The three challenges of a criminal justice agency administration (discipline, liability, and labor relations) appear to be interrelated. The liability within the system of criminal justice is always a challenge. In general, the cases of police brutality (or perceived police brutality) are typically controversial, and the guilty party is not always easy to find. An example is the death of Eric Garner, which was caused by an officer when he did not release the man who was claiming to be unable to breathe (Susman & Haller, 2015).
The public was outraged by the case, which is understandable especially since Garner was unarmed, but the officers’ community felt unprotected and unsupported as well, which is similarly understandable given the specifics of their job. Similarly controversial is the case of corrections workers who are responsible for the people in their custody and can be sued if, for example, an inmate commits suicide (Peak, 2011).
As pointed out by Peak (2011), corrections workers were the last to form a professional union, which only proves the need for the protection of their negotiated rights. As a result, a criminal justice agency administration is torn between the need to protect the people from their employees’ misconduct and uphold the reputation of the institution and, at the same time, to protect the employees, who carry out their duties in most unfavorable circumstances, from unjust accusations.
However, it is apparent that one of the best ways to ensure employee protection from the cases of misplaced liability consists in providing them with related rules and guidelines. In other words, the primary tool of discipline maintenance is the documents from official policies on various aspects of conduct to recommendations and codes of ethics.
In case the employees are provided with clear rules and the rules are consistently enforced through the various tools mentioned by Peak (2011), it is e easier to ensure their protection from the cases of false accusation. Similarly, the same activities are directly connected to the improved protection of the population from justice system employees’ misconduct. In the end, the reputation of the agency and the justice system as such depends on the maintenance of discipline.
Thus, it can be concluded that the three challenges of a criminal justice agency administration are indeed interrelated and interconnected, which means that the resolution of issues in one of these fields is likely to improve the situation with the two others.
References
Greenhouse, L. (1996). Supreme Court Upholds Police Methods in Vehicle Drug Searches. New York Times. Web.
Peak, K. (2011). Justice administration (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D., & Klofas, J. (2011). Criminal justice organizations (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Susman, T., & Haller, V. (2015). Demonstrators echo Eric Garner’s ‘I can’t breathe’ cry again, a year after his death. Los Angeles Times. Web.
Urbina, I. (2006). Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials. The New York Times. Web.