Criminal Justice: A Systems Approch
| Author | Peter A Sallmann |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587801100402 |
| Published date | 01 December 1978 |
| Date | 01 December 1978 |
AUST &NZ
JOURNAL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY
'(December
1978) 11 (195-208)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: A SYSTEMS APPROACH
Peter ASallmann0
195
In recent years increasing emphasis has
been
placed on the non-system nature
of the criminal justice process. This emphasis has largely
operated
in academic
criminal justice circles
but
the
debate
has also
permeated
the
practice
of criminal
justice. Most of the discussion has taken place in the
United
States.
The
arguments, however, are equally applicable to other Anglo-American criminal
justice systems, especially those of countries such as Britain
and
Australia. This
article sets out to raise some of the questions
and
issues
and
to
pose
some of the
conceptual
and
practical difficulties involved in suggestions which have
been
made
to tighten the set of relationships
between
the various components of the
criminal justice system.
The
discussion will
be
centered on Australian problems
but
useful references can
be
made
to overseas developments, particularly those
in Britain
and
the
United
States.
The
System Question
The
essence of the argument that the criminal justice system is
not
really a
"system" is that although the components of the process are linked through the
common
denominator of processing offenders,
and
to this extent are
interdependent, the linkages are essentially weak ones
and
that
decisions are
constantly being
made
in knowledge
and
information vacuums.
The
components
such as the police, the courts
and
the so-called correctional
apparatus
largely
operate in isolation from each other
and
have very little
knowledge
of each
others tasks
and
problems. In addition, they
probably
have very little inclination
to accumulate such knowledge. Biles encapsulates the argument quite neatly
when
he states:
Decisions by the
management
of law enforcement, courts
and
corrections are
made
independently
of
each
other
and
communication
between
the
three
elements takes place infrequently or is
non-existent. Governments
seldom
encourage or facilitate the
development
of
coordinated
criminal
justice strategies
and
policies, and, in fact, there is
strong
traditional pressure for police, the judiciary
and
correctional authorities to remain completely
independent
of each other. To the extent that this
remains the case, so-called criminal justice systems will be characterized
by
almost totally
unsystematic policies
and
practices.'
Wilson puts the position in
more
emphatic
terms when he observes that:
...
the
word
"system" in this context (criminal justice, system) is completely inappropriate. "Systern''
refers to a complex
whole
- an organized,
purposeful
and
considered set of principles of procedure.
One
can hardly describe Australian criminal justice
procedures
and
agencies in these terms. In fact,
criminal justice in Australia is
made
up of a
random
and
somewhat
bizarre
collection of individuals
and
agencies without any organized or interrelated premises or directives. Rather than talking
about
• LL B (Melb), MSAJ (American), Barrister
and
Solicitor of the
Supreme
Court
of
Victoria, Lecturer
in Legal Studies, Legal Studies
Department,
La
Trobe
University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083.
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