Legal Issues

The justice system may be described as a set of legal and social institutions, which enforce the laws of a society, directed at establishing morality in the relevant society.  The criminal justice system may be described as an aspect of this justice system. The goal of the criminal justice system is to ensure that criminals are deterred from committing crimes.  Criminal Justice operates through five major components which are 1- Local Law Enforcement, 2- Court trial, 3- Court Case, 4- Trial with Jury and 5- Decision and punishment.  The present day criminal justices system can also be categorized into three primary groups, namely the law enforcement agencies which investigate crimes and arrest suspects, the court system which charges these suspects, puts them on trial and sentence them and the correctional system which incapacitates those sentenced by the court, and try to rehabilitate them. The origins of justice may be traced to lawlessness or a state of anarchy, which prevailed early in the history of mankind when poverty, scarcity and lack of progress existed. Without a government or a binding society, the lawlessness state saw people robbing and assaulting each other for gains, and getting away scot-free.

People then gradually got together to ensure their common interests. This is implied by the social contract theory. When man cannot rely on his individual powers to secure a contented way of life on his own, they join together to form a commonwealth (Kemerling, 2006). They gradually agreed on measures to ensure their collective interests in all aspects of life and reversing the lawlessness was a main goal. They agreed not to harm or attack each other and collectively punish the ones who commit it upon anyone of them. The rationale behind this contract is that people would accept these on the assumption that all others would accept it too. Punishments were intended to offset or exceed the pleasure or gain sought from the crime, so as to discourage people from indulging in crimes. The justice system including the criminal justice system got off from here. I personally feel that any and every person has a right to timely justice irrespective of nationality, race or social status. In my criminal justice career, I intend to ensure this. Today it is widely perceived and to some extent supported by facts too, that conviction and imprisonment rates are closely associated with ethnicity and race. I personally feel that the criminal justice system of today require to be more effective in terms of rendering justice, without any personal bias and hate and there is also plenty of scope for this.

Like in all other fields, occasional lapses do occur in the rendering of justice. Although the morality of law holds that even if criminals are not brought to book, it should be ensured that no innocent man is ever punished. However given the enormity of the situation, this cannot be guaranteed. Many are still held as suspects and imprisoned for considerable periods of time without a trial. When evidences are not recorded properly or when enforcement officers are not inclined to investigate evidences supportive of the suspect, justice is tampered. Crime scene investigation in particular, when the first responder fails to identify crucial evidences, the investigation is not only stalled, but also takes off in the wrong direction. Although the practices by and large contribute to enforcement of societal justice, there are enormous opportunities for lapses in every aspect of criminal justice. Officers in the criminal justice system including enforcement officers, correctional officers, parole officers and judges are always under immense stress of the workload that every case cannot be given its due diligence. The justice process when not undertaken with care and caution can have immense implications for the individual. There are many cases where people have been set free from the death row due to lack of evidence or faulty trials.

Take for instance police brutality, which is one of the most debated forms of unfairness in the justice system which often goes unnoticed because police themselves are part of the machinery that checks these offences. Police brutality in the form of unwanted shootings, beatings and kicking may sometimes result in serous injuries or even death of the suspect. When such unfortunate situations happen, police are quick to come out with a denial of charges and put a suitable theory to account for the happenings. Any amount of training, counseling or monitoring cannot make them perform perfectly. However, they need to be under severe scrutiny to ensure that their actions are justifiable (Human Rights Watch, 2007).

The Institutional correctional systems, also known as the prison systems, intends to reform prison inmates through its facilities and programs. Prisons are classified by its security like maximum, medium or minimum depending on the type of inmates they handle. Maximum-security prisons have severe restrictions on the movement of inmates. These prisoners are under extreme levels of surveillance and control, with scarce recreational and educational chances.  Such treatment of prisoners breaches the basic human rights and dignity of the people. When people are held in such conditions for very long, they are very likely to suffer psychologically, from which they may never recover even if their sentences are completed.  

The 911 attacks were carried out using hijacked domestic flights. Although at that time, terrorist activities were prevailing to a large extent and mainly directed to U.S and British interests, no one had expected such a devastating act within the American soil. American properties outside its borders, particularly in countries where terrorists were very active, were acknowledged as susceptible and appropriate actions taken.

However, the domestic angle was not seen as a threat. Flights to and from the U.S were under high security, but threat of domestic flights didnt look likely. Although the National Command Authority had the power to order shooting of a commercial flight, the flight should originate from outside U.S for this (NCT, 1998).
The security scenario world over has transformed immensely post September 11, 2001. The changes introduced are absolutely necessary although it is troublesome for all parties involved. Apart from the troubles, the costs associated on implementing the new security measures are enormous for the governments. Subsequent to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the face of law enforcement has transformed.
Every aspect of tackling terrorism has been radically changed not only for the US but also for the rest of the world. One example of extreme change would be how Transportation Security Administration (TSA) changed their policy when it pertained to air travelers.  People where instructed to arrive two hours before take off. TSA randomly selected passengers for random searches.  TSA currently practice two major changes 1-Federalization of travelers screening operations, and requirement that airports screen all checked baggage for explosives. The incident also left a mark on the immigration track into the US.

There has been a divided opinion on the measures adopted, with many favoring the measures adopted and many calling it a breach of civil liberties. Advocates of civil rights say that the government is stretching too far and not respecting the fundamental rights of several sections like immigrants and foreign people. The US Patriot Act enacted with almost total support in the legislature provides for enhanced surveillance and detention with respect to non citizens (Chishti, 2010). Critics of the governments policies point out that the enforcement actions are directed towards Muslims and Arabs in the US. Profiling of the members of these communities are considered as ineffective and crude way of gathering information. Critics point out that the practice of profiling violates constitutional freedom and discriminates individuals based on religious and ethnic backgrounds.  Local official have pointed out to the high costs associated with the security. It has been estimated that the costs are as high as 70 million per week for the cities during high threat levels (NPR, 2004).