Comparison of the Criminal Justice System | United Kingdom or United States | Who has the better one?
This is a paper I wrote for a sociology of crime and justice class recently. I'm quite proud of it, if I'm being honest. No one has the perfect criminal justice system, but there are countries that have a much more effective one than the United States. This paper goes into that, with sources cited at the end (credit where credit is due).
The
purpose of this paper is to distinguish the differences between how the United
States criminal justice system (CJS) compares to that of England. Considering the United States based a few
things on where we emigrated from, it comes as no surprise that there are
similarities. In this paper, I want to
explore the differences in how criminal justice is exacted as well as attempt
to investigate the crime rate of each country.
There will also be comparisons of how television has portrayed the
criminal justice system in both countries to see which is more accurate. The question for the reader will be
this: Which country has the better
criminal justice system (CJS)?
While
researching this paper, similarities were found between both the United States
and the English Criminal Justice Systems.
For example, they both have branches/departments of the CJS, though
that’s where some similarities end. Both
countries have a police force, courts, and corrections departments, however the
initial research shows that, the English seem to go more in depth. The United States has a police force, courts,
corrections; England has police, the Crown Prosecution Service, courts,
National Offender Management Services (prisons and probations), and Youth
Justice Boards (Youth Offending Teams). At
first, there was no evidence of a Juvenile Justice System; at this point, more
research is needed.
The
Ministry of Justice encompasses the Crown Court, Appeals Courts, Legal Services
Commission, and the National Offenders Management Services. The Ministry of Justice oversees the court
process from start to finish and it is responsible for a plethora of divisions,
as well as prisons and probation.
The Home Office oversees
the police force and Attorney General’s Office which, in turn, oversees the
Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, and the Revenue and
Customs Prosecutions Office. The Home
Office is also responsible for protecting the public from an assortment of
happenings, ranging from terror to anti-social behavior. In an ideal society, this helps to build
trust and security with the people and allows the people to flourish. This
division is additionally answerable for wrongdoing and wrongdoing decrease,
implementing the law, and forestalling illegal intimidation. The Home Office seems to be a unified police
force which, upon further reading, the United States is not.
The Attorney General is assisted by the Solicitor General, the
chief legal advisor to the government.
Their purpose is to make certain the law is upheld by the people. They also have public interest functions like
acting in appealing unduly lenient sentences.
In short, the Criminal Justice System in England is to convey
equity for all by indicting and rebuffing the liable and aiding those seen as
liable not to offend once more. They additionally serve to secure the honest,
just as are answerable for wrongdoing recognition, dealing with that
wrongdoing, and doing court orders.
The United States has
three separate branches in their Criminal Justice System: a police force, the courts, and the
corrections system. It does not have the
unified system of the United Kingdom.
The American police force is a civil position that enforces the
laws and attempts to maintain public order at three individual levels: federal, state, and community. Examples of federal police forces include,
but are not limited to, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department
of Homeland Security (DHS, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives (ATF). These organizations
have a director to answer to who, in turn, answers to a higher government
official. Federal police organizations
are the departments who investigate drugs and firearms trafficking.
The U.S. has smaller police forces, as well. Each state has a state police department and
highway patrol. Within each state are
counties, which also have their own police department. Within most counties, are cities and towns
that have their own police department.
Based on initial research, the United States seems to take their policing
very seriously if they have so many different police departments to join.
The Courts system has the position to settle on choices dependent
on the law. The U.S. legal framework is separated into government courts and
state courts. Federal courts (which
include the Supreme Court) handle federal cases that have issues like exchange
debates, military equity, and government claims. Federal court judges are chosen by the
President with consent from Congress. If
both entities are unable to agree, they work together to find a candidate until
they can.
State courts differ from federal courts in that they handle trial
courts, appellate courts, and state supreme courts. Most non-criminal cases are tried in trial
courts sans jury: the judge presides
over the trial and provides the sentence.
Think of the programming on Court TV where there is the judge, the
plaintiff and defendant in front of the judge, and the bailiff and that would
be a close comparison to how a non-criminal case would go. Another phrase for this type of case is a
civil case. Additionally, one could cite
the police procedural, Law & Order.
Each episode runs the same as previous episodes in that a crime is
committed, the investigated police officers track down the perpetrator, and
then the perpetrator is taken to court.
They’re usually provided a public defender, unless the defendant has the
funds to procure their own legal representation. Evidence is provided to the judge and jury by
the prosecutor and defense attorney and the jury deliberates in private on the findings
and whether or not the defendant is guilty or not guilty.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) also has two individual areas
to their department: the prisons and the
jails. The main difference between the
two is that jail is a temporary situation whereas prison is more
permanent. When someone is sentenced or
placed in jail, it’s typically for something minor like running a stop sign or being
intoxicated in public. Prison is the
sentence given to those found guilty of criminal offenses such as drug trafficking
and murder. According to a graphic by
Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., the United States has the largest
incarceration rate – 655 per 100,000.
