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Introduction
Law enforcement and criminal justice in their traditional manifestations through the punishment of crime at state or federal levels do not always provide expected positive results for social order. The particularities of local neighborhoods related to social, economic, or demographical characteristics provide specific guidelines for law enforcement practices in communities. Therefore, community justice seeks to implement programs aimed at decreasing crime prevalence by neighborhood-centered interventions that prioritize problem-solving as the main tool of establishing social order. The history, characteristics, prospects for the future, and community justice outcomes as a new philosophy of criminal justice are explored in this paper.
Main body
The movement of community justice is relatively new and has emerged within the past decades. It was incepted in the USA in the 1980s as a community policing campaign that was aimed at ensuring that criminal justice is functional not only on the state and federal level but at the local level (Neighborhood Justice Center, 2020). The need for such initiatives was related to the disproportionate prevalence of crime in particular communities where socio-economic, social, and demographic factors contribute to delinquency and where conventional means were not producing positive results. At present, the community justice programs are implemented in many countries of the world and become adopted by courts, police, governments, and communities (Neighborhood Justice Center, 2020, para. 44). The main characteristics of this philosophy are based on findings of evidence-oriented neighborhood-specific solutions to minimize crime and ensure safety.
Indeed, the main principles of community justice derive from the approach that prioritizes the successful re-integration of a criminal into society upon completing proper assisted rehabilitation. Community justice centers work to identify problems that lead to crimes in the areas of high criminal activity, substance abuse, recidivism, and criminal justice ineffectiveness (Neighborhood Justice Center, 2020). Firstly, community justice programs implement projects that rehabilitate offenders. For example, a criminal found guilty of a felony might be admitted to rehabilitation to resolve the problematic issues causing unlawful behavior, which might include substance abuse, mental illness, family history, or other conditions (Clear, 2018). Secondly, it eliminates the harm (both material and psychological) caused to the victims. Thirdly, extensive preventative measures are implemented based on research and evidence assessment to minimize crime recidivism.
There are multiple benefits and successful accomplishments obtained with the help of community justice principles. For example, the delinquency of young teenagers in a neighborhood where criminal activity is high might be eliminated through community meetings and counseling initiated by a community justice program (Clear, 2018). Also, a criminal whose guilt has been proven might be admitted to rehabilitation with the perspective to join the community and obtain support from the community center. In such a manner, circumstances are seen as problems that need to be solved and not the people, as cultivated by the traditional justice system.
However, since community justice is an evolving movement that is undergoing changes and improvements, several issues lead to failures. Some of the disadvantageous issues of community justice might be found in the overall direction of the philosophy, which concentrates on the experience of a criminal and not a victim. Indeed, the process of criminal rehabilitation involves most activities, while victims traumas are less attended to (Clear, 2018). Nonetheless, the philosophy is advancing and has the potential for improvements in this area.
Conclusion
In summation, community justice as both a philosophy of justice and a framework for law enforcement is based on the principles of solving community problems that lead to crime. As a result of the community justice system, crime and recidivism rates are reduced, communities are empowered and involved, local issues are resolved. Although there are some failures in focusing on criminals experiences and not victims, community justice is advancing and has the potential of becoming a dominant beneficial justice system.
References
Clear, T. R. (2018). The community justice ideal. Routledge.
Neighborhood Justice Center. (2020). How community justice works [Data set]. Web.
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