Free «Global Perspectives on US Criminal Justice» Essay Paper

The Impact of Globalization on the U.S. Criminal Justice System

Globalization has a profound effect on the United States of America criminal justice system. It has helped to breakdown the once hierarchical structure that was used by criminal gangs by way of creating an even international playing field that has instead destroyed the aforementioned structures. In fact, these criminal gangs are now not fighting for territories amongst each other; they are working together hence narrowing their respective operations to certain niches. Despite this development, globalization has also established connections between America’s criminal justice systems with the rest of the global systems. For instance, it is now easier for law enforcement agencies to access important information about individuals regardless of their countries of origins. Prior to globalization, this rather simple activity would have either taken a considerable amount of time or never attained at all. Significantly, in the past, many small economies found it challenging in regards to time and financial resources to prosecute crimes of their citizens situated in foreign countries. However, with globalization, this issue has been addressed since these countries can receive assistance from the developed economies to arrest and prosecute a crime as a result of homeland agencies’ global interconnection (Modafferi, 2007).

 

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Compare and Contrast International Criminal Justice Systems

First, common law systems exist in most English-speaking countries. They are operated under an adversarial system where lawyers are allowed to interpret and judges are expected to be bound by precedents. Second, a civil law system is considered to be the largest prevailing justice system across the globe. It is characterized by a rather strong inquisitorial process for which minimal rights are attributed to the accused while written legislation is the sole determinant and is subjected to little or no interpretation. Third, socialist systems are mostly common in countries that have undergone communist revolution. It is characterized by forceful retraining people to fulfill their commitments to the state given that it focuses on ultimate expressions of state perfection. Fourth, Islamic system is derived from the practices that are interpreted within the Koran. It considers law to be of divine origin(Introduction to Comparative Criminal Justice, N.d).

Impact of Cyber Crime and Technology on Worldwide Justice Systems

The adoption of internet to search for relevant criminal data and thereby prosecute criminal cases has led to higher levels of challenges. Such cyber crimes as cyber bullying and hacking have become a notable feature that has continued to cause ripples in worldwide justice systems. The fact that criminals can possibly use an innocent platform to commit crime and get away with it is a huge challenge to the justice systems (Kabay, 2011). Currently, the law provisions do not allow victims to use unauthorized access to computer machines and possibly networks of the one they believe are under the cyber attacks. In regards to technology, both the advantages and disadvantages are considered to be fairly established. Technological advancements in internet money transfers have facilitated aspects of such criminal activities like money laundering and different forms of fraudulent behaviors (Kabay, 2011). Significantly, even though the use of the internet that allows faster and more effective communication across the globe, most of the criminal gangs are now utilizing this feature to their own advantage in terms of organizing crimes on a global platform. Thus, it is ascertained that despite the fact that the internet has effectively facilitated a rapid growth of legitimate businesses and thereby speeded the process of globalization, organized crime is also growing (Kabay, 2011). Notwithstanding, technology has created significant insecure loopholes in law enforcement operations so that crime-related information that was once perceived to be confidential is now finding its way to the public domain. This has almost paralyzed the effective operations of worldwide criminal justice systems given that potential criminals can access information at a touch of a button and thereafter act accordingly to promote crimes (Kabay, 2011).

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For instance, with the case of Snowden, it has been established that the American government has also engaged in privacy-based crimes by spying on Americans without their full consent. The case taints the image of the government through the National Security Agency given that technological malfunction of their database exposes their rather confidential activity. However, for the sake of law enforcement, the challenge is considered to be simple given that modern criminals do not recognize the boundaries; hence, boundaries should be lifted in order to allow law enforcement agencies execute their tasks formidably. Following this line of reasoning, it can be clearly stated that law enforcement should be allowed to cross both physical and virtual boundaries in order to optimize their efforts in dealing with criminal activities on a global scale (Schmalleger, 2009).

Policing Systems on a Worldwide Scale

The overall objective of police agencies throughout the globe rests with combating criminal activities. However, their immediate methods of doing this vary distinctively. In the United States of America, before 2001, police were considerably autonomous, but later resources were merged to create a Department of Homeland Security that works with local police networks to fight terrorists, cyber attackers, and human trafficking offenses among others. In contrast, the Europeans have also adopted similar integrated structures. For instance, Europol, which is a clone of FBI, was created to execute the aforementioned functions. Although they have not created an integrated structure, Asians are perceived to be working closely with the American law enforcement agencies to combat crimes. However, in Africa, police agencies still work autonomously. A recent creation of African Police Resource Network is yet to match the functions of both Europol and FBI (Oakes, N.d).