Diversity is the differences between individuals including religious, race, gender, ethnicity, physical disabilities and abilities, education and sexual orientation. Organization that seek to make sure that there work places are diverse usually hold an advantage over others. Therefore, it is important for organizations to make sure that their employees are as diverse as possible. Diversity in the criminal justice system ensures that there are more skills, insights and different perspectives that are reflected in the system (Dyson, n.d).
Importance of diversity in the criminal justice system.
The criminal justice system mainly deals with people so communication skills a vital part of the system. If law enforcers, judicial officers and correctional officers cannot communicate effectively then administering justice becomes harder. Although officers can learn other languages such as Spanish and Chinese, having officers who come from these cultures is encouraged since they are better placed to know the cultural nuances than officers who just know the language are (Myers,2020). For example, some cultures naturally communicate with each other in loud voices which can be mistaken for aggression in other cultures looking people in the eye while communicating is seen as rude and therefore a person from this culture can be mistaken for lying or not paying attention.
Diversity promotes trust. Because most people interact with the criminal justice system when something goes wrong, having people in the system that they can trust and feel safe to interact with is a little comforting and can lead them to feel more secure. People tend to open up more to people who look like them or who they feel can understand them. For example, women and girls who have been sexually abused will often feel safer opening up to women officers. If the community is religiously diverse then the diversity should reflect in the police and even the judiciary. In the united states there is a higher rate of incarceration of black and Hispanic men compared to white and Asian men. In recent times reports of African Americans being killed by white police officers have been highlighted leading to high distrust between them and the police, having more African Americans police officers can help black people feel more comfortable when interacting with law enforcement (Flavin, 2018).
It is important that the criminal justice system offers their officers courses on diversity including community partnership and social justice. Law schools for example should offer courses on cultural differences to assist aspiring lawyers to understand cultural differences and issues to do with racial equity and how they can affect the administration of justice. Police recruitment should have quotas set aside to be filled by racial minorities for better police interactions with the public also juries should reflect racial, cultural, religious and social differences.
References
Dyson, E.(n.d.). Managing diversity in the workplace. Peoplescout. https://www.peoplescout.com/insights/managing-diversity-in-workplace/
Myers, L. (2020, May 6). Why diversity in law enforcement is important. https://www.northwestcareercollege.edu/blog/why-diversity-in-law-enforcement-is-important/#:~:text=An%20understanding%20of%20the%20nuance,paramount%20to%20building%20public%20trust.
Flavin, B. (2018, October 12). Police officers explain why diversity in law enforcement matters. https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/justice-studies/blog/diversity-in-law-enforcement/
Leave a Reply