Community Justice System Vs Community-Based Justice Systems
Despite initial appearances, state-based and community-based justice systems have some similarities in common. For example, both systems, regardless of their methods, are in pursuit of greater justice (Forsyth, 2007). These systems attempt to right some wrongs by balancing the scales of justice and resolve disputes through either mechanisms of retribution or restitution. Also, at the same time, many individuals are skeptical about the use of these systems as a means of punishing the offender and restoring social harmony. Moreover, in both systems, crime is seen as a violation of something integral to the functioning of the respective systems; violation of law for state-based justice systems and violation of relationships for community-based
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Mass media popularity, play an integral role in the construction of both public opinion and the public ‘reality’ of crime (Surette, 2015). Most individuals do not have any direct experience with the criminal justice system so their only source of information on this topic is the media. Because of this, fictional and non-fictional portrayals of the criminal justice system on television shape and inform the public’s beliefs and attitudes concerning crime; the problem is that it creates major misconceptions in viewers about the realities of crime (Dowler, 2003). The media promotes a skewed view of the criminal justice system to the public by portraying only the most dramatic representations of the system, rather than a realistic one. As a result, many public demands for further retributive punishments have been heeded by the government, causing an increase in harsher sentences, prisons, and police on the street (Surette, 2015). However, in contrary research demonstrates that increasing the severity of sentences has no effect on crime rates. Also, the media tends to report selectively, choosing stories and aspects of stories, with the aim of entertaining more than informing the public (Dowden et al, 2005). They tend to focus on unusual, dramatic and violent crime stories that paint a picture of crime for the community that overestimates the prevalence of crime in general. Thus, public concern about crime typically reflects crime as depicted in the media rather than trends in the actual crime rate, which prove that crime has been steadily decreasing for years (Dowden et al.,
Mass media popularity, play an integral role in the construction of both public opinion and the public ‘reality’ of crime (Surette, 2015). Most individuals do not have any direct experience with the criminal justice system so their only source of information on this topic is the media. Because of this, fictional and non-fictional portrayals of the criminal justice system on television shape and inform the public’s beliefs and attitudes concerning crime; the problem is that it creates major misconceptions in viewers about the realities of crime (Dowler, 2003). The media promotes a skewed view of the criminal justice system to the public by portraying only the most dramatic representations of the system, rather than a realistic one. As a result, many public demands for further retributive punishments have been heeded by the government, causing an increase in harsher sentences, prisons, and police on the street (Surette, 2015). However, in contrary research demonstrates that increasing the severity of sentences has no effect on crime rates. Also, the media tends to report selectively, choosing stories and aspects of stories, with the aim of entertaining more than informing the public (Dowden et al, 2005). They tend to focus on unusual, dramatic and violent crime stories that paint a picture of crime for the community that overestimates the prevalence of crime in general. Thus, public concern about crime typically reflects crime as depicted in the media rather than trends in the actual crime rate, which prove that crime has been steadily decreasing for years (Dowden et al.,