CJ 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Parole Board, Human Services
18 Jun 2018
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The Politics of Criminal Justice
Politics is the process by which resources are distributed or allocated. As a famous political
scientist once remarked, “Politics is who gets what, when, and how. ” Political considerations are
a necessary but sometimes problematic part of criminal justice.
Politics of selecting decision makers
Criminal justice decision makers are selected through election or appointment. In some
states, voters elect judges, while in other states, governors appoint them. In either case,
the selection process is political. Lawyers who have performed political deeds for their
party often become candidates for judgeships. As for federal judges, the president
appoints them and the Senate confirms them. The political process profoundly
influences the U.S. Supreme Court. Retirements from the Court and new appointments
produce shifts in the Court's positions on criminal justice issues.
Politics of lawmaking
Perhaps the most important way that the democratic political system shapes criminal
justice is through the lawmaking process: Politics influences the laws that legislatures
enact. During the 1980s and 1990s, state legislators and the U.S. congressional
representatives rushed to frame politically conservative get tough sentencing laws. ‐
These laws mandate longer sentences and fewer opportunities for parole. One lawyer
who was instrumental in rewriting federal drug laws in 1986 and 1988 says the severe
sentencing laws came about through whim and attempts by politicians to one up each ‐
other as drugs seized media headlines just before elections. “There was a level of
hysteria that led to a total breakdown of the legislative process,” says the lawyer, Eric
Sterling, who as lead attorney on the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary wrote the
laws that established long mandatory sentences for several types of drug convictions.
What has resulted from two decades of get tough sentencing policy? The prison ‐
population has exploded. Costs of corrections have skyrocketed. The distribution of
revenue within state governments has shifted in favor of allocating more money for
prisons and less for education and other essential human services.
Politics and policing
Even though politics doesn't have a direct impact on the routine, daily decisions of
police officers on patrol, the political culture of a community determines the style of law
enforcement and the nature of departmental policy. Form of government (commissioner,
mayor/council, city manager) makes a difference in the extent to which politics shape
policing. Politics permeates police departments in cities that employ a mayor/council
type of government. By contrast, a professional city manager makes political
intervention into policing less likely.
Politics of prosecution
Political considerations influence prosecutors in a direct way. Prosecutors are elected in
most states and are heavily involved in local politics. At the federal level, U.S. attorneys
are political appointees and tend to mesh their career ambitions to the needs of their
political party. Both state and federal prosecutors often use their office as a springboard
for higher political office. Occasionally, an unscrupulous prosecutor will abuse power in
the worst way: Acting on the basis of political motives, the prosecutor will engage
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Document Summary
Politics is the process by which resources are distributed or allocated. As a famous political scientist once remarked, politics is who gets what, when, and how. Political considerations are a necessary but sometimes problematic part of criminal justice. Criminal justice decision makers are selected through election or appointment. In some states, voters elect judges, while in other states, governors appoint them. In either case, the selection process is political. Lawyers who have performed political deeds for their party often become candidates for judgeships. As for federal judges, the president appoints them and the senate confirms them. The political process profoundly influences the u. s. supreme court. Retirements from the court and new appointments produce shifts in the court"s positions on criminal justice issues. Perhaps the most important way that the democratic political system shapes criminal justice is through the lawmaking process: politics influences the laws that legislatures enact.
