Criminal Justice Overview and Career Guide

By Dr. Kenneth Davis, Esq. Ekee Ehrlich and Dr. Patrice McDaniel

This book provides a critical overview of the criminal justice system and career opportunities within the system. The authors are scholar-practitioners who pour decades of experience into each topic. Topics covered include Law Enforcement, Emergency Management, Corrections, Law, and Research.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Esquire Publications
• Release date: Feb 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781737691822

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Criminal Justice Overview & Career Guide

Edited By: Georgia Editing Service, LLC.

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Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Kenneth Davis, Ekee Ehrlich, Esq., Dr. Patrice McDaniel, Dr. Benjamin Okafor

This book is a work of nonfiction. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022901867

ISBN: 9781737691853

ISBN: 978-1-7376918-2-2 (ebook)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

Careers in the Corrections: An Overview of Corrections Systems

Dr. Benjamin Okafor

CHAPTER 2

Careers in the Law Enforcement: 21st Century Policing

Dr. Kenneth Davis

CHAPTER 3

Careers in the Legal Field: The Road to Becoming a Lawyer

Ekee Ehrlich, Esq.

CHAPTER 4

Careers in Emergency Management: Emergency Preparedness

L. Patrice McDaniel, DHPE, PhD

CHAPTER 5

Careers in Social Science Research: Road to Research

Dr. Kenneth Davis

INTRODUCTION

This book provides a critical overview of the criminal justice system and career opportunities within the system. Students or anyone interested in working or being promoted within the ranks of the criminal justice system can use the contents to prepare and understand the traditional hierarchy of agencies. The authors are scholar-practitioners with over 50 years of experience working with federal, state, and local criminal justice agencies. They currently consult, practice law, and teach criminal justice-related courses at the collegiate level. As scholar-practitioners, they pour decades of experience into each topic. Topics covered over the following five chapters include Corrections, Law Enforcement, Law, Emergency Management, and Research. These topics are presented in a holistic approach: historical perspective, current trends, best practices, and career opportunities. In addition, resources such as salary data, job outlook, cover letters, resumes, proposal templates, and test-taking tips enhance the readers' experience and give real-world illustrations of career progression and tools needed to succeed in criminal justice. Finally, the resources and information shared within this book can provide applicants with the edge when seeking employment opportunities or knowledge to people looking for a guide of the 21st-century criminal justice system. The good news is that even if you have decided that a career in criminal justice is not for you, you still stand to benefit from the things covered in the text.

CHAPTER 1

Careers in the Corrections: An Overview of Corrections Systems

Dr. Benjamin Okafor

Introduction

Ever since the beginning of civilizations, corrections has been seen as a mechanism employed to perform the following functions: 1) hold people accused of various crimes 2.) carries out criminal sentences imposed by the courts that include confinement and supervision and 3.) provides rehabilitation services (Clear, Reisig and Cole, 2018).

Furthermore, Clear et al. (2018) writes that corrections is a complex system with many interdependent parts that work together towards common goals. Each part is influenced by its environment. The authors note that corrections have many subunits, and these units are comprised of federal and state correctional systems. Their function is to hold people who have been convicted and are being sentenced by the court systems. When it comes to the jail system, they hold the individual(s) awaiting trial. Another side of the correction is community corrections, whose task is to supervise individuals who are either awaiting trial or have been sentenced by the courts but are residing in the community (Clear et al., 2018)

Correctional Thought and Practice

According to Clear et al. (2018), ever since the beginning of the Middle Ages to the American Revolution, corrections have been consistently used for the following functions, corporal punishment, galley slavery, imprisonment, transportation, and in the case of serious crime, death. Moreover, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when the Enlightenment period (Age of Reason) brought much-needed changes in penal policy, influential Enlightenment thinkers like Cesare Beccaria, John Bentham, and John Howard started to look for methods for reforming individuals who have committed crimes rather than imposing physical punishment. Their reform was first proposed in Europe but was later developed fully in America. Additionally, Beccaria, with emphasis on individual rights, applied the rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment to the practices of the criminal justice system. He set forward six principles on which his reforms were based. And in turn, these principles set the foundation for the classical school of criminology (Clear et al., 2018).

Subsequently, known for his utilitarian theories, hedonic calculus, Jeremy Bentham asserted that one could categorize all human actions, and the aim of all actions was the greatest happiness for the greatest number. That criminally minded individuals were somewhat childlike or unbalanced. These individuals lack the self-discipline to control their behaviors. On the other hand, John Howard investigated conditions in European prisons and jails. He was surprised by his discovery. As a result, he rallied legislative interest in reform. Parliament passed the Penitentiary Act of 1779 based on its principles, (1)a secure and sanitary structure, (2) systematic inspections, (3) abolition of fees, and (4)a reformatory regimen (Clear et