Law can be described as a set of rules and guidelines enforced by public bodies, which have been mandated with the responsibility. In the past, laws were originally made by governments, but contemporarily, laws are made and enacted through parliament. Law shapes the social, political and economical aspects of a given country and are divided into two major categories which are; Criminal laws and Civil laws (Fletcher 10).
Criminal law deals with acts that cause intentional harm to any specific individual and contains the punishments that are to be enforced if anyone broke any of the set rules. On the other hand civil law deals with any kind of disputes that may erupt between two private parties or acts that can cause harm to others.
With reference to the above given question, this paper will analyze the current legal system and discuss three areas of civil law that I would change and also three areas of civil law that I would retain. In addition to that, this paper will discuss three areas of criminal law that I would change and also three areas of criminal law that I would retain if am in a position to do so. This paper will also discuss three trends in the law i.e. civil and/or criminal that I believe will be important during the next year.
Civil law deals with disputes that may emerge between individual and organizations with the victims being compensated. Civil law courts are the kind of courts that deal with disputes between individuals and organizations. They deal with cases such as negligence by individuals and family disputes.
There are several major areas of civil law which include; actions against the police, benefits and tax credits, clinical negligence, community care, consumer affairs, debt, money and tax, education, employment, family, housing, immigration and nationality, personal injury and public law (Fletcher 200). One of the areas of civil law that I would change includes community care. Community care refers to services that are offered to the sick, elderly and people with disabilities. This is because when this group of people has any kind of problem with any individual or any organization, there are limited places that they can give out their issues to be addressed.
You may find that these people do not have a place to turn to in times when they need help in that whenever a problem occurs they are always alone. Some of the individuals and organization take advantage of this situation and abuse these people. The main reason why they do so is because they know very well that nobody will be there to assist them whenever they need assistance (Gross 76). The government has launched a website by which these cases can be address but you find that the level of education of this people is low in that they do not know how to operate a computer so as to report these cases via the internet.
If I was to change anything in this area of civil law, I would start by creating centers in the township level to deal with these kinds of cases which are becoming a common occurrence these days. I would then create more care home that will care and protect the elderly and the sick from organization that are only there to take advantage of the situations. I would also create home based school for the disabled so as to train them on how to use computer and how to report cases via the internet (Gross 201).
The other area of civil law that I would change is employment. This area offered advice on a couple of employment issues such as unfair dismissal, discrimination and disputes over pay and conditions. The employment act guarantees every employee quality working conditions and payment according to the work done. Some employers are taking advantage of the vulnerable youth and make them work for less pay with very poor working conditions.
The government has set up centers that cater for the complains that the employees bring forward and work on them. The government does not does not do enough when it comes to acting on the complains that the employees bring forward thereby making employees feel humiliated. If I was to change anything in this area of civil law, I would create unions that the employees would join which would be mandate with the task of making sure the grievances of the employees are catered for to the fullest.
These unions would be registered with the government and would forwards the grievances of the employees on their behalf and make sure that the government works on these grievances in time (Gross 205). I would also create centers that would cater for the grievances of employees who have either been harassed by their employers or have been unfairly dismissed from their duties by their employers. In addition to that they will also be dealing with employers who go against the employment act and will always make sure that the working conditions are favorable for the employees.
The other area of civil law that I would change is clinical negligence. Clinical negligence refers to claims for damages by individuals or organizations to public or private medical practitioners. Medical practitioners have developed a habit of neglecting patients who either do not pay enough or are unable to pay their bills. Some of the medical practitioners have a habit of working very fast so as to attend to other patients in turn getting more money but in the process of their working fast they neglect minor issues that make patient either sicker or even lead to death.
The government has put in place mechanism that enable individual with any kind of complains against medical practitioners to bring them forwards so that they can be worked upon. Most of the patients who have been neglect by these practitioners do not know where to direct their complains and in turn leave the matter. If I was to change anything in this area of civil law, I would create more awareness to the general public on where to direct their complaints regarding medical practitioners. I would also open centers in the townships to cater for such complains brought forward by the patients.