Furthermore, similar to courts
in the U.K., the courts in the U.S. depend mostly on past legal sentiments as
definitive points of reference when settling prosecution. In the U.S., these are frequently referred to
as "opinions" or essentially "cases," while the expression
"law report" has gotten to some degree ancient. For legalization, the U.S. has two
incorporated government bodies, the House of Representatives, and the Senate
(together, known as the Congress), which are like the Places of Parliament.
Every one of the 50 states in the U.S. can have two senators, while representatives
are apportioned relatively dependent on each state's populace. To turn into a law in the U.S., a bill being
talked about should be endorsed by a larger part of both legislative bodies,
and afterward endorsed into law by the President.
Lawyers are also somewhat
similar. “Barrister” and “solicitor”
aren’t normally used in the United States; they are however, used “across the
pond.” Once an attorney has passed the
bar exam in and for the state of their choosing, they have free reign over the
type of law they choose to practice.
Court-going barristers are what the U.S. would refer to as “litigators”
and solicitors are known as “corporate” or “transactional” attorneys; this
means they are spoken to and about by their specialization (like health care,
real estate, etc.).
The U.K. is very
particular about the education of their lawyers and attorneys in that law
students are required to take additional courses as well as apprenticeships
post law school. In the U.S., law
students attend classes from a three-year course from an accredited college or
university and, once all course are completed satisfactorily, they are awarded
a Juris Doctor degree. As previously
stated, once they’ve graduated from law school, they can take the bar exam in
any state they choose as well as practice whichever type of law they prefer.
The more interesting
differences occur in public law. The
United Kingdom doesn’t have a written constitution, but they do have an
“unwritten constitution” that are put down as Acts of Parliament or law reports
of the court’s judgements. It’s more of
an abstract idea which contains various laws, practices, and conventions and
their evolution over centuries. A
substantial one is their Bill of Rights (ratified in 1689) which cemented that
Parliament was over the Crown; this came into existence the year King James II
was replaced as King by William III and Mary in the Glorious Revolution.
There’s the Magna Carta
from 1215, which is also known as the “Great Charter of the Liberties of England.” This document set up that their rulers,
during the time of their king, couldn’t do as they liked; they were confined to
obey the laws as well. This put down the
base for the constitutional government and freedom under the new law. They also restrict judicial review, which is
the “power of the courts of a country to examine the actions of the
legislative, executive, and administrative arms of the government and to
determine whether such actions are consistent with the constitution.”₁
In the United States,
part of our country’s historical separation from England involved the creation
of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Anyone who’s watched Hamilton can get
a good idea of what happened during the early years of our country and then, hopefully,
become inspired to learn more. During
the 20th century, most areas of law were “constitutionalized” by
multiplying the act of judicial power.
The U.S. also has that complex system of government, both at the federal
level and the presidential level; the U.K. only has the parliamentary level of
government. It’s somewhat understandable
why the United States wouldn’t want to adopt the exact doctrine of policing
that the United Kingdom does. If it does
that, then why even distance and separate us from England in the 1770s? The American colonies wanted to be a new,
independent nation, and none can deny the thrill of that emancipation from
matriarchal rule. However, there are
plenty of ideals and procedures to take note from.
One can understand why
the early colonists decided to separate from England, but what England had in
place as far as government organization as well as the judiciary level, seemed
a good enough idea to base our own ideals.
This is why there are so many similarities between the two criminal
justice systems and why, for some, it’s difficult to come to a solid conclusion
as to which one is best. It may come
down to the crime rate of each country and basing one’s opinion solely on
that.
The year 2020 was an off
year worldwide, so going solely based off crime levels from 2014, the U.S. rank
16% more than the U.K. People’s fear of
violent hate crimes in the U.S. are 20% higher than those people in the
U.K. The fear related to the worry about
one’s car being stolen, and items being stolen from one’s vehicle are 32% and
41%, respectively. When it comes to
feeling safe walking alone at night, the U.K. ranks 21% above the U.S.; this is
the highest “out-ranking” the U.K. has. ₂
In the early stages of law, order, and punishment in the American colonies, there was a lack of knowledge. There weren’t many judges or lawyers, but as time went on, colonists elected officials to keep the peace. They would pass their own laws per colony and their governors acted as their judges. At this time, civil and criminal cases occurred in each other’s courts, which kept juries very busy in handing out the result of their deliberations. By the 1790s, there were more lawyers using British rules and procedures. After dealing with the British during the American Revolution, some Americans wanted to create a new legal system they could call their own. This was the start of the current legal system practiced by Americans today.
