Citizens's Role In The Criminal Justice System

The perception of what the role of a police officer in society varies depending on who is doing the perceiving and under what circumstances judgement is made. Not necessarily how the criminal justice system actually works, but rather how people think that it works, whether accurate or not. Expectations of a rookie cop making a difference, being helpful and full of energy are sometimes stereotyped as being cocky by the public, while being described ignorant and naïve by senior officers.
“Citizens’ experiences with the police affect their overall assessment of the police. The more positive a citizen’s recent experience with the police, the more positive the citizen’s over-all assessment of the police. However, previously held views of police do not change easily and themselves tend to influence how citizens interpret their own experiences with the police (Gallagher Catherine, 2001).” When a new law enforcement officer comes into contact with people that already have a preconceived notions that cops are bad, cops cannot be …show more content…
The procedures are carefully scripted, as based on law, Court Rules, policies, or historical practice (Carey, 2007)". Generally, there is a historical or legal reason the criminal justice system does things in a certain way. The general public is not aware of the microscope that criminal practitioners are under. Situations that call for action, or no action, conversations and reports that will most likely be brought up at a later time, possibly by a juror in court. People in a larger community might not be as informed as a smaller one, regarding man power available to the police. There is usually more than one crime happening at one time, smaller communities probably realize their issue isn’t the only one. Larger communities (population) think the police presence is larger than it actually