Criminal Justice
Criminal justice refers to a system of practice, set of agencies and government institution that serve the mandate of maintaining law and order by imposing punishment on those citizens who break the law. Criminal justice system helps in enforcing social behavior by deterring crime and punishing offenders. Many websites have been put in place to help people get acquainted with issues of crime. The websites also have/ had the capability of offering a platform from which citizens could talk about as well as get information about crime. His research is a discussion of three different websites that engaged both lawyers and citizens in dealing with crime issues.
Justice talking
This website originated from a radio talk show. The program involved a listen in session that had top lawyers tackling serious criminal issues around the state. The show was produced by Annenberg public policy center. The funding of the website came from grants from the Annenberg Foundation (Justice talking, 2014). Unfortunately, the grant funding expired in 2008 and the site has never produced new information since then. The system was very accessible to most people especially to those who listened online. Almost everyone who was a fun of the show could listen online. The website was also interlinked with other websites and organization.
The information from justice talked enriched most people of the community and encouraged public utility. For example, the information found on the websites was based on the discussion that the talk show host had live with top advocates of America. This website also had educative information since the lawyers could breakdown legal matters and explain them in common man’s language. Justice talking also provided a civic education program both online and in print. The academic program took place in conjunction with other networks such as The New York Times Learning Network (Justice talking, 2014). The two networks also came together and founded the justice learning.org, which is a free website that deals with trivial and aggressive crime issues that are usually discussed in courtrooms and congress to teacher and students.
The website contained information that people could use for fighting different crimes in the areas in which they live. They were directed to various agencies and were allowed to ask questions concerning crime. These questions were answered real time and the affected individuals got necessary help from the lawyers. The program also had numbers that the public could call in case they faced crime issues that were challenging to them. Further useful information became available to students and other interested individuals through the audio recording found only on the site. A person could listen to the information through the podcasted, or download it for further use. The audio recordings contained an interactive guide to the national constitution (Justice talking, 2014). The guide explained every part of the constitution and interpreted in a simple way that everybody could understand. It had proper data management practices, because all these important information is still available on the site’s library even if its funding stopped in 2008.
The justice talking websites measured the user satisfaction rates by looking at the number of comments posted by those who visited and used information from the web. It could also measure user satisfaction by looking at the quantity if data downloaded from the website. Another means of examining the level of satisfaction of users could be based on the number of listeners and call inns the presenters received from their audience (Justice talking, 2014). They could also keep a track record of those who contacted different advocates after listening to the show and using information from the website. Some law enforcement officers also utilized information from the site and the broadcast to help them in the successful investigation of crime.
Important information that the police could get from the website include recordings of listeners making calls complaining about different types of crime in different areas. For example, a caller could indicate that in his or her area, thugs and buglers usually attacked at around 2 pm in the night (Justice talking, 2014). Law enforcers could utilize such information to increase security and deter crime in that particular area. The courts could use recorded information such as testimonials from listeners to make judgment on criminal offenders. They could also rely on the audios and podcast to get witnesses for specific cases. Such information could also give much insight on the type of people living in a given area. The police and other authorities can rely on the data to know the behavior as well as the crime rate of criminals in that region.
The National Police Foundation
The national police foundation is an online national non- profit organization aimed at helping police to be more effecting in providing their services to the citizens of America. The foundation was started by the Ford Foundation that recognized the emptiness in the policing sector due to the increasing rates of crime in most cities of the nation (National Police Foundation, 2014). The Ford Foundation bears the responsibility of funding the websites and continues to fund it. This website associates with other national organizational network such as the center for evidence- based crime policy, Cambridge police executive program, George Mason University and the Temple University Center for security and crime science. These organizations, together with the Ford Foundation provide the required funding for the website. The site also gets financial assistance from federal or state government since its duty is for the entire nation.
The site high storage capabilities provides very reliable information to most people around the nation. Citizens also use the site for passing information to the police. It is important to note that the national Police Foundation has other branches in all states within America (National Police Foundation, 2014). Meaning that it data is accessible to all police foundations and interlinks to other police foundations from various states, plus the above named organizations. For example, it is linked to Temple University Center for security and crime science and other police foundations. Thus, the site offers easy access to its users and has high storage capabilities. The ease of access comes from the fact that it is users friendly. The site undergoes constant updates and monitoring, making it have high storage capabilities.
The information found on the site has the ability to enrich public utility and education since it offers lectures to various institutions. The website also has information on how people should contact their nearest police foundations for immediate assistance in case of criminal problems. The website offer different hotline numbers that citizens in different states can call for immediate assistance and for reporting criminal cases. National police foundation website has data that can be used in cases such as criminal investigation, crime analysis, and information dissemination (National Police Foundation, 2014). This is because they keep data about various types of crime and criminals in the entire nation. Therefore, in the event of a crime occurring and the police are not able to locate the suspect, they can turn to the record of criminals to help them come up with a possible suspect.
