Conflict in Investigation

 

 Week 5 discussion 2
Respond to the following questions:

 

• Why is there sometimes conflict and tension between police, prosecutors, and corrections? Why is there often tension between state, federal, and local authorities?  
• In regard to the investigation and prosecution of a case, what are some of the costs of tension?
• Without making major changes in the system, what could be done to alleviate tension and conflict in order to create a better working relationship?

 

Police, courts, & corrections are separate governmental institutions with different goals, histories, & operating procedures. In criminal justice the blame game is common.

 

The New York Times

 

(December 9, 1981, 30) said it best when it com-

 

pared the justice system to Rubik’s Cube:

 

It’s long been understood that criminal justice is a

 

Rubik’s Cube: what the police do will affect what

 

happens in court, which will affect what happens

 

in the jails and prisons. You can’t hope to deal

 

with crime better by focusing on any single part—

 

any more than you can solve the cube by concentrating on one square at a time.

 

Yet for years criminal justice officials have

 

responded to public frustration by focusing blame

 

on each other—regarding small matters as well as

 

large. We could hold speedier trials, say court

 

administrators, if only the corrections people

 

would get the prisoners to court on time. We

 

could keep more men on the street, say the police,

 

if only the courts wouldn’t tie them up so long

 

when they bring people in. We could send convicts

 

to prison faster, say judges, if only the probation

 

department would prepare pre-sentencing reports

 

on time.(Courts, Crime, and Controversy, n.d., p.5).

 

very year

 

Local, state, and federal governments spend $112 billion to apprehend, convict, and punish criminals (Gifford 1999). These tax dollars support an enormous assortment of criminal justice agencies, who in turn employ a large (and growing) number of employees; roughly 2 million people earn their living working in the criminal justice system Courts, Crime, and Controversy, n.d.,p.2)

 

Sometimes there erupt conflicts and tensions between different parties being involved in criminal cases. These parties include the police, the prosecutors as well as corrections. The main cause is the level of their jurisdictions and responsibilities in a case. While police believe they can be able to avert crimes solely in their jurisdiction, the corrections believe their work determines recidivism while practitioners they can be able to prevent and decrease severity of crimes in the area (Becker & Dutelle, 2013). Despite different jurisdictions, each of them is working to be seen as the one important than the other in the criminal justice system. In additional the tension between the state, federal and local authorities come from their constitutional mandate as each must act with the powers delegated to it. However they sometime fail to act as interpreted and thus create the tension between them

 

The poor management of this interagency generates friction between them which makes criminal justice system more costly. The agencies are sometimes force to delay or use long costly methods as a way of disproving others in the criminal investigation. While police in the scene might have gotten relevant information, another department seeks to establish its own independently investigation and further entrenches the difference between these parties. At some time, the most relevant evidence fails to make it in the court due to disapproval my certain high leveled agency (Neubauer, 2011).

 

Without making major in the constitution or in the system, the only thing is to ensure that different groups are under proper management. The executive branch mandated to oversee the departments should take charge and ensure that different branches coexist together and respect each other.

 

It was Perry Mason who set the pattern for atypical portrayals of lawyers

 

by always securing his clients acquittal. In addition, entertainment distorts important issues of

 

civil liberties. The case was solved end of story. We all know that is not the truth,

 

References

 

AIC Justice. (n.d.). [PDF]Courts, Crime, And Controversy - Cengage Learning. Retrieved from www.cengage.com/resource.../0534563406_21401.pd... Cengage Learning

 

Becker, R. F. & Dutelle, A. W. (2013). Criminal investigation (4th ed.) Sudbury, MA: Jones and   Bartlett Publishers.

 

Neubauer, D. W. (2011). America's courts and the criminal justice system. Belmont, CA:   Wadsworth Cengage Learning.