Introduction
The United States criminal justice system has undergone many changes in the past centuries. For instance, the change in the American case law, offered new perspectives upon which the police could use deadly force. The growing technology, the increased media scrutiny and the increasing roles of civil society groups, will significantly affect the roles of the justice managers in future. The future justice managers will face a number of issues, such as ethical failures, police use of force, technology, media attention, ethnic, and race and community relations.
Excessive Use of Force and Police Brutality
One of the controversial attributes of the American criminal justice systems is the police misuse of power (Maguire & Radosh, 1996). There are numerous instances where the police are televised using excessive and brutal force on subdued suspects. These cases of police brutality, although they are rare, are common and continue to occur now. The cases of police brutality affect the American population from all ethnic backgrounds. According to (Hall, 2015), cases of police brutality have been on the increase. For instance in 2015, the deaths that arose from police brutality were higher than those reported the previous year. Most of the cases involve minors, unarmed individuals and those in police custody. These cases of police brutality and excessive use of force will recur in future.
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Although the police are obliged to employ deadly force while carrying their duties, they are responsible for upholding law, respecting citizens and protecting lives (Olson, 2015). Regardless of whether the police are lawfully allowed to use lethal or deadly force, there is often a tendency for police officers to wrongfully use deadly force. For example, (Erez, 2002) reports cases where police officers wrongfully use deadly force in making arrests for domestic violence victims. Accordingly, the criminal justice managers are evaluating the strategies for reducing the use of excessive force and homicides that result from police brutality.
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According to (Kania & Davis, 2011), the deaths that occur owing to police brutality is estimated to exceed those that occur due to lawful executions of convicts in the country. Almost all cases of police brutality are captured by media outlets, protests and often instigate the development of laws that govern changes in the training of police. The problem is exacerbated by the difficulties in measurement of excessive use of force by the police. It is inherent that such issues are of profound effect on the delivery of justice, which the criminal justice manager must tackle, as the issues will be felt in future.
The 1985 change in the case law, as asserted by (Kania & Davis, 2011) saw the alteration of the standards upon which the police officers would adopt deadly force while making arrests. The authors further assert the anticipation of the International Association of Police, of the future implications of use of deadly force by the police. Such changes are likely to arise in future and the criminal justice managers must anticipate such developments and embody progressiveness. As more future changes will arise in the police use of deadly force, the criminal justice managers will be faced with the issue of making relevant changes in the police training.
Moreover, public scrutiny shall increase in future and criminal justice managers must be adept in developing acceptable methods of handling issues such as protests. According to (Olson, 2015), there is a need for a nationwide review for the existing laws that govern the use of lethal force, policies and the police training practices. The criminal justice manager must show oversight and accountability, envision them and adopt them in the criminal justice system. The managers in anticipating the police use of lethal force must work in line with other justice agencies in developing laws that prohibit police use of lethal force, except in cases where there is imminent threat of death or serious injury.
Ethical Shortcomings
The criminal justice system serves four major ideals of promotion of secure communities, restoration of crime victims, deliverance of justice and promotion of noncriminal actions (DiIulio et al., 1993) and (Maguire & Radosh, 1996, p. 65). The authors further assert that justice is defined as the quality upon which individuals are treated according to their civic rights and the relevant conduct. However, (Kania & Davis, 2011) asserts that there are some instances that the criminal justice system officials are faced with scandals, which arise owing to their participation in immoral or corrupt activities. The author enlists the seven failures inherent in the justice system as the bias and favoritism, flawed personal life, deceit, abuse of power, pursuit of power for personal gains, neglect of duties and the denial of due process to the individuals involved in the criminal justice. These shortcomings present the challenges that the criminal justice system managers are likely to face in future.
The other aspect of ethical shortcomings is the issue of roles of correctional officers in the criminal justice system. The United States has the largest number of incarcerated individuals in the world. Many prisoners continue to be subjects of numerous ethical dilemmas while serving their prison terms on during their probation (Dolovich et al., 2006). Although the modern prisons in the United States have seen its transformation from the early perception of being brutal and constituting of uneducated officers, a number of ethical dilemmas are still inherent. According to (Restellini & Restellini, 2014) the prisons remain congested and minimal changes continue to be done, while the number of prisoners increase every year. This can lead to spread of diseases, causing ethical dilemmas such as infringement of individual prisoner rights to proper health. The criminal justice manager must conduct his/her duties in an ethical manner, which avoids involvement in the seven categories of failures identified above (Kania & Davis, 2011). Most ethical shortcomings that affect the criminal justice officers have often involved one or two of the failures. As these issues are likely to be faced in future, the criminal justice manger must anticipate the occurrence of each of the failures.
