NCJ Number
80039
Journal
Howard Journal Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: (1981) Pages: 150-159
Date Published
1981
Length
10 pages
Annotation
As a preliminary discussion for consideration of the use of community service orders in the Netherlands, the limitations of the criminal justice system as a social control instrument are examined.
Abstract
In dealing with social conflicts and problems generally categorized as crime, the criminal justice system has been traditionally viewed as the sole institution equipped to handle these breakdowns in social control. Any considerations of criminal justice reform should begin by examining whether the basic institution of criminal justice is the appropriate mechanism and strategy for dealing with the full gamut of human behavior assigned to criminal justice's jurisdiction. There is ample evidence that the criminal justice system not only fails to remedy behavior that threatens some aspect of socioeconomic order but aggravates the problems of social control by alienating and cultivating a criminal class. At the same time, the criminal justice system does little to remedy injuries incurred by victims of crime. Further, the criminal justice system tends to expand its controls, using such sizable public funds that it is difficult to mount alternative means for dealing with problematic behavior. The main issue facing those involved in penal reform is not how to provide the criminal justice system with more adequate sanctions, but how to promote a better way of handling divergent problems and minimize the social problems caused by the criminal justice system as it currently operates. One note and five references are provided.