Criminal Justice Integration Project

The development of improved interactions between the courts, private security agencies, law enforcement personnel as well as community and institutional corrections over the next 15 years requires delicate planning and focus. Agency policies of each of the above organizations must reflect the specific needs of the ever changing population. The budgets of these organizations play a sensitive role in the expansion of what can and cannot be provided to communities. Open and unobstructed transmission of crucial information between criminal justice constituents could present problems if they are not reliable. They must depend on one another for support. New advancements in technology occur almost on a daily in today's society. It won't be long until more useful and proficient means become available for enhanced functions in the field. The courts, private security agencies, law enforcement personnel as well as community and institutional corrections will have to require diverse training with the ever changing demographic populations of people in the country today. In combining agency policies, revenue sources as well as expenditures, communications, technology, and cultural aspects of organizations, professionals can work together to create lasting as well as functional means to take the criminal justice field onward toward positive, rewarding change in the future.

The court systems are made up of the county court, circuit court, district court, and the Supreme Court (Florida Court Systems, n.d.). The people of the court have to follow agency policies so that the cases can be tried accordingly. Private security and law enforcement need to work with the people of the court if to issue justice accordingly. Court personnel will have to work closely with institutional and community corrections so that criminals receive justice according to their crimes. The courts also need to work closely with correctional rehabilitative programs to include probation and parole officers to help when criminals are released into society.

Recent and past writing indicates that a need for regulation of the public or commercial security sector needs development. Democratic institutions need to have some kind of control over private security. The growth of the private industry is far ahead of any regulation. Many private companies operate overseas in the war zone and are subject to the laws of the country of operation. The US military has taken over control of contractors who work in these areas. For private security companies (PSC) in countries such as England there are no regulations. Most PSCs wish to operate openly through regulation. Measures are found at the national level in the United States that improve the regulations of PSC's. Traditionally, there have been relatively few policies in the area of admissions. PSC's are improving. Military or prior law enforcement is ideal but will seek to hire almost anyone to fill the ranks. Standards are not as though as those for public security such as the police force (Private Policing, 2008)

The objective of law enforcement policies must be suitable to the particular community involved, employing methods that must be tested against an objective inevitably an uncertain one (Remington, 1965). Different agencies require different specific requirements for the communities they serve; the enacted policies must reflect that. Although the roles of law enforcement are ambiguous, their primary responsibilities include enforcing laws, protecting life and property, ensuring safety as well as apprehending law-breakers (Johnson & Gregory, 1971). Enormous amounts of discretion are exercised in regard to rational decision-making skills. Police officers hold a renowned sense of social responsibility to components of the criminal justice system and constituents. Teaseley III (1978) dictates that police departments have presumed a particular role through their own departmental policies that are consistent with values communicated through government structure. This statement concludes that there is major intertwining of agencies in which law enforcement officials are a vital component of.

States have added one million prison cells over the past 20 years, pushing the U.S. prison population to 2.3 million and the incarceration rate past one in 100 adults, the highest in the world. Still, more than 95% of inmates are eventually released. Add in offenders on probation, parole or other post-prison supervision and there are 7.3 million American adults under correctional control. The corrections system costs states nearly $50 billion a year; federal and local governments billions more. More than 40% of probationers do not complete their probation period successfully and more than half of parolees end up back behind bars. Offenders who violate their supervision account for a significant portion of prison admissions, reducing space available