The first area of civil law that I would retain is actions against the police. This is because the government has created enough public awareness with regards to this area and has opened up centers in the townships that deal with cases of police harassment and any other complain about the police. The other area of civil law that I would retain is education (Murphy 20). The government has done enough awareness to parents on how to deal with cases of bullying, special needs or school exclusion of their children and how they can report cases with regards to this area.
The other area of civil law that I would retain is family. This is mainly because the government has done enough when it comes to the breakdown of relationships and the custody and maintenance of children. The government has created children’s legal centers and divorces courts that are mandated to deal with these cases.
Criminal law is a set of laws that deal with crime. The areas of criminal law include; aggravated assault, rape, burglary, drug offenses, fraud, federal cases, robbery, sexual violence, election violations, drunk driving and restraining orders (Murphy 15).
If I was to change any area in criminal law, I would start by changing sexual violence. Sexual violence has become a common occurrence and many sexual offended victims are always afraid of reporting the cases to the police because they feel that no action will be taken on their behalf. If I was to change anything I would create enough centers within the townships and hire experienced staff to cater for the cases of sexual harassment.
I would also conduct a massive campaign aimed at emphasizing on the need to report sexual harassment cases. I would also create very harsh punishments for offenders in this law, which may include life imprisonment. I would also make sure that there enough counselors who will be able to counsel these victims accordingly for them to be able to cope with life (Murphy 25).
The other area of criminal law that I would change is drug offences. The main reason is because to stop this vice we have to be able to stop the main suppliers of these drugs. I would create enough rehabilitation centers in the townships to be able to cater for the majority of people who are into drug and substance abuse. I would make sure that the police capture the main culprits of this vice and that they are prosecuted according to the law. I would also make sure that the special branch of the police that is mandated with the task of making sure that our streets are drug free is enforced and well equipped to be able to do their job without any interference from any individual to be able to read the streets of this killer vice.
The other area of criminal law that I would change is fraud. Many individual and organizations are engaging themselves with fraud either willingly or unwillingly in that they are able to get money through fraud. These individuals know that the government has not made any steps in trying to stop fraudsters. If I was to change anything in this area I would employ the skills of university graduates in that they are able to come up with new developments that are able to counter fraud. I would also create a special branch of the police that will be mandated to deal with fraudsters and punish them accordingly.
The first area of criminal law that I would retain would be rape. The government has put in place very strict measures that deal with rape cases. The government has created centers where the victims can report their cases which can be dealt with accordingly. The government has also put a set of punishments for the offenders and which are very strict according to the law. The other area of criminal law that I would retain would be drunk driving. This is because the government has made it clear that it is illegal to drink and drive and has put forth very strict punishments for the culprits of this offence. The government has also promoted the campaign against drunk driving with an aim of being able to reduce the cases of drunk driving.
The last area of criminal law that I would retain would be aggravated assault. The government has put in places measures that ensure that these cases of aggravated assault are dealt with accordingly. It has also put in place very harsh punishments for the offenders of these criminal offences that will deal with the culprits. When it comes to the trend in the law, some major factor are going to determine the law processes. Some of the major factors include social networking. Social networking has the potential to changes the practice of law by the use of social medial such as facebook, twitter and YouTube. They are changing the whole perspective of how they locate and question witnesses and how they manage their careers. Social networking is being used by these legal professional to advertise and promote their law firms.
The other major factor that will determine the law making process is the E-discovery. This is where all the files are computerized thereby making it easy for them to access information whenever necessary and use them at their own disposal. In addition to that another aspect that is going to affect the law making process is globalization whereby law firms are expanding their businesses across the borders. In the process of expanding they will collaborate with foreign counsel and form intercontinental mergers thereby erasing the geographical boundaries in the scope of law practice.
Works Cited
Fletcher, George. Basic Concepts of Criminal Law. London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print
Gross, Hyman. A Theory of Criminal Justice. London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print
Murphy, Jeffrie. Forgiveness and Mercy. London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print