Although these failures may be reduced or mitigated, the criminal justice manager has a duty to ensure that they do not occur. The reduction of criminal activities and promotion of noncriminal activities must not impede justice delivery. Therefore, owing to the growing pressure for delivery of justice and the increased scrutiny of the way justice officials carry their roles, the issues of ethical shortcomings are likely to face even greater public scrutiny in future, which calls good anticipations from the criminal justice managers.
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Moreover, there is need for the criminal justice manager to anticipate the impact of increased prisoners and the required changes. Similarly, a progressive manager has to take into consideration the ethical dilemmas faced by the prisoners while serving their prison terms or during their probation. Police brutality in prison and unethical behaviors like colluding with prisoners serving their probation are inherent and such issues are bound to occur in future. Therefore, the criminal justice manager must plan on such issues and develop appropriate strategies to mitigate them. There is also the need for the criminal justice system manager to anticipate the increasing number of incarcerated individuals and develop appropriate policies to decongest the prisons.
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Ethnic, Community Relations and Race
The criminal justice officials who participate in the impediment of due processes, display bias while performing their duties and those who abuse power, often create public dissatisfactions with the criminal justice systems. According to (Pollock, 2011), the community-police relations are dependent on the conduct of the police agencies. The author notes the little progress in the development of good relationships between the police and the community despite efforts by the justice agencies to develop programs to bolster the relations. Moreover, the author notes that the community oriented policing programs have been implemented, but there are still many questions about issues of race and ethnic. These inherent issues are likely to be faced by the criminal justice managers in future.
There is a clash between the criminal justice values, the laws of the United States and the community. According to (Thurman, & Zhao, 2004), sometimes the criminal justice agencies are posted to serve in the communities whose values do not align with those of the agency officers. In such cases, a misunderstanding often arises, placing the justice agencies officers, such as the police, in a dilemma. There is need for a criminal justice manager to stay abreast in order to address such issues. In confronting these future issues, the criminal justice manager must develop training for the police officers on meeting the demands of the minority people in order to foster understanding and effective communication. Similarly, the train must focus in minimizing the influence of cultural differences between the police officers and the communities they serve.
The community-police relations in the United States have been that of resentment. The justified and unjustified police forces towards the minority groups in the community have created a lack of trust between the minority groups and police agencies (Maguire & Radosh, 1996). The minority groups often feel that they are a target of police use of force and this severely threatens the police-minority group’s relationships. Although community oriented policing has been developed to address the problem, there are still more issues that points to the gap in the culture of the police and the community (Thurman, & Zhao, 2004). According to the authors, the difference in the police and community culture is the major cause of bias, unfair justice treatment and racial and ethnic discriminations. These kinds of relations will still be profound in future and the criminal justice managers must adopt proper strategies.
The presence of prejudice, bias and injustice requires the prompt and judicial response of the criminal justice manger (Thurman, & Zhao, 2004). While these community resentments towards the police will continue to be felt in the American communities, the criminal justice manager must anticipate and prepare for these challenges. The complexity of the challenge is evident due to the existence of the communities in flux. The cultural variations such as beliefs and value variations are some of the issues that remain rooted in the communities and are transferred from one generation to the other. Since it would be hard to attain community homogeneity, the only feasible solution is for the criminal justice system to change the approach that is currently in force. This calls for a progressive criminal justice manager, with greater anticipation for these future challenges.
Technology and Globalization
Technology continues to develop and many people continue to adopt technology. The rapid growth and adoption of technology influences the administration of criminal justice at all levels (Holt, 2013). The modern criminal justice system has evolved and adopted various forms of technology. The use of technology has an effect of influencing the policies and the practices of the criminal justice systems. For example, the adoption of the telephone and automobiles increased police response and consequently changed the public calls for the service of the police. Therefore, technology has a profound impact of the delivery of justice. However, the question remains, “what will be the new technologies of 2030, 2040, and 2050?”
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According to (Kania & Davis, 2011), the CompStat and the Geographic information Systems provided the criminal justice system in the United States with managerial and crime fighting equipment. The author further notes that technology keeps changing and improving, which will see the integration of new technological innovations into the criminal justice system. The technologies of 2040, 2050 and so on will be different from what is being used now.