Citizens can as well use such data to inform the police of the whereabouts of a wanted criminal once the information goes public and they are able to identify the wanted individual. The police are also able to use important scientific methods such as finger print data found in their software for identifying various crime offenders (National Police Foundation, 2014). Therefore, any crime management agency seeking information on a particular criminal issue can easily turn to the website t find some leads on it. The website also has high quality f well managed information that everyone can rely upon to help in solving issues of crime. Qualified software engineers feed and manage the information on the website. They as well ensure constant update and addition of new information as they occur.
To measure the level of satisfaction of those using the national police foundation website, they can decide to carryout investigation. The study can adopt the use of questionnaires, which they distribute to the public. These questions can as well be posted online so that people can answer them anonymously. From the results, the foundation can decide on whether they provide satisfactory services to citizens or not. The level of satisfaction may also come from the comments that users post on the website (National Police Foundation, 2014). The number of positive and negative results gives the rate at which the clients are satisfied with the information found on the website.
Critical information such as list of crimes in each state, record of criminals in every area as well as the number of crime that occur in every place becomes very vital for courts, correction departments as well as police. The site may also decide to document information such as the number and type of crime that occurs in various parts of all states on a daily basis (National Police Foundation, 2014). They can eventually use this data to help in increasing security within the mentioned areas.
National Sex Offender Registry
National sex offenders’ registry is a website provided by the US Department of Justice for public use. The website offers the public and participating jurisdiction websites an access to the records of past present sex offenders in their locality. Individuals may use the website to search for the names of those individuals who have been convicted of sex offences in their area (NSOPW, 2014). In most cases, such offenders have been found with crimes of sexual nature against minors, adults and children.
The US department of justice funds the national offender’s website. Thus, the state is responsible for the running and operations of the site. As stated above, the system is accessible to all members of the public. Any interested members from all the fifty states have access to the sex offenders’ website and can easily locate any criminal within their locality (NSOPW, 2014). The system has high storage capabilities since it is possible to find past and present criminals on the site. The system is usually under constant monitoring and is updated on a regular basis. It stores information for years. This makes it possible to monitor any offender who is out of prison keenly.
The national sex offender website interlinks with other websites that deal with crimes of different magnitudes. For example, it has an association with the federal bureau of investigation (FBI), and other jurisdictions such as family watchdog, children’s rights department and the US Attorneys’, offices across the nation (NSOPW, 2014).
Information found on the website enriches public utility and education. For example, any member of the public to find registered sex offenders in their area can use it. The site has information on how people can report sex crimes to the department of justice, FBI, and other jurisdictions within their state. Education wise, members of the public may utilize the website to educate themselves about the potential availability of sex offenders in their local communities (NSOPW, 2014). The system also educates the public on how to report crime that has occurred in their area. The education also provides a platform for reporting any suspicious person in the environment.
The national sex offender registry has educative information on how people can protect themselves from coming into contact with sex criminals. It also enlightens citizens on how to protect their children and young ones from such individuals (NSOPW, 2014). It also provides information on how to help those people who have one through such ordeals to cope with the situation and get professional help.
Information on the website is used in criminal justice initiatives such as criminal investigation, crime analysis, and information dissemination in that once the public identifies an individual as potential sex offender or sex criminal, they can search their name on the website list and immediately report him to the police (NSOPW, 2014). The police also use the information to further validate the claims and be on the lookout for the reported individual. In cases when the individual flees the place, the police can use information about him by sharing it with other jurisdictions in order to help arrest the individual. Other jurisdictions connected to the website might also use it to seek further information on various criminals whose names and offenses appear on the site.
User satisfaction for the registry site can be measured based on the feedback that the police and other law enforcers get from the users. The people in charge may as well check the daily use. They can also evaluate how the public feed information on the website from time to time (NSOPW, 2014). Such action will easily indicate to the nation that the users are satisfied with the information found on the site. Information from the website that becomes very important to the police, the court or the correction department includes name, age and residential place of each sex offender in the registry.
The courts can use the site to find further details such as early offence and other crimes committed by different criminals whose names appear on the list (NSOPW, 2014). Once such information becomes available, the correction facilities may use them in trying to help the sex offenders change their bad behaviors.
Reference
Justice Talking (2014). The public radio shows about law and American life. Retrieved from http://www.justicetalking.com/default.aspx
NSOPW (2014). US Department of justice. Learn more about the functionality and capabilities of NSOPW. Retrieved from http://www.nsopr.gov/en/Home/About
The National Police Foundation. (2014). Advancing policing through innovation and science. Retrieved from http://www.policefoundation.org/content/about