Challenges of Leading Groups
Challenges of Leading Groups Introduction Global events and interactions affect almost all modern criminal justice organizations whereby they are increasingly facing challenges as a result of the ever changing external and internal environments. The economic and political linkages involving the migration of money, products, and people across national boundaries together with ideas and values have increased the pace of change, ambiguity, uncertainty, and unpredictability in determining and solving disputes that arise as a result of misunderstanding between individuals or countries. For justice and fairness to be attained it is advisable for criminal justice organizations to recruit competent, devoted, ethical, and experienced professionals in dealing with the rising cases of crime and the enforcement of laws that governs our society as well as protecting constitutional privileges and civil liberties of individuals. (Bandura, 1997) Under this, an example of criminal justice organization is the courts of law where there are charged with the responsibility of applying the existing laws on ruling of many different cases that arise as a result of misunderstanding between individuals or between countries. The culture of any court of law is always to achieve fairness and justice in performing its duties. This is the cornerstone to its existence in that it has the duty of solving disputes fairly and at the same time protecting the rights and liberties of individuals involved. The main characteristic of the court of law is performing its duties fairly without discrimination and favor. It is also composed of competent magistrates who are supposed to carry out their duties of passing judgments without prejudice or malice. The culture of the courts of law can only be achieved by magistrates and other employees of these organizations by following their codes of conduct when administering their duties. Challenges faced by Criminal Justice Organization There are many challenges that face criminal justice organizations and in this case particularly the courts of law. The major challenge has always been achieving fairness when passing judgments and especially on thorny subjects that may contradict the way of doing things that is the culture in this organization. Many human rights activists have increasingly questioned the competence of judges and magistrates when handling cases of public concern. There have been consistent arguments that the magistrates and the judges have been influenced by key or prominent individuals like politicians while performing their duties thus being incompetent and giving vague rulings which have been questioned by many. (Carrasco, 1999) The other challenge of criminal justice organizations and especially the courts is in the wake of terrorism there has been growing concern on how they handle the cases related to terrorism. Due to influence by some powerful individuals in various governments, the magistrates and judges have been viewed to be ineffective and inefficient in solving cases related to terrorism. For example, Islamic followers have been arguing that they are being discriminated and they have constantly been linked with terror which is not entirely true. Since the September 11th attack there has been a growing concern on how the judicial systems handle the cases of terrorism. Such confusions arise because of the existing structures that deal with terrorism and review of such regulations should be enforced in order to avoid such loopholes. It is viewed that the culture of the courts of law does not therefore support any changes in the judicial systems. The other challenge faced by the criminal justice organization and especially the courts of law is the matter of how to transform juvenile offenders from further participation in activities that are against the rule of law. The juveniles especially the youths of between thirteen and seventeen years have increasingly engaged themselves in questionable activities which are deemed to be retrogressive and may lead to them being professional criminals in future. Such activities include misuse of drug, rape cases, immature marriages and even robbery. Parents cannot be entirely blamed for such conducts and the courts of law have the responsibility to come up with better and acceptable modes of punishing the young ones in the general public. The courts therefore have not been able to attain their culture since unfairness for example holding the young ones in custody for long or freeing them because of lack of viable structures to deal with such cases has been witnessed. This practice has not supported fairness and justice that may foster any change since the courts have ambiguous laws governing juvenile delinquency in the society. The courts too are widely condemned for using what is viewed to be common punishment that does not hold some entities responsible for their conducts and thus the process of administering justice is viewed to be illogical. For example witnesses have continually been exposed to danger of revenge because the courts do not protect them from the aftermath of the events unfolding from the courts. Also in some instances the courts through the prosecutors are reported to be harassing witnesses when hearing cases and disputes which has led to many individuals fearing to testify in the cases that they have facts and evident. The matter of providing for the punishment has been a growing concern and there has been questions regarding to what kind of punishment should be subjected to criminal offenders. The Courts of law have been viewed to applying laws that do not cope with the modern world for example, the murderers, robbers, and the rapists should not be left to enjoy their freedom but instead they should be sentenced to death. The court face the challenge of coming up with sensible charges that the criminal offenders have to be subjected to when they are found guilty. (Gobert, 1994) Recommendations for the courts effectiveness The role of courts should shift from only passing fair judgments to acting as change agents to criminal offenders in the society. The culture of doing things in the courts should be emphasized and particularly the courts should act independently and avoid manipulation by powerful individuals who may influence their decisions. The criminal justice organizations and especially the courts have the task of defending members of the general public through the structures of passing fair judgments as well as protecting the rights and liberties of the individuals. Because of the increased population there is an increase rates of criminal activities in crime all over the world and the criminal justice organizations including the courts have to protect the whole society by ensuring that they cope with any changes brought about by change of culture in the criminal justice organizations. Due to the increase in population the courts have not performed there duties perfectly for example these institutions of justice have been characterized by long delays brought about by the high number of cases that cannot be solved within a short time. (Bandura, 1997) From the latest survey, reports suggest that the ratio of criminal justice professionals to members of the public is wanting and thus they cannot handle the cases that are experienced in the daily course of life. There is greater need for improvement especially ion setting up many courts and embarking on recruiting competent, willing, and qualified magistrates, judges, and other employees required in these organizations. The governments too should not be left behind in reforming these organizations of criminal justice. The respective states should therefore through there bodies of amending and making laws create laws that will enhance changes and a favorable environment of solving such challenges. The dimension of laxity portrayed by the governments for example, in opening rehabilitation systems e.g. that of the juveniles that can help reduce the increasing rate of crime in the world should not be encouraged completely. Research from recent studies indicates that, the relevant systems of justice should embark upon deficiencies in the application of the existing law to make sure that witnesses are fully protected prior to, in, and after the trials. Conclusion: Over the past years crime has increased due to various reasons that include poverty, misuse of drugs, and fighting for power among others. Many countries have come up with laws that enable the passing of judgments without harsh conditionality. The challenges facing criminal justice organizations in the world are numerous and we cannot discuss all in this paper. Understanding the culture of any criminal justice organization is very prudent in order to attain goals and be effective and efficient in there operational activities. It s therefore practical to build viable culture in these organizations which will support any innovations and change that may be required in order to achieve the set objectives, for example being fair in giving ruling and protecting rights and liberties of individuals. (Bandura, 1997) Reference: Bandura. A (1997) - Social Learning Theory: Englewood Cliffs N.J- Prentice-Hall pg 55-76 Carrasco. C and Dupee. M (1999):- Challenges Facing Criminal Justice Organizations- American Criminal Law Review pp 46-56 Gobert. J (1994):- Corporate Criminality- New Crimes for the Times. Criminal Law Review 722 pg 123-136 Wilson, James Q, Herrnstein and Richard J. (1985): Crime and Human Nature. New York Simon and Schuster pg 55-78.