The growth in technology in the future will have a great impact in crime fighting. Crime fighting and solving will be enhanced with the developments of radio frequency identification chips, DNA analysis, increased surveillance and biometrics. As common with sex offenders now in the country, the public and criminal justice officials will use an increasingly sophisticated intelligence databases. Similarly, interoperability between criminal justice official will be enhanced in future, allowing the officials to communicate directly with one another.
These changes in technology that are foreseen, calls for a criminal justice manager who has foresight. The criminal justice managers with foresight must be informed on the changing technologies, anticipate the new changes and integrate them into the new roles in the justice system. (Kania & Davis, 2011) points that highly progressive criminal justice managers are behind the adoption of technologies in the justice department in the United States. Similarly, a progressive criminal justice manger must think of ways of adopting and using technologies in the current and future criminal justice dispensation. Technology has a profound impact on the roles of the justice officials in many ways, which require adequate preparation by the criminal justice managers in order to prepare for these future issues.
The other most notable implication of developments in technological innovations is the widespread adoption and use of the information technology by the criminals. America continues to be the destination for many people around the world, who migrate into the country in search of better opportunities. The migration will continue to lead to growth of multicultural societies (Ritter, 2004). New global trends will be observed in the coming decades, where movement of people are likely to disrupt harmony, affecting criminal justice system in the United States and all parts of the world. Moreover, developments in the age-composition demographics and globalization will have profound effects on the criminal justice system in the country over the coming decades.
According to (Ritter, 2004), as the society becomes more reliant on information technology, the criminals find it easy to use information technology in their activities. Fraud, theft, moral offences, terrorism, kidnapping and extortions shall increase as technology advances. In addition to focusing on the adoption and implementation of technology in the criminal justice system, the criminal justice manger should prepare for the impact of such technologies on crime and prepare accordingly.
(Ritter, 2004) notes that as the society evolves criminals just as viruses evolve as people adopt new preventive measures. Moreover, the author notes that regardless of the coevolution in crime, the crime preventive measures will generally be categorized into altering the fundamental values of people, reduction of opportunities for crime and changing the motivation of people who commit the crimes. As the country approaches 2040, the demographics will alter substantially. The males aged 15-29 (who are prone to crime) will decrease as those who are aged over 30 increases. This is particularly true because the American population will constitute mainly of the aged population in the coming two decades. The impact of this is that more people will become victims or solutions to criminal activities. For example, the increase in the number of the elderly people will increase the number of victims to criminal activities. Alternatively, the increase in the number of elderly could lead to their use of their discretionary time to guide young people and report crimes.
These changes in demographics, technology, global trends and the coevolution of crimes will have significant impact on the criminal justice system in the United States. The criminal justice manager must anticipate the impact of the population growth and the evolution of crimes. A progressive criminal justice manager ought to adopt better technology within the criminal justice system in order to be in a better position to counter criminal activities. Moreover, the criminal justice manager must anticipate the global trends and initiate mechanisms for global initiatives, such as developing alliances with non-profit organizations and academic institutions in other countries to carry out the evaluations of policing and sentencing in the criminal justice system.
Mass Media Attention
It is impossible for a criminal justice manager to determine or predict when a case within their jurisdiction will grab the attention of the mass media. As the world evolves, so does the public scrutiny on the roles of the criminal justice and how such roles are carried out. The scope of media attention varies with the type of crime and those who are involved in the crime. For instance, a serious crime is will receive a lot of media attention; similarly, a crime that involves a socially important people will attract a lot of media attention (Kania & Davis, 2011). A lot of media attention in case of crime, is likely to cause an onslaught on the criminal justice system. There is need for the criminal justice manager to be prepared any moment for media onslaught in case of a major crime. Moreover, he/she must be prepared to face crimes even in the smallest communities.
Although the criminal justice manager must be prepared for the increased media scrutiny, the manger must also envision the roles of the media and equally develop strategies for dealing with them. In most of the instances, the media care more about the stories and not helping the victims of crime. Therefore, it is important that as the manager anticipates the increased media attention, a preparation for stopping media invasion be made.
Conclusion
As the society evolves, technology changes, there is need for the criminal justice system to have foresight. There is need for the adoption of new technologies in order to improve criminal justice systems and service delivery. In the coming decades, there will be more pressure on the criminal justice system to deliver better services, reduce unethical behaviors and cases of police brutality and use of excessive force. Moreover, the new technological innovations will alter criminal activities and the strategies for fighting crimes. In conclusion, the criminal justice manager must learn from the past mistakes and anticipate the future issues related to technology, media attention, police use of force and brutality and ethnic, race and community relations.
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