The Role of Criminal Justice Professionals in Society
The criminals and the law-abiding people make up society. Since a criminal justice professional's position is to protect and serve, law-abiding citizens make the job of a criminal justice professional relatively simple. When it comes to criminals, however, their job can be complicated. In the absence of people who protect and represent the environment, society and individuals will not work correctly. The role of criminal justice professionals in meeting individual and social needs will be the subject of this paper.
Society's Need for Criminal Justice Professionals
To continue to flourish, society needs criminal justice professionals. In today's society, the correctional system, the justice system, and the police department are the primary practitioners. Skolnick (2011) observed that the society faces a number of issues including terrorism, child abuse, gang violence, and drug abuse which the criminal justice practitioners have to deal with every day.
Dealing with Drug Abuse
Drug abuse is one of the major concerns in society that the practitioners in the justice system need to handle. Consumption and transportation of drugs are considered as illegal actions and criminal activities. Criminal justice professionals have the role in arresting the drug dealers in order to save and protect the society from drug addiction, which leads to death and other health illnesses.
Fighting Gang Violence
Another major issue which the society faces is gang violence. The criminal justice professionals have been forced to decrease the rate of gang violence through capturing powerful gang leaders. A significant amount of resources and a lot of time is always set aside for putting a stop to gang leaders. However, this only reduces gang violence at that particular time as other gangs are always waiting to claim a territory then begin recruiting, demanding the criminal justice professionals to keep track of gang associations (Miller, 2011).
Addressing Child Abuse
Lastly, the society faces issues of child abuse. It is not usually simple to differentiate child abuse as well as may take many years without a person being aware. A police officer arrests the criminals, and the psychologist assists the children to recover.
Individual Needs and the Role of Criminal Justice Professionals
Apart from society, an individual also has needs that require the attention of criminal justice professionals. Presently, drug addiction is a major concern throughout the world. Drug addiction might result in incarceration. The probation and police officers are usually available to assist an individual with drug addiction. The police officers are normally the practitioners who discover those individuals with drug addiction; they might also save their lives. Always, they are the ones who, upon arriving at the scene, call for help in cases of accidental overdose. The probation officers might get drug users into rehabilitation centers or onto the right direction if an individual is on probation.
Domestic abuse is also another critical concern in society amongst individuals. Domestic abuse has a big crime rate in the country, and the police officers are the practitioners who deal with the issue (Miller, 2001). A police officer can assist the condition substantially by arresting the person who is guilty, therefore increasing the victim's safety.
Mentally ill individuals are also served on a daily basis by the criminal justice professionals. The criminal justice professionals have been taught how to deal with the mentally ill. The Crisis Intervention Team officers assist in serving the mentally ill individuals. CIT officers swiftly react to problems like controlling, booking as well as knowing where the mentally ill patient should be taken to.
The Impact of Criminal Justice Professionals
In general, criminal justice professionals assist the society as well as individuals immensely. The justice system is usually supportive whether it is supporting the mentally ill patient to become stable, enforcing laws in the society or a crime. Between the probation, correctional and police officers including the court system there is normally somebody to call when needed.
References
Miller, S. L. (2001). The paradox of women arrested for domestic violence: Criminal justice professionals and service providers respond. Violence against women, 7(12), 1339-1376.
Skolnick, J. H. (2011). Justice without trial: Law enforcement in democratic society. Quid pro books.
