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Administration of the American Criminal Justice System
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Consideration of the criminal justice system from the perspective of organizational & bureaucratic theory.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Consideration of the criminal justice system from the perspective of organizational & bureaucratic theory.
Paper Introduction:
The development of modern public administration begins with the bureaucratic theory of Weber and extends to the present day, and different writers have offered a variety of perspectives on these developments, their origins and sources, and the nature of the contributions made by different theorists. They have also considered the issue in terms of specific administrative dimensions and processes. Fry (1989) and Stillman (1991) both consider the historical development of the field of public administration and show how the different elements in the field were elucidated by theorists over the past century. Of necessity, each also shows how these different perspectives contributed to practical application, though Stillman is more interested in examining specifics in the field and in how public administration copes with goals and problems today. Walker (1980) gives
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R. Progressivism was the name of this spirit of reform thatinfused society in the first two decades of this century, and it brought aburst of reform to criminal justice administration as to certain otherinstitutions in society. Stillman describe the history of public administration theory inAmerica but is more intent on answering the question of what publicadministration theory is. Fry (1989) and Stillman (1991)both consider the historical development of the field of publicadministration and show how the different elements in the field wereelucidated by theorists over the past century. (1989). Martin's Press.Walker, S. Thepolitician is elected by the people and so is supposed to carry out thewishes of the people, and the bureaucrat follows the lead of the politicalconduit from the people. The greatest challenge to the Classical, Weberian approach was theBehavioral approach, which sought to modify the hierarchical organizationalstructures to appeal to a wider range of human needs. BibliographyFry, B. This was also the era of growing policeprofessionalization, a rational form of public administration whichinvolves the structuring of an institution as a profession, with rules ofconduct, standards for performance and behavior, and a clear administrativestructure for judging standards and for correcting abuses and otherproblems. J. Walker shows how both the police and thejustice systems developed during the nineteenth centuries as rationalentities based on certain ideas about crime, criminals, reform, andpunishment. Specialization is the contemporary push, similarto what Fry and Walker describe in different ways. The Classical School, andalso the approach of Max Weber, believed that the proper relationshipbetween the two was that the bureaucrat was the neutral servant of thepolitical masters. Popular Justice. The major trend seems to betoward specialization, as noted, and in this regard Stillman mirrors whathas been said by Fry and Walker in other terms. Mastering public administration. Indeed, an examination of what Walker has to say about the way thecriminal justice system is structured can then be used as an example of thesorts of developments noted by the other two writers in the field of publicadministration over the last century or so. The picture thatemerges is of a system becoming more complex in response to new problems,though it is not clear that this complexity is doing much to solve thoseproblems or is only institutionalizing them. Walker traces the changes in thinking toward the criminal justicesystem as new ideas developed during the course of the century, from thebeginnings of reform and a new sense of a system in place to efforts at thecontrol of crime, new professional mandates to solve problems, changes inthe relative roles of rehabilitation and punishment in corrections, and thedevelopment of a crisis that seems to be beyond the scope of administrativebehavior to affect in the present era. Stillman's analysis points to current trends in public administrationand considers how those trends developed, what their future might be, andhow problems involved in them can be solved. (1991). New York: St. Chatham, New Jersey: Chatham House.Stillman, R. (198 ). Inmore contemporary literature, theorists try to sort out the relationshipsamong organizational characteristics. He finds that the systemis based on certain assumptions, such as a belief in social progress assomething achievable through the manipulation of the system. 127). Fry covers essentially the same period of time as does Walker with amore generalized discussion of public administration theory and the changesin approach over that period of time. The Human Relations movement was the next major shift in thinkingabout public administration, again moving toward being responsive to awider range of social and psychological needs within the organization. A hierarchical structure was thus indicated, with eachlevel looking to the level above for guidance, goals, and policies, andwith the top level in these terms being that of the politician. In the earlier sections, Walkershows how the system developed based on both European models and on areaction against certain European models. This can be related to Walker's view of the criminaljustice system as becoming first more hierarchical and centralized in theera of professionalization and then more diffuse and separated into levelswith the awareness of growing problems each of which required its ownbureaucracy and policy (such as the juvenile justice system). What emerges from the differenttheoretical perspectives is a sense that public administration deals insome measure with the differences or balance between the administrator onthe one hand and the politician on the other. Walker's history of theadministration of American criminal justice extends back before modernpublic administration to the colonial era. The development of modern public administration begins with thebureaucratic theory of Weber and extends to the present day, and differentwriters have offered a variety of perspectives on these developments, theirorigins and sources, and the nature of the contributions made by differenttheorists. The various institutions, they recognized, had a commonpurpose. As Walker notes, Progressivism involved a new way of thinkingabout such matters: "Experts increasingly thought in terms of a criminal-justice system. The discussion that corresponds to the development of modernpublic administration is described by Walker as an age of reform, beginningabout 19 . Anotheraspect is the fact that the approach described tends to take an empirical,analytic, and technological point of view which tends to be blind towardthe creative, intuitive dimensions. They have also considered the issue in terms of specificadministrative dimensions and processes. The picture Walker presents is of apublic administration that is badly in need of a new theoreticalperspective that will help solve the real problems faced today. The history presented by Fry is ofparadigms challenged by new paradigms and by new attitudes toward hierarchyand thus control. Walker (198 ) gives attention to the way public administration hasdeveloped in terms of the criminal justice system specifically and does notrelate this as specifically to theory as do the other two writers. Reform was needed to streamline this system to make it moreeffective" (p. He calls thesystem part of a pro-state vision and says that his book offers thepossibility of learning much about the modern state and its administration. He traces the development of publicadministration in America from its original "stateless" condition to thecreate of a "state" system and to other changes from professionalization ofthe bureaucracy to specialization which has created entire new levels ofadministrative activity. Of necessity, each alsoshows how these different perspectives contributed to practicalapplication, though Stillman is more interested in examining specifics inthe field and in how public administration copes with goals and problemstoday. Preface to public administration. The country itself, after all,was created on the same pattern, accepting certain aspects of Europeangovernmental structures and theories and reacting against others in orderto create a very different model. The Behavioralapproach was one with looser control structures to allow for more self-initiative in addressing issues. New York: Oxford University Press. Stillman provides a framework for avery different conception of public administration, one that is morecomprehensive and more valuable for analysis. There is first a tendency to see the field in mechanistic and positivisticterms, a technical vision of the state as having a political belief systemwith its own values and norms different from other state systems.
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