One of the most obvious
differences of the criminal justice system between the two countries is their
police force. As previously mentioned,
the U.K. has a country police force whereas the U.S. has several levels of
police force just within each state. It
has been learning while researching this paper that the American police force
tend to use – maybe even overuse – militarized tactics. When compared to how it’s done “across the
pond,” one finds that they don’t use as much excessive force and allow time and
space to resolve an issue. While
aggressive tactics have seemed to be a part of normal policing in the United States
to completely remove a threat, the U.K. attempts to first speak and communicate
with those at the center of an altercation or situation. They believe it’s better to reduce a
threat instead of intimidating or assert dominance.
The
events of June 2020 sparked a debate worldwide concerning the police in the U.S. The American people were questioning their
police force and government for allowing their police to use deadly force; it
was stated by The Washington Post that other countries “including may in
Europe, the police practices that are causing outrage in the United States are
either entirely banned or are far more strictly regulated.”
According to Paul
Hirschfield, an associate professor at New Jersey Rutgers University, crisis
intervention and de-escalation “tends to be an afterthought” when it comes to
training the police force. Other nations
have more training in how to de-escalate a situation without having casualties
or fatalities. The military tactics of
the American police force does the opposite of making its people feel safe; the
American people are petrified.
Having
mentioned what transpired during the summer of 2020, it’s good to note that
there are plenty of countries that have a fantastic police force that the
United States could learn a thing or two from.
For instance, while this research paper isn’t about Europe as a whole,
there is a level of restraint that is a standard for all of Europe. There are countries where police officers are
required to request permission to use their weapon to shoot anyone. In another country, police officers must
provide verbal warnings and warning shots before succumbing to the act of using
deadly force. Using deadly force is
against the law in most of Europe; it’s only been recently that a small
fraction of states outlawed it.
It’s
been shown in other countries when recruits have more time allotted for
training (say, two and a half to four years), more time can be spent training
recruits how to not use deadly force and, instead, focus on crisis intervention
and the de-escalation of a bad situation.
If part of new police training involved how to properly respond to
domestic violence and how to disarm a potentially deadly situation, the cases
against police officers abusing their power may drop. The U.K. police aren’t permitted firearms
when investigating cases or “walking the beat.”
In this case, it’s emphasizing how we use our words instead of our
hands. Parents and teachers are
constantly teaching children to use their words and not their fists: when did
this stop being important as adults?
There seems to be a lack
in empathy is partly why the police-related deaths in the U.S. is so much
higher than other countries. Other
countries, for the most part, seem to have an overall proper and good criminal
justice system when it comes to their police force. Not all countries have a perfect police force
however, if the U.S. used the good ideas from other countries, the police force
would then be better. In 2019, the
United States recorded 1,000 deaths caused by law enforcement; in the United
Kingdom in 2018, there were three: THREE
police-related deaths.
Another difference
between the police force of the United States versus the United Kingdom is that
the United States has a law enforcement system that vastly decentralized. This means that most of the roughly 18,000
law enforcement departments across the country are run at either the city or
county level without any federal authority overseeing the action taken by these
30,000 police officers. The police force
in the U.K. (England and Wales) have only 43 departments and are under the
thumb of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, which is an independent
department.
There has been some debate
over whether putting in place an Inspector General of Police at the state level
would solve any problems. This
suggestion was provided to former President Obama in 2014 after a police
shooting of a black teen in Ferguson, Missouri; unfortunately, Michael Brown
died after being shot. The way this
position would work would be the same as it does in England; they observe
police powers to guarantee they are maintaining a specific arrangement of rules
and guidelines and cutting the financing of those that don’t. Additional recommendations were made included
setting up a National College of Policing and a database of dismissed
officers. This database would assist
future police departments in not hiring offending officers. Unfortunately, all of these remained as
recommendations and were never put into action.
In conclusion, when it
comes to which country has the better criminal justice system, it seems to be a
draw. There are aspects of the U.K.
system that seem very ideal and the same can be said for the U.S. This paper has touched on the few differences
and the many similarities of the criminal justice system (CJS) of both
countries. In this researcher’s opinion,
the CJS in the U.K. may seem the fairer route.
When it comes to the United States and the United Kingdom attempting to
work together to create a better, more just and fair system, it seems the U.K.
is frequently let down. The U.S. is like
a spoiled, entitled child who would rather watch the world burn with policies
and procedures that used to work than take into consideration other options of
what’s already been established to work.
At this rate, the U.S.,
still a relatively young country, will slowly go down the drain as one of the
worst policed countries worldwide. The
resistance the U.S. has for change may have to do with the age of the United
States and the size of the overall population of the country. Countries in the United Kingdom are smaller
and easier to manage because they don’t cover as much territory; they also have
fewer political personalities to worry about.
Countries in the U.K. have older, bloodier histories, whereas the
colonized United States doesn’t. The
U.S. has only had one civil war (North vs South) however, Europe has had
countless battles and wars over land and property.
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