There are three components that make up the criminal justice system – the police, courts, and correctional facilities – they all work together in order to protect individuals and their rights as a citizen of society to live without the fear of becoming the victim of a crime. Crime, simply put is when a person violates criminal law; the criminal justice system is society’s way of implementing social control. When all three components of the criminal justice work together, it functions almost perfectly. For a person to enter the criminal justice system, the process must begin with the law enforcement. Therefore, for the police to be involved, there must be a crime that has been committed or a violation of law that has been put in place by …show more content…
“Correction officers supervise convicted offenders when they are in jail, in prison, or in the community on probation or parole” (National Center for Victims of Crime, 2008). When a defendant is found guilty, they are usually sentenced to time in jail, houses of correction, prisons, probation, or parole. When they are sentenced to time in prison, it is the responsibility of corrections and their officers to ensure that the defendant is treated humanely. It is also their job to make sure that the correctional facility that is holding the offender is safe and secure. In the criminal justice system, the corrections component is also responsible for the rehabilitation of the convicted individual. It is their duty to attempt to make the defendant a productive member of society once again. Based on the individual’s behavior while incarcerated, the court and corrections officials may decide to place them on parole, which ensures that the individual will comply with the rules of society once they are fully released from the system. The criminal justice system is an essential role in the organizational structure of not only the United States but also in countries around the world. If there were no criminal justice system to administer punishment, the world would be unstructured, disorganized, unjustified, cruel, and not to mention a chaotic place for it citizens. Well put by Siegel