Criminal Justice Trends
Joann Harris
CJA/484
September 17, 2012
Robert Metzger

Criminal Justice Trends
This paper is on criminal justice trends. In this paper, past, present, and future trends in law enforcement will be discussed. Also, the budgetary and managerial will also be discussed. These things are important in all areas of criminal justice. The way that the criminal justice system changes from the past to the present has had a big impact on the way the criminal justice system is. Changes that were in the past had an impact on the present as changes in the present will have an impact on the future. The changes that will be in the future will also have a big impact on the criminal justice system. With changes, no matter how big or how small always has impact to the upcoming years. When it comes to the criminal justice system, it does not matter if it is in law enforcement, (police, detectives, or any other), courts (judges or lawyers), or even corrections, they are all important. They all have a big impact on the criminal justice system and how it is ran.
There are different types or jobs of law enforcement. Some of these jobs are: * Uniformed police officers * Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs * State police, also known as state troopers or highway patrol officers. * Detectives
Just to name a few. They are all important to the past, present, and future of the criminal justice system. They all had important jobs in the past and they still have important jobs in the present. Their jobs will be just as important in the future. Even though things change with the times, the jobs of law enforcement will also have an impact on how things are done. Change is good if it has a positive impact. Sometimes, change is not always good.
In the past, like the 1800’s and early 1900’s, people felt safe within their own homes or even walking down the street. People did not have to worry about crime in their communities like they do today. Police officers for example, knew people by their first name and the people knew the officers that walked the communities or the neighborhoods. They knew the store owners and the store owners felt safe. The people in the community knew they were protected. People in the community and the law enforcement would talk to each other and get to know each other. There was communication between law enforcement and the community. As time and technology changed, so did the relationship between law enforcement and the people in the communities. In the mid to late 1900’s, new technologies was coming into play. Things like police cares, police radios, and so much more. As the new technology was happening, the relationship between law enforcement and the community was also changing. (Police: History policing, Twentieth Century America C, The Reform Era, n.d).
With new technologies, the way law enforcement did their jobs changed also. Most of the foot patrols were gone and more car patrols took its place. With the changes, it also changed the relationship between law enforcement and the people of the community. With the time, changed the way people felt. People began to feel less safe in their homes and even in their community. Where people use to be able to keep their homes and cars unlocked, they could not do that anymore. With the change in the relationships, law enforcement and the people took less time to get to know each other and the communication was getting less and less. The trust of the people started to go downhill and it got the point that they did not trust law enforcement or even some of the people around the community. The way that law enforcement handled their calls to the way they patrolled was so different.
In the present trends, there are a lot of new technologies that come into play with the time changing. Law enforcement patrol in cars now, they have better radios, calling 911 helps to report crime, and so much more. Technologies are better now than it was years ago. With technologies today, there are surveillance cameras on street corners, in stores, computers in the cars, plus so much more. With surveillance cameras on the street corners, it makes it a little easier for law enforcements. With surveillance cameras in stores, for example, it helps to identify the criminal a lot easier than it used to be. (Cetron & Davis, 2008). Today, law enforcement does not take the time to get to know the people in the communities or the people in the communities do not get to know law enforcement. The only way that law enforcement gets to know someone is if a person gets into trouble all the time. That is not a way to get a relationship going with law enforcement and the communities.
The technologies today do has its faults but it is better than it was and there is room for improvements. Cetron & Davies states, “The exponential rate at which technology is changing is directly affecting policing today.” (Cetron & Davis, 2008). With the changes, not only is the criminal justice system impacted by this but also the people are impacted. Criminal justice system is impacted from law enforcement, to the courts to corrections. It is all positive impact but there is still room for improvement.
Even though we cannot see into the future, with new technologies always coming into play, it will have a big role in the future. Law enforcement, courts, and corrections have come a long way since the 1800’s and the 1900’s. Even though there are always new technologies, it still has its pro’s and con’s and its mistakes. But, it helps in all areas. The way that the times are changing and technology, we can only dream or imagine how law enforcement, courts, and corrections will be.
When it comes to the budgetary and managerial, this too will change. Throughout the years, it has gone through its changes and it will go through many more. There are so many budget cuts that have taken place. According to Shari Phiel, the budget in Oregon, for example, for 2012-2013, there will be a need to cut more than $750,00 from the annual expenses. (Shari Phiel, “Law Enforcement Cuts on the Horizon”, 2012). With cuts like has been around for many years. The future does not look much better when it comes to budget cuts. An example would be Portland police. They had a budget of $169 million and they overspent by $3.42 million. The big question would be, why? Why did this happen? Why is there not a big enough budget to cover what needs to be covered? (Maxin Bernstein, the Oregonian, 2012).
Management goes along with the way time changes. All though there are things in management, like anything else, that can stand for improvement. When management does not go smooth neither does anything else. Management has it faults and it reflects on the outcome of law enforcement, courts and correction.
Research is important to criminal justice and also criminology. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are important. Quantitative deals with figures, graphs, charts, reports, and also spreadsheets. This is what gives substantiation of theories. Qualitative deals with investigation. It helps in profiling, case studies, and interviews, just to name a few. In a sense quantitative and qualitative methods go hand in hand. Quantitative method is what is used to get convictions. This is used for DNA and ballistics test, evidence comparisons, offenders data, and so much more. (Gail Cohen, “Research Methods for Criminology & Criminal Justice”). Qualitative methods are used for victimology, profiling, crime theory comparisons, and so much more. (Gail Cohen, “Research Methods for Criminology & Criminal Justice”).
The future of qualitative methods and quantitative methods of research will get better. As everything else, new technologies will be there to improve the methods of research. Qualitative methods and quantitative methods are different than it was 20 years ago and it will be different in the next 20 years from now. We can only hope that the future brings better technology to help the research methods all the way around.
So inclusion, many things were discussed in this paper. We looked at the past, present and future trends of the criminal justice system. We discussed the budgetary and managerial, as well as the methods of research. Criminal justice system, which includes, law enforcement, courts, and corrections have changed. Criminal justice has changed a lot from the past to the present. The way criminal justice is today is a little better than it was in the past. Today we have technology that we did not have in the past. We can only imagine how the future is going to be when it comes to all areas for the criminal justice system. With new technology always coming into pay, we can only hope that it will improve the criminal justice system in the future.

References
Police: History- Policing Twentieth Century America^ C" the Reform Era. (n.d). Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1643/policehistory
Cetron, Dr. M. J. & Davies, O. (2008). 55 Trends Now Shaping the Future of Policing. Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/proteus-55-policing.
Shari Phiel, 2012 “Law enforcement cuts on the horizon” http://www.thechronicleonline.com/news/article_3188095c-b5b6-11e1-af5a-001a4bcf887a.html

Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, 2012. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/04/portland_police_bureau_budget.html

Gail Cohen, http://www.ehow.com/about_5366066_research-methods-criminology-criminal-justice.html

http://discoverpolicing.org/whats_like/?fa=types_careers