Why is policy so important in criminal justice? Because everyone is affected by the criminal justice system through public policy. Policy represents social control and ensures members of society are compliant and conform to the laws. Policies include issues related: to juvenile justice, drug legislation, intimate partner violence, prison overcrowding, school safety, new federal immigration laws, terrorism, and national security.

Modern-day crime policies can be traced to changes in crime and delinquency in the 1960s. That decade saw major increases in the crime rate along with widespread social unrest due to the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. The work of the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice highlighted the crime problem and the criminal justice system’s failure to address the problem. The commission called for new approaches, programs, policies, funding models, and research on the cause of crime. In addressing the causes of crime (theory) and using appropriate data collection (research), effective policies and programs could be proposed as noted in figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1. Diagram of Theory-Policy-Research.

When discussing crime policies, it is important to understand the difference between “crime prevention” and “crime control.” Policies and programs designed to reduce crime are crime prevention techniques. Specifically, crime prevention “entails any action designed to reduce the actual level of crime and/or the perceived fear of crime” (Lab, S., 2016). On the other hand, crime control alludes to the maintenance of the crime level. Policies, such as the three strikes law or Measure 11, sought to prevent future crime by incapacitating offenders through incarceration. Other policies like sex offender registration acknowledge that sex offenders exist, and registering them will control the level of deviation, sometimes preventing or perceiving to prevent future offenses.

Public policies and laws are created at different levels of government, with micro-level policies enacted on the local level and macro-level applied at the federal or state level. For example, local towns and cities might create specific ordinances tailored to their unique needs, such as banning cigarette smoking in the downtown area. At the federal level, policies are created that apply to the federal criminal justice system and can also apply to states. However, federal laws can differ from state laws, such as marijuana legalization. Individual organizations can also make policies that address their agency needs, such as requirements for local police officers. Therefore, depending on who creates the policies, they can be far-reaching or extremely localized (Lab, S., et al., 2013).