurisdiction, which is the legal authority that listens ad decides on a case. The court usually has the jurisdiction, parties involved in the case, and the subject matter. The venue is the place where trial and hearing proceedings take place. The criminal justice process follows a process in determining crimes. The process starts with investigations conducted by police to collect crime evidence. After collecting the evidence, the criminal suspect is arrested and taken into custody. The criminal suspect is prosecuted, and the offender is charged depending on the criminal offense. The alignment follows in which the offender pleads either guilty or not guilty. Detentions follow whereby the offender is taken into temporary custody. Plea bargaining follows in which the offender can plead guilty to reduce their charges. The offender is then taken into the trial before a judge in an attorney and the prosecutor's presence. If the offender is found guilty, they are sentenced in which the attorney offender can appeal. The offender is then taken into the correctional facilities and finally released after serving their sentence. There are various types of sentences offered in courts, such as the deferred, which is a sentence imposed by the court to add a probation period before issuing the sentence. It occurs mostly when the accused has no criminal records—a suspended sentence which is not enforced unless more crimes are done at the specified time. Concurrent sentence enables the offenders to serve several sentences concurrently. The consecutive sentence forces the offenders to serve their sentences separately. The prosecutor can bargain for the offender to have lesser charges as they feel the case is not strong. Mental disorders are also considered in courts when offenders' psychological and physical condition is incompetent and can't aid the counsel in defending themselves. Today, I think most of the criminal offenders are being rehabilitated. Although rehabilitation had been criticized in the 1970s, it was later accepted to reduce reoffending. According to the research done, most of the inmates are in mental illnesses, which has made the prisons the mental health hospitals (Benson, 2003). Currently, most prisons realized the necessity of mental health care. The correction facilities have developed effective technics to add value to the country's social and economic restoration. Providing cost-efficient, creative and high-quality services like proper treatment of offenders, development, and re-union of the community's offenders. Rehabilitation helps to minimize reoffending and improve people's safety in society (UNODC, 2017). The prisons should embrace rehabilitation to aid the inmates in changing and personal growth. In conclusion, the criminal justice system contains different ideologies regarding the punishment of criminal offenders. Some of the ideologies include rehabilitation, deterrence, and punishment. There are various crimes committed by individuals, such as theft, murder, sexual abuse, and bribery. Courts offer different sentences, such as deferred and consecutive sentences depending on the strength of the case. While determining the cases, courts follow procedures from gathering evidence to releasing the inmates. In the present society, I think most offenders are rehabilitated to improve the inmates' health and growth as they are being reunited in society. 

References 

Benson, E. (2003). Rehabilitate or punish? American Psychological Association, 34 (7), 46. https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug03/rehab 

UNDOC. (2017). Rehabilitation and social reintegration of prisoners . https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/topics/prisoner-rehabilitation.html#:~:text=Reducing%20Re%2Doffending&text=Imprisonment%20does%20not%20help%20people,reoffending%20and%20improve%20community%20safety .