The criminal justice system

Assignment Content

The criminal justice system operates under the assumption that you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, society is complex and consists of competing perspectives, such as the desire to express individual freedom while also maintaining the need for order and preventing/controlling crime. This produces a constant tension between the perspectives.

Consider the content discussed in Chapter 1 of Introduction to Criminal Justice.

Imagine that you are talking to a friend about pursuing a job in the criminal justice system.

Write a 300- to 500-word response describing the conflict between due process and crime control models. Address the following:

• Describe the differences between the formal and informal social control.
• Define the 2 models: crime control and due process.
• Describe the conflict between the models.
• Which one do you think your local community represents?
• How might the emphasis on human services impact the conflict between due process and control?

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

• What is the purpose of the criminal justice system?
• What are the main components of the criminal justice system?
• Consider your community. Describe the role of each component in the criminal justice process and the intersection between the criminal justice system and the field of human services in your community.