Why Do We Need a Criminal Justice System

Why do we need a Criminal Justice System?

Introduction

The Australian Criminal System can trace its origins back in an unbroken line over almost a thousand years. When talking about the Criminal Justice System and in particular referencing Criminal Justice as a system, it is simply talking about the involvement of the private sector; talking about neighbourhoods, the families and the industries and the relationship to the Governments response; the Police, Courts and Corrections. It is looking at the process by which an accused person enters into the system and the process by which he exits.

[E]xperience has shown that law is one of the great civilising forces in human society, and the growth of civilisation has generally been linked with the gradual development of a system of legal rules, together with machinery for their regular and effective enforcement. (Lloyd, 1964)

The need for a Criminal Justice System

A Criminal Justice System plays an important role in society. It is actively working to protect the community and their property. The main purpose is to find and punish those responsible for criminal offence and deter further crime. According to Goldsmith (2006), ‘the criminal justice system has served two purposes. The first is instrumental or utilitarian: the state responds to crime to secure benefits to the wider society such as crime prevention and crime reduction. A second is symbolic or non utilitarian: the state must redress imbalances caused by those people who take illegal advantage of another or diminish their human dignity’. (p.61)

The number of people going through the Criminal Justice System is constantly on the rise and this and the costs involved in maintaining the system is one of the challenges faced by the Government. However, the operational goal of reducing