Category: Criminal Justice Essay Examples
See our collection of criminal justice essay examples. These examples are to help you understanding how to write essays on crime-related topics. Contemporary study of criminology and criminal justice is also increasingly interdisciplinary and thus features a broad variety of topics on the causes, effects, and responses to crime. Also, see our list of criminal justice essay topics to find the one that interests you.
Generally, two factors constitute a public shooting. First, the incidence of a shooting must have occurred in a public setting such as a school, theater, courthouse, market, or any place that is open to the public as a place of leisure or a place of work. Second, a …
Legal punishment is such a universal convention that few would envision its use as being morally problematic. Nevertheless, ethicists and/or moral philosophers would argue that punishment does require justification, even though it is legally authorized. The basis for this position is that punishment involves behavior that in any …
Disparities across the criminal justice system with respect to race show the following: African Americans constitute 13 percent of the general population of the United States but account for 50 percent of homicide victims; African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates from two to 11 times …
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is a wireless radio-frequency technology that uses radio waves to transfer information for the purpose of tracking and identification. A variety of RFID technologies exist, but the most common method for its use is to store a serial identification number on a chip …
Ayn Rand (1905–82) was a widely read novelist who advocated a system of ideas she referred to as the philosophy of objectivism. Born in Russia, Rand migrated to the United States in the 1920s. A best-selling novelist, Hollywood screenwriter, and provocative philosopher, she was a popular media figure …
The rational choice theory is structured around the belief that humans make decisions based on complex equations weighing the costs, benefits, and opportunities presented by varying situations. This theory became popular following the publishing of Derek Cornish and Ronald Clarke’s Rational Choice Theory. Ethics involves a person’s moral …
The publication in 1971 of A Theory of Justice established John Rawls (1921–2002) as one of the most prominent figures in moral and political philosophy of the 20th century. In this seminal work, Rawls sets out to develop an ideal set of moral principles capable of governing the …
Generally, reasonableness is a legal standard used to judge the appropriateness of an individual’s action or inaction in a particular set of circumstances. Judges or juries typically determine reasonableness by balancing a series of situation-specific factors. These reasonableness factors can vary, but usually include the characteristics of the …
There are four main philosophies of punishment: (1) retribution, (2) deterrence, (3) incapacitation, and (4) rehabilitation. A historical review of the correctional system demonstrates that the popularity of the goals come and go with changing times and changing sociopolitical landscapes. Despite this, the goal of rehabilitation was reaffirmed …
Reification refers to the process by which something is made real, brought into existence, or concretized; that is, when an abstract idea or construct is made real as a result of treating it as though it were real. This phenomenon has very real and tragic consequences in the …
Contemporary ethical relativism refers to the concept that ideas of good and bad or right and wrong can and do vary across time, space, cultures, and people. This concept is also referred to as moral relativism or situational ethics and is heavily linked to the idea of cultural …
Religious convictions exist in a state of tension with the social order and the laws that sustain it. The conflicts resulting from this tension can be analyzed in general conceptual terms that shed light upon the fundamentally different organizational principles of religious and political systems. There are two …
The Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union case was the first test involving the regulation of indecent or obscene materials distributed electronically over the Internet. Specifically, this case tested the constitutionality of an attempt by the federal government to prohibit the distribution of obscene materials unless the Web …
Restorative justice is a distinct philosophy of justice that focuses on making amends for harm done. Essentially, restorative justice fulfils the basic requirements of the “social contract,” which in the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau forms the basis of civil society. The fundamental principle of restorative …
In prisons and jails throughout the United States, mechanical restraints have arguably been critically instrumental in controlling general population inmates deemed a threat to the safety and wellbeing of themselves and/or others. Although guidelines established by the American Correctional Association dictate that custodial devices must be employed as …
In the American legal tradition rights under the law encompass both enumerated and implied rights held by individuals singularly and collectively. In the context of criminal law, the majority of defendants’ rights are found in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. However, individual states can provide greater …
Retribution is one of the principal justifications of punishment, including legal punishment in the context of criminal justice. The core of a retributivist approach is the notion of desert—that punishment is justified by being deserved, with the fact (not the feeling) of guilt being the basis of desert. …
Jeffrey Reiman’s classic text, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, originally published in 1979, provides a critical examination of the operations and failures of the American criminal justice system and its policies. In its 10th edition, coauthored by Paul Leighton and published in 2010, this …
Risk has been a topic of considerable debate among academics, policy makers, and members of the general public for several decades. Though what constitutes risk often differs between individuals, B. John Garrick has stated that a definition of risk should include the following three questions: What can happen? …
Police robots have been used in almost every aspect of law enforcement, including crime investigation and prevention. Robots can carry cameras, sensors, microphones, tools, and even weapons; using robots equipped with these features for surveillance and other tasks often allows law enforcement officers to operate out of harm’s …
