Should
public opinion counts when it comes to making policies?
One of the things that I would like to comment on is
a question that is asked in Criminal
Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice; and the question is, “should public
opinion be the determinant of sentencing and correctional policies” (Banks, 2013,
p. 192). My response to this question is that I do not believe that it would
ethical for criminal justice policies to be formulated solely on the basis of
what is perceived to be public opinion because, as Banks (2013) points out,
public opinion on crime control and punishment often fluctuates in response to
certain events, such as urban turmoil and when the crime rates escalates. In
addition, the media also plays a big part as far as how and what the public
thinks about crime; as some commentators put it, public opinion can be easily manipulated
by the media.
However, does this mean
that the policy makers should have total control when it comes to making crime
control and criminal justice policies? No, I am not saying that either, because
I do believe that it would also be unethical for policies on criminal justice
issues to be made without the public’s view on these issues being taken into
consideration. However, the point that I am trying to make here is that I
believe when criminal justice policies are made without the input and consideration
of public opinion, we would end up with some policies that will have a
disproportionate impact on minorities. For example, research shows that the
legislation enacted in 1986 to shape the war on drugs by prescribing minimum
penalties for drug trafficking based on the amount of drugs involved and making
distinction between possession of cocaine and possession of crack cocaine was
aimed more at African Americans (Banks, 2013, p. 190). To show how bias this
policy was against blacks, as Banks (2013) also points out, a minimum of 25 years
imprisonment was given for possession of 5 or more grams of crack cocaine,
which is the form of drug that was normally used and sold by blacks; however,
the minimum sentence that was given for possession of the powder cocaine, the
kind that is normally used and sold by whites, was only 5 years and the amount
had to exceed or equal to 500 grams. Anyone in their right frame of mind can
see something is wrong with this policy. However, as a result of this
legislation, as (Banks 2013) further explains, three of four people that were
doing time for drug offense were African Americans. This is just one example of
the many laws and policies that have these ethical issues.
Now that you have gotten
an idea how some criminal justice policies can impact the lives of some people,
wouldn’t you agree that public opinion should have some kind of a role in the
policy making? Well, even though I believe that the wishes of the public should
be taken into consideration when these policies are being made, some experts disagree;
according to Banks (2013), they believe that in most areas of crime control
that there is a widespread lack of knowledge of the public.
Reference
Banks, C. (2013). Criminal Justice Ethics:
Theory and Practice (3d ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
