Introduction
Many agencies form part of the criminal justice. Criminal justice is incomplete without correctional facilities famously called prisons. People and government agencies perceive prisons as centers of punishment while others perceive prisons as correctional and rehabilitation facilities. Prisons are used as a venue to correct a member of the society who has done wrong and eventually reunites with other members of the society.
Leadership
I work in an agency where leadership is central to all activities and yields a lot of influence. Leadership is the ability to command influence. Success or failure in any organization is attributed to management. Leadership rests in the top management of the prisons who are the decision-makers and lead the prison to attain its objectives. The structure of leadership is two-fold. There are guards and wardens. These are the people who administer rules and regulations over the inmates. They restrict the free movement of inmates, administer punishment or reward them and train the inmates. The prisoners follow the directions of the wardens and guards out of respect and at times out of fear. Wardens and guards are appointed by the government to take up leadership roles in prisons.
The management in the upper level is the topmost leadership center in the prison with a wide range of responsibilities within them, that is, it offers transformational leadership. “Upper management, therefore, is more concerned with the transformation of the agency towards a more competitive and active force in pursuing its own goals and objectives in the society. Leadership in the Middle and lower management rests upon the supervisors and line leaders who execute supervisory level management to carry out the mandate of the upper-level management (Kania, 2008)”.
Another leadership center exists among inmates themselves. Inmates from informal groups with rules and regulations, with a leader who develops a leadership structure composed of his loyal lieutenants. They develop their own rules with an internal system of punishment. However, the rules they come up with cannot supersede the rules set out by the wardens. There are circumstances where the warden tolerates the rules among the inmates as long as they help to maintain law and order in the facility.
Culture
Culture is another factor to watch in the agency. Culture is the belief system of people, their way of living, religious beliefs, and values as they share them in the agency. Culture affects the functioning of group members, especially where they follow the different cultures. The facility has many different cultures. Therefore, there is a need to take care of the approach to inmates to avoid offending them without knowing their culture.
Organizational culture features prominently in the effective functioning of the teams. Culture is a center for the positive establishment of the mission and vision of the agency. Inmates in this agency have a culture of forming informal groups among them as seen above. The prison has also developed a culture of training their inmates to equip them with life skills that would help them after they leave the facility. The warden has also developed a culture of rotating guards who watch over inmates for twelve hours to ensure they attain their tasks as a team.
Systems
The main players in the system are the law enforcement officers who are mandated to maintain law and order and they are the one who makes arrests, followed the courts of law which administer trial to the accused, and finally the collection facility for punishment and rehabilitation.
The first system is in law enforcement as enshrined in the constitution. The accused person has a right to remain silent since what he can say can be used against him in a court of law, the accused has a right to an attorney, and where he cannot afford one, the state should provide him with one. Officers are required to conduct searches only when they have search warrants (Peak, 2010).
The court system is the second. It ensures a fair trial for the accused by ensuring that the accused person does not incriminate himself and there is a jury trial and fair representation by a counsel.
The third system is the correctional facility. When an accused is found guilty he is sent to a correctional facility for punishment and rehabilitation. These take two forms, either probation or incarceration or in some instances, both.
Law
There are many laws and statutes passed to help in the criminal justice system. The law set out the maximum penalty and maximum sentences a person can be given once found guilty of an offence. The law has to be argued out by the lawyers in a court of law. This will enable judges to pass their judgment based on the facts of the law.
Stakeholders
The influential stakeholders comprise various bodies as discussed below. Political bodies usually have a negative effect on the justice system because they want cases decided politically rather than legally. The president as a political figure also offers presidential pardons to offenders of minor offences. Community groups like the media and human rights activists are very influential. They ensure that the rule of law is upheld while passing judgment and they advocate for a fair trial of the accused persons. These influential groups make sure that what needs to be done happens. Employees also are influential since they see what happens daily. Employees then relay what they see to wardens for collective action (Robbins & Judge, 2009).
References
Kania, R. E. (2008). Managing Criminal Justice Organizations: An Introduction to Theory & Practice. New York: Elsevier.
Peak, K. (2010). Justice administration: police, courts, and corrections management. New York: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Peter, J. (2012). How Does the Criminal Justice System Work? Web.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational behavior. New York: Pearson/Prentice Hall.