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Criminal justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. Those accused of crime have protections against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers.
In the United States, criminal justice policy has been guided by the 1969 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, which issued a ground-breaking report "The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society." This report made more than 200 recommendations as part of a comprehensive approach toward the prevention and fighting of crime. Some of those recommendations found their way into the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The Commission advocated a "systems" approach to criminal justice, with improved coordination among law enforcement, courts, and correctional agencies. The President's Commission defined the criminal justice system as the means for society to "enforce the standards of conduct necessary to protect individuals and the community."
The criminal justice system in England and Wales aims to "reduce crime by bringing more offences to justice, and to raise public confidence that the system is fair and will deliver for the law-abiding citizen." In Canada, the criminal justice system aims to balance the goals of crime control and prevention, and justice (equity, fairness, protection of individual rights). In Sweden, the overarching goal for the criminal justice system is to reduce crime and increase the security of the people.
The criminal justice system consists of three main parts: law enforcement (police); adjudication (courts); and corrections (jails, prisons, probation and parole). In a criminal justice system, these distinct agencies operate together both under the rule of law and as the principal means of maintaining the rule of law within society.
