Criminal Justice Roles and Stakeholders

Criminal Justice Roles and Stakeholders

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to give the readers an idea regarding criminal justice roles and stakeholders that how different people perform different roles in the criminal justice system. There are numerous roles performed by different people and at different level in the criminal justice system like police patrol officer, parole/probation agent, judges, institutional correction officer or intelligence analyst etc. Therefore, in this paper, the author selected the role of probation/parole officer and highlighted different aspects of its roles. For instance, the paper provides a clear description of specific responsibilities in the criminal justice process. Similarly, the author described the short term impact and the long term impact of the operation on the individual as well as on the society. Further moving on, one should understand that the nature and the importance of parole/probation agent is very much critical because he/she is the one who took the responsibility of dealing with the person who released from the prison as per the probation officer.

Probation/Parole Officers Mission Statement

The motive of providing the parole services to the society is to enhance public safety, remediating the activities and attitude of criminal lawbreakers to satisfactory community values, to ensure the protection of the victims of the crime, and creating a secure environment for all the stakeholders living in the society (Wvdoc, 2011).

Responsibilities in the Criminal Justice System

Probation and parole are responsible for the supervision of more than 5 million adult offenders in the United States. As the most common disposition in the United States for felony convictions, probation is a sentence in lieu of incarceration that monitors people under conditions of release. The two types of probation conditions are mandatory and special. Mandatory conditions are defined by state or federal statutes and apply to every individual sentenced to probation. These conditions generally include not owning or carrying a weapon, reporting to a probation officer on a schedule that is determined by the officer at intake, leaving a jurisdiction only with the judge's knowledge and approval, allowing unannounced home visits by the officer, and remaining free of arrests during the probation period. Special conditions are imposed by the judge during sentencing and apply to the particular circumstances of the case (Michigan, 2012). They can include participation in treatment for alcohol or drug abuse, the payment of fines, the obtaining of mental health services, and earning a General Equivalency Diploma.

Parole is not a sentence; rather, it is the extension of a prison into the community and under the supervision of the parole authority, which is a branch of the prison system. Prisoners are eligible for parole after they have served a minimum number of years of their sentence as dictated by state statutes and the discretion of the judge. A parole board reviews their crimes, their criminal histories, and their behaviors in prison to decide whether the prisoners can be supervised safely in the community. After serving only a portion of their sentence, prisoners can also ...