The criminal justice system is a fragmented entity working to combat and sanction an immeasurable amount of crime and criminals. Numerous barriers hinder the criminal justice system’s ability to produce effective policies. The lack of empirical evidence used in policy making is the most significant barrier preventing criminal justice polices from being well designed, and effective. Policies supported by evidence and empirical data are essential when trying to creative policies that are well designed and effective (Mears, 2007). Further hindering policies from being effective and rooted in evidence is the government’s desire to exert control over criminal justice agencies by governing through crime.
Creating evidence-based policies requires a significant amount of resources and time. A criminal justice issue must be identified and it must be determined if a policy is needed to address the issue. Determining if an issue requires a policy response is important especially due to the “large-scale accumulation” of policies that has occurred in recent years (Farabee, 2005; Lipsey, Adams, Gottfredson, Pepper, & Weisburd, 2005; Petersilia, 1991; Ruth & Reitz, 2003; Sherman, Farrington, Welsh, & MacKenzie, 2002; Stolz, 2002; Wilson & Petersilia, 2002). …show more content…
They exacerbated overcrowding in jails and prisons resulting in the building of new correctional facilities. New facilities required additional correctional officers to be hired and more money being spent on facilities that were being built due to an empirically unsupported policy. Racial disparity in jails and prisons worsened due to “get tough” laws as well (Mears, 2007, 670). An overrepresentation of African Americans and minorities were targeted. The war on crime that developed “encouraged lazy reliance by law enforcement on a large pool of usual suspects that could be easily rounded up an detained while a case was made against them” (Simon, 2007,
Creating evidence-based policies requires a significant amount of resources and time. A criminal justice issue must be identified and it must be determined if a policy is needed to address the issue. Determining if an issue requires a policy response is important especially due to the “large-scale accumulation” of policies that has occurred in recent years (Farabee, 2005; Lipsey, Adams, Gottfredson, Pepper, & Weisburd, 2005; Petersilia, 1991; Ruth & Reitz, 2003; Sherman, Farrington, Welsh, & MacKenzie, 2002; Stolz, 2002; Wilson & Petersilia, 2002). …show more content…
They exacerbated overcrowding in jails and prisons resulting in the building of new correctional facilities. New facilities required additional correctional officers to be hired and more money being spent on facilities that were being built due to an empirically unsupported policy. Racial disparity in jails and prisons worsened due to “get tough” laws as well (Mears, 2007, 670). An overrepresentation of African Americans and minorities were targeted. The war on crime that developed “encouraged lazy reliance by law enforcement on a large pool of usual suspects that could be easily rounded up an detained while a case was made against them” (Simon, 2007,