Guenther's Argument Analysis

In 1976, A. L. Guenther put forth the notion that our criminal justice system is “unfair, harsh, and biased,” as well as saying that we have a criminal processing system and not a criminal justice system. While these statements may have been made four decades ago, they still ring true today. I agree with Guenther’s comments, as our criminal justice system is unfair to the offenders they deal with, carries out harsh penalties on these members of society, and is biased to different groups over the history of America. Offenders are usually treated like statistics, not like members of society. A criminal justice system is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “The system of law enforcement that is directly involved in apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing those who are suspected or convicted of criminal offenses.” (Oxford, 2016) While the definition uses the term law enforcement, the legal system and corrections also make up the legal system along with the police. It may be outlandish to expect that the criminal justice system (or any system in government or society for that matter) to be perfect. Small, isolated errors should be expected, but should not interfere with the main goal of achieving justice. On top of achieving justice, a criminal justice system should also deter both the …show more content…
This happens when a criminal justice system and society decides to take a controlling stance on crime. (Makin, Prezi, 2016) When this happens, it leads to a politicization of crime, and a harsh increase in sentencing rates. Presidential and other political candidates show strong stances against crime due to moral panics in order to get elected, and incumbents may point to their high arrest rates to show that they are cracking down on crime. This started with the War on Drugs in the 1970s, around the time that Guenther spoke his words on the criminal justice