What are the implications for the implementation of justice of the Essay

What are the implications for the implementation of justice of the unintended impact of the criminal justice process on ethnic minority people - Essay Example There are several issues that arise in coping with this problem. On the one hand, faith in the criminal justice system can be only restored if the members of the public achieve a level of confidence in the law enforcement process and its results. However, this confidence is being undermined, which has resulted in increased insecurity and sterner measures which are even more ineffective. Part of the reason for this may be seen in the imbalances that exist within the current judicial and law enforcement system as it exists in the UK today. The current composition of the common public has changed drastically from the way it was in the post World War II era. There has been a steady influx of immigrants from Asian and Afro-Caribbean countries as a result of which minority representation in the population is higher and the society has become multi cultural and multi ethnic. There is also a higher representation of female members of the community in the work force and in the criminal justice system. However, to counter balance this, there has been no corresponding rise in representation of these minorities and women in the law enforcement field and in the judicial arena which is still predominantly white and male. As a result, racism and prejudice have been noted within the criminal justice process which have proved detrimental to the interests of the minority communities and created imbalances by pushing a larger proportion of minority community members behind bars. The result of such increased incarceration is that members of the minority public lose their faith in the law enforcement system. An individual who has not been treated fairly by police officers nor given a fair verdict in the Courts as compared to his white contemporaries is likely to emerge bitter and mistrusting. Thus, while a prison sentence is intended to reform an individual and ensure that he or he does not slip back into a life of crime,