Question

Why should research always be included in criminal justice policy? What happens when it is not?

Answer 1

Criminal justice is a science which explain about the behaviour of criminals, crime intensity and the situation which can act as a catalyst in criminal mind to commit crime. It is basically a story about crime pattern, criminals, environment or situation and the criminal justice system. Which covers topics like legal studies, sociology, political science, psychology, forensic, public administration, lifestyle studies, and philosophy as these are the important factors to control crime.

Criminal justice policy include various punishment depending on intensity of crime so that it can be controlled and eventually eradicated from society to safeguard people and their society to create healthy lives. It always focuses on prevention of crime as well as the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders.so that it will not be repeated in future by anyone.

Example – Punishment in rape case is death and in case of juvenile criminal it is rehabilitation at various government centres. This is because a juvenile can commit that crime due to various conditions like environment, upbringing, society, behaviour, lack of education etc and it can be treated by giving proper training and treatment which differentiate between deed by good or bad people. This can only be possible if research work is there in each case to observe the pattern. Also it helps to change the policy if its needed to safeguard population.

Research is also important for the below given points –

1.To observe the crime pattern by referring to previous studies and include new policy to restrict that.

2.To save an innocent and put the criminal behind the bars by legal bondage.

3.To decide the intensity of punishment given to criminal based on history.

4.Needed to change policy if it is not impactful in stopping crime.

5.Community safety based on caste, religion, location etc.

6. To end an era of heinous crime in society like dowry, child marriage, child labour etc.

If these research is not there, we will not be able to decide the policy and facts for below given points and make necessary changes to policy to create impact and stringent policy.

1.Types of crimes are being committed.

2. Amount of crime in the area changed over time.

3.Fact about the people committing these crimes.

4.Location of crimes being committed.

5.How are the crimes affecting the community?

6.Best policy and strategy for preventing these crimes in a specified location, committed by a common behavioural person having a specific religion and caste.

If we don’t know the answers of all above questions, then it may take long time and wastage of money to give verdict on a crime and also a non-impactful judiciary process and policy which would have changed accordingly when we have access to research on the crime.