Criminal justice is the system of laws, institutions and people that respond to crime. It encompasses all processes from identifying crime and providing judgment to rehabilitating offenders. A career in this field offers stability, well-paying roles and the opportunity to serve your community.
Most crime is not under exclusive Federal jurisdiction, so the responsibility for responding to it rests primarily with local governments and their police forces. Most corrections are handled at the State level, too.
Across the country, policymakers are working to make the criminal justice system more equitable and effective. Some initiatives include tailoring charges and sentences to the specific circumstances of a case, reducing overuse of harsh mandatory minimums for low-level nonviolent offenses, and increasing the effectiveness of crime prevention programs. Other efforts focus on improving the credibility of the system by reducing corruption and bolstering public trust.
Researchers are also working to establish fairer systems and to promote policies that drive social change. For example, one Northeastern project focuses on whether a program that allows prisoners to transition from higher to lower security levels as they near the end of their sentence can help them reintegrate into society more effectively. It also assesses the program’s cost-benefit and its impact on recidivism rates. Another project is examining the impact of labeling, a criminological theory that states that the way in which a person is described may influence their behaviour and self-identity. This could lead to them becoming more likely to commit offences in the future.
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