What Justice Means to Me

This paper will describe personal views on what justice means to me. As a Criminal Justice professional, personal views are not always received with open arms, but these views help to build the foundation needed to succeed in the criminal justice field.

What Justice Means to Me

Definition

According to the Oxford American Dictionary the definition of justice is; just treatment, fairness. Fairness is defined as; just, unbiased, in accordance with the rules

Introduction

Justice is the idea behind how laws are to be enforced. Justice means that we have the right to be protected and to be treated fairly by the law. If a person breaks the law or does something wrong in the eye of the law, than the Justice System steps in to prove or disprove their innocents or guilt, fairly What one perceives as justice, another may see as unjust, therefore laws are designed to ensure that all people regardless of race, age, and social status, receive the same fair punishment for a crime or process to prove their innocents. This paper will give my personal interpretation on what justice means to me.

Justice means, deciding carefully and fairly whether someone actually has done wrong or committed a crime. The Criminal Justice System is responsible to ensure fair punishment to any person committed of a crime and to make sure that person pays for their crime. This means that the Criminal Justice System guarantee a person convicted of a crime pay restitution and/or time spent in jail as their punishment. The punishment for a crime may even include death by lethal injection, for a horrendous crime.

Morals, ethics, and the way a person is taught may vary differently. The belief that one should be sentence to life in prison or even death by lethal injection for a horrendous crime may not be everyone’s idea of fairness. If we had no laws in place there is no telling how we would be living today. The belief, that an eye for an eye may still hold true in some communities and not in others. People would take matters into their own hands and unfairly punish those that may be innocent. This is why laws are set in place, so that everyone is afforded the same fairness in proving the guilt or innocents of themselves within our Justice System.

Current Occupation

Currently employed with Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as a Correctional Officer, I have seen and heard of many that claim the Justice System does not work properly or fairly. I have seen when an individual is punished for a crime and is sentenced for that crime, he or she debates their innocents, by stating that they where punished more harshly than someone convicted of the same crime. Not taking into consideration for their own past run-ins with the law and not willing to take responsibly or consequences of their own actions.

The Criminal Justice System has Penal Codes for the prime purpose to help deter crime. Additionally the Penal Codes are in place to reform the offender guilty of any particular crime. Crime may be reduced and therefore deterred.