How do ethics influence public policy? assignment

It is important that the criminal justice system include the word justice, since laws applied to those accused of a crime should be fair (www. wisegeek. com/what-is-criminal-justice. htm). Justice also refers not only to the fair trail accorded to the citizens of most countries, but also to the just retribution for victims of a crime, as for example, seeing an offender jailed. Criminal justice is always a goal. All involved in the arrest, prosecution, defense or judgment of a suspect aim to be fair.

However, this goal is not always met, accounting for the flexibility in the application of laws, the changes to laws that are unfair, and the judiciary power of interpretation (www. wisegeek. com/what-is-criminal-justice. htm). A criminal justice system is a set of legal and social institutions for enforcing the criminal law in accordance with a defined set of procedural rules and limitations. In the United States, there are separate federal, state, and military criminal justice systems, and each state has separate systems for adults and juveniles (law. rank. org/pages/858/Criminal-Justice-System. html – Cached – Similar). Criminal justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. The rights of the accused are rights that protect those accused of crime (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Criminal_justice). According to Dye, The deterrence strategy in criminal justice policy focuses on punishment ??? its certainty, swiftness, and severity.

This study will compare the pros and cons of the death penalty and the comparison of death penalty states verses non death penalty states. Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the killing of a person by judicial process as punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally “ regarding the head” (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Capital_punishment). Research Design and Methodology

Based on the secondary data that I have gathered, a large part of my design is qualitative research but I will be using some quantitative data in the analyses of the statistical information obtain from various reports. The reason for my research design is to determine the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime. Research information available will be used for the literature review and statistics available will be used to measure the crime rate. This research defines criminal justice and capital punishment. It also reviews the death penalty reports from 2009.

This aspect is accomplished through studies and interviewing people who have been sentenced to death or those who have been exonerated of the death penalty. Educating ourselves through studies will help us change the sentence to conform to the demands of society, as it is an ever evolving issue (http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/572085/reasons_why_the_death_penalty_needs_pg4. html? cat= 17). According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Facts about the Death Penalty, updated November 29, 2010: STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY (35)

AlabamaFloridaLouisianaNew HampshireSouth Dakota ArizonaGeorgiaMarylandNorth CarolinaTennessee ArkansasIdahoMississippiOhioTexas CaliforniaIllinoisMissouriOklahomaUtah- plus ColoradoIndianaMontanaOregonVirginia U. S. Gov’t ConnecticutKansasNebraskaPennsylvaniaWashingtonU. S. Military DelawareKentuckyNevadaSouth CarolinaWyoming STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (15) AlaskaMassachusettsNew Mexico*Vermont-plus HawaiiMichiganNew YorkWest VirginiaDistrict of Columbia IowaMinnesotaNorth DakotaWisconsin MaineNew JerseyRhode Island *Two inmates remain on death row in NM http://www. eathpenaltyinfo. org/documents/FactSheet. pdf by DEATH ROW INMATES BY STATE: January 1, 2010 California 697 S. Carolina 63 Connecticut 10 Florida 398 Mississippi 61 Kansas 10 Texas 337 Missouri 61 Utah 10 Pennsylvania 222 U. S. Gov’t 59 Washington 9 Alabama 201 Arkansas 42 U. S. Military 8 Ohio 168 Kentucky 35 Maryland 5 N. Carolina 167 Oregon 32 S. Dakota 3 Arizona 135 Delaware 19Colorado 3 Georgia 106 Idaho 17 Montana 2 Tennessee 90Indiana 15 New Mexico 2 Louisiana 85 Virginia 15 Wyoming 1 Oklahoma 84 Illinois 15 N. Hampshire 1 Nevada 78 Nebraska 11 TOTAL 3261

The Consistent with previous years, the 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the South had the highest murder rate. The South accounts for over 80% of executions. The Northeast, which has less than 1% of all executions, again had the lowest murder rate (http://www. deathpenaltyinfo. org/documents/FactSheet. pdf). Despite the gains made by anti-death penalty advocates over the past few years, including getting more people to accept the fact that the death penalty does not deter criminals, a series of studies indicate the opposite conclusion.

According to an Associated Press article on foxnews. com, the studies, conducted over the past six years show that the death penalty does deter potential murderers (http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/277437/studies_indicate_that_the_death_penalty_pg2. html? cat= 17). The purpose of this research is to determine whether the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime. I have determined that based on the studies and reports that I have viewed the death penalty can be a deterrent to crime if we consistently review the laws and policy and apply the concept as required.