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Running Head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Subsystems of the Criminal Justice System

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Subsystems of the Criminal Justice System

Introduction

Every country or state is governed by some laws that form the backbone of that country's justice

system or state. The subsystems of the criminal justice systems tend to interrelate in one way or

another since a change in one may influence an impact in another. The countries under

consideration in this article are the United States of America, England, and Italy.

1. The United States of America

The police in the United States justice systems are tasked with enforcement of laws and

maintaining order at the community, state, or federal level. The enforcement of laws includes the

arrest of individuals to be charged for committing certain crimes, which go to different courts

depending on who commits the crime or the type of crime committed by the individual. A rise in

federal crimes will lead to more arrests by the federal police departments, causing a rise in the

number of people taken to federal courts. This effect will is not felt in the state courts since they

do not deal with cases involving federal criminals. If found guilty, the individuals get convicted

and sent to prison. Therefore when more citizens involve themselves in federal crimes, the

prisons end up with more individuals than any other correction system. The United States has

122 federal prisons with about 151,000 inmates (Brooks, 2019).

United States courts receive cases to decide on based on the legal system. The courts are

also divided into two; the federal courts, which deal with matters from the federal agencies and

the state courts. The federal courts deal with cases like military cases, government lawsuits, and
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

disputes arising in trades. The courts determine whether one has to go to prison, jail, or put under

probation and specify the period for the correction.

The correction system of the states is run on public funds that may require regulations

(Cliff Notes, 2020). One way to regulate the funds is through the downsizing of the correction

facilities in terms of population. In the US, the policymakers developed a minimum sentencing

period for drug-related crimes, which effectively reduced (Mauer, 2015). However,

2. England

The criminal justice system in England is highly dependent on the law enforcement

police considering the rise in criminal cases that rose due to the reduction of funding and staffing

of the police forces ( Institute for Government, 2020). The hiring of more workforce in the police

force is likely to replicate other indirect impacts in the proceeding levels of the criminal justice

system. However, the police's overall effect on other criminal justice subsystems may be

dependent on other factors that influence the handling of criminal cases by the police. These

factors also affect the number of cases charged by the police every day. Therefore, an increase in

funding means an increase in the number of people employed in the police force hence more

cases charged.

An increase in the number of police over the coming years may lead to a rise in demand

on the courts ( Institute for Government, 2020). To maintain the current performance levels, the

courts require more funding, especially the crown courts. The criminal justice system also puts

the quality of justice at risk due to a shortage of magistrates. The magistrates also need to be

recruited despite getting underpaid. The number of magistrates has reduced by half since 2010,

leading to an increase in the number of cases heard by two-magistrate panels instead of three
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(Bowcott & Duncan, 2019). If the government fails to recruit more magistrates, the processing of

credible cases continues to be threatened, thus leading to people getting convicted wrongfully or

unequal serving of justice.

Coupled with the poor police and court justice systems that may be caused by low

funding, the government may reduce the funds from the correction systems to cover the

reductions in the preceding systems. The low funding of the correction systems may cause

ineffectiveness leading to criminal activity even after the release of convicts. Therefore, the

ripple effect of the low funding affects all the systems, considering that one problem in one

system creates an impact in the next.

3. South Korea

The initial subsystems of criminal justice in South Korea work as one and interrelate with

each other to achieve their sole objective of issuing justice. Criminal investigation organizations

have two major categories; judicial police officers and prosecutors. The public prosecutor is

entrusted with the investigation of crimes and initiation of criminal procedures. On the other

hand, the judicial police officer is authorized to carry out investigations with the public

prosecutor's supervision. The judicial police officer initiates the criminal investigations then

moved to the office of the public prosecutor, who continues with the process by examining

pieces of evidence, documents and asking questions to the suspect and any other related parries.

The investigative process gives the court an easy task of identifying the culprits early enough

releasing anyone who is considered to be within the law. Due to this reason, the rate of

conviction rises above 90% of the court cases (Kim, 2003).

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

However, the public prosecutor can start an investigation even without the judicial police

officer in play in some cases. This case applies to white-collar crimes and the more complicated

felonies that include corruption among high-rank public officials, politicians, drug trafficking,

police misconduct, organized crime, economic crimes, and tax evasions. In the Korean criminal

justice system, the judicial police receive the official orders of operation from the public

prosecutor and obey them. The criminal justice system in Korea tries to maintain human rights.

Unlike in most countries, the judicial police act under the public prosecutor's watch and

supervision and does not conduct any investigation unless ordered to do so by the public

prosecutor. In case an officer is noncompliant with the order issued by the prosecutor or gets

involved in misconduct, the officer can be lifted off from the investigation or replaced by the

chief prosecutor. Due to the strict investigative measures in the South Korean criminal justice

system, the courts experience very minimal misjudgments, reducing wrongful convictions.

Conclusion

The three countries under consideration have different criminal justice systems, but the

subsystems in all of them interrelate to each other either directly or indirectly. The relevant

authority can make changes in either one of them to impact change in the other subsystems.

However, the effects caused by a change in one subsystem may reflect a minor change in other

subsystems.
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References

Institute for Government. (2020). The criminal justice system: How government reforms and

coronavirus. London: Institute for Government.

Bowcott, O., & Duncan, P. (2019, January 27). UK Politics: Half of magistrates courts in

England and Wales closed since 2010. Retrieved from The Guardian Web Site:

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jan/27/half-of-magistrates-courts-in-england-

and-wales-closed-since-tories-elected

Brooks, A. (2019, June 17). Justice Studies Blog: Breaking Down the Different Types of Prisons

in America. Retrieved from Rasmussen University Web Site:

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/justice-studies/blog/different-types-of-prisons/

Cliff Notes. (2020). Criminal Justice: The Structure of Criminal Justice. Retrieved from Cliff

Notes Web Site: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/criminal-justice/the-criminal-

justice-system/the-structure-of-criminal-justice

Kim, Y. C. (2003). Effective System of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution in Korea (From

UNAFEI Annual Report for 2001 and Resource Material Series No. 60, P 77-93, 2003,

Sean Eratt, ed.--See NCJ-201693).

Mauer, M. (2015). Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime: A Tale of Three States. NW Wasington: The

Sentencing Project.