Social, Economic, Ethnic, and Religious Impacts on the Commission of Crimes in Our Society

Introduction

Criminal justice system of any country is the combination of social, economical, ethnic and religious norms and practices. Laws always base on the social, economical, ethnic and religious customs and criminal justice system is also the reflections of these customs.

The criminal justice system is a combination of laws regulating behavior and the institutions that enforce these laws. It incorporates police, courts, jails, prosecutors, and defense attorneys (Inciardi, pp. 78). These separate elements have existed for centuries, and each has its own history, but American criminal justice emerged as an interconnected system in the late 19th century.

Social, Economic, Ethnic, and Religious Factors: Whether These Factors Should or Should Not Influence Criminal Justice System

Social, economic, ethnic, and religious factors influence the criminal justice system.

Inciardi (pp. 34-41) mentions in the United States, criminal justice was built around state, county, and municipal laws and enforcement mechanisms; for most of American history, it was an overwhelmingly local process. Each state has its own penal code, as do local governments. Courts have traditionally been the central instruments. In colonial America, most cases reached courts when accusers—plaintiffs—swore out complaints. Only in major cases such as murders would coroners assemble juries to formally accuse suspects. These arrangements existed because communities had no real policing mechanisms. Boston created the first police department in the United States in 1838, and few cities followed that example until the 1850s (Inciardi, pp. 79).

Instead, in 19th-century Philadelphia, most cases were initiated by private prosecutions. Plaintiffs would swear a complaint before a magistrate and pay a constable to bring defendants to court. This democratic arrangement allowed everyone who could afford court fees to seek justice. State-sponsored prosecutions, however, gradually replaced private prosecutions later in the 19th century. Philadelphia established a police department in 1845 and, after much controversy, consolidated its neighborhoods under one centralized municipal government in 1854. Establishing fulltime city services brought larger caseloads into courts and demanded more administrative organization.

The various elements involved in criminal justice began to operate as an integrated system by the late 19th century. Police departments acted as investigators on behalf of municipal governments. District attorneys or public prosecutors—lawyers employed by local or state government to pursue cases—became common after 1870. Defense attorneys also became players in the system, although they appeared mainly on behalf of clients who could pay them; courts hired attorneys for the poor only if they faced serious charges, and public defenders were rare. Turn-of-the-century courts in the locality that has been studied most closely— Alameda County, California—developed a pyramid structure. The courts at the base of the pyramid— variously called police courts, justice courts, or magistrate's courts—conducted initial hearings on felony charges and managed most misdemeanor cases entirely (Markowitz and Delores and Jones-Brown, pp. 67-71).

A majority of offenses involved disorderly conduct, drunkenness, and vagrancy, and courts dispensed justice in these cases in a quick and rough fashion. Defendants might have a few minutes to explain themselves before judges issued ...