Hey everybody!
I am a Criminal Justice Major here at MSU. Although I am not a science major such as a biology or pre-med student, I believe Criminal Justice does show how the criminal justice system has evolved and shoes the science behind our society. My major is all about the United States constitution, our laws, how they can/have been changed, and how they will be enforced. In my classes,we focus on methods of Criminal Justice research, criminology, which is the study of the brain and why people commit crime, and all the ways in which my major can be used and applied Criminal Justice falls into the college of social science, so technically it is still a type of science. Our criminal justice system has evolved a 180 since when it was first created. When we were first a country, crimes could result in hangings and awful punishments and death for something so simple. Also, evidence was not a big factor in decision making back in the day, it was more of a he said she said thing and higher class word always trumped lower class and what they had to say. Today, punishments have become much more appropriate and fitting for the types of crimes people commit.
Our values have also changed as well as acts that are considered criminal. For example, people of color were segregated before and it was a crime to go in restaurants, certain bathrooms/ drinking fountains, and certain spots/seats on buses and transportation. Today, none of that exist as the majority of our society accepts others and celebrates our differences. Rosa Parks committed a crime of sitting on the bus, and today, that would not even be close to a type of crime that would wind someone up in jail. The United States has become such a versatile, accepting country over the past few decades and I could not be prouder of how far we have come, although we still have so much farther to go to reach a society where everyone is treated the same no matter any differences they may have.
The readings and videos this week have made me think about my field in a different light. I have become more enlightened to the amazing work my field does and the impact we have. My field is key in showing how the values of the people of the United States have changed and especially how people are treated. I have also learned that although my field may not deal with the biological evolution of humans, my field certainly does show how humans have evolved, especially how our society has evolved. For example, not to long ago, members of the LGBT community were not valued members of society and could not get married. Today, the people of the LGBT community are celebrated for their differences and treated as equals to everyone else. The Criminal Justice field shows how the societies, values, and cultures of the United States of America have evolved and adapted over hundreds of years.
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Hi! I really liked how you connected evolution in a different aspect than the normal context of science, it truly brought a different angle to the topic. I enjoyed how you connected not to the biological, but to the cultural and societal changes in the world. I wonder if there is any type of biological evolution that correlates to the societal changes or if it is purely environmental. My major is genetics, which plays on the more biological paired with environmental aspects of evolution. One interesting fact is that humans are the only species that do not become lactose intolerant as we age and our body is still able to process it past infant stages. I find this interesting because even though our body can process it, we are seeing more people showing lactose intolerance in the past few years, so maybe the evolution of being able to process it is reverting back?
I like how you were able to relate the process of evolution to your Criminal Justice major. I similarly related it to my major in my blog post. I talked about how global politics have evolved over time like how you talked about how the criminal justice field and what we consider a criminal have evolved. It is really neat that you feel that this course has given you an opportunity to look at your major and past classes in a new light. I do not think I was quite able to see my own classes and major in a new light because of this week’s material, although I too found it interesting! A question I was considering is that if you agreed with the Alters and Alters chapter on the importance of evolution being taught in school? Even though I am a Global Politics major I agreed with the article’s idea.
Hi Pete. I actually considered going after a degree in Criminal Justice for a while before switching to Social Work, so I could appreciate this thread personally. I hadn’t thought about the justice system like that before, and it’s interesting to think about. We tend to look back on bigger, milestone cases and how they changed the system, but not how smaller, less controversial ones have contributed as well. While the U.S. system has changed dramatically, it has also helped some other areas of the world to follow and change as well. In a lot of ways, we set an example being one of the major superpowers. I am personally apart of the LGBTQ+ community, so it meant a lot that you added that detail. One of the fields that social workers can be involved in is the criminal justice system because we can act as mediators and resources for the prosecuted, so this is something for me to consider as well throughout my degree when I choose my area of specialty.
I’ve really enjoyed the viewpoints of non biological science majors on the influence of evolution in their studies. Those in the field of criminal justice would surely be the first to see the shift in morals and thought processes in terms of law, by way of trending crime activity as well as new legislation. Laws change with societal needs and desires and is an important indication of the evolution of the human race. Based on societal needs means laws evolve differently in different regions and countries, and I wonder what factors go into those decisions. For example, some laws might change a lot faster for more populous cities that have to control for more crime and business. Have you ever studied this in any of your classes?
Based on your introduction, I think criminal justice is a quite interesting field. Also, when it comes to justice, equality, and similar words, we might link them with discrimination, stereotype, power relationship and so forth. This week, I have researched about social Darwinism, a theory in sociology, which tries to provide evidence for discriminations, for imperialism, and for the different treatments of different social groups. I think it is related with the justice and the discriminations you have mentioned. Evolution are biological processes, but they should not be excuses for human beings to separate us into different classes. As you have mentioned, in the fields of criminal justice, in the history, the people of color have to face with segregation, and what’s more, because of their history of working as slaves, they still suffer from the discriminations. I think these discriminations result from cultural and historical reasons, instead of the evolutional or biological reasons.
I enjoyed reading your post and the issue of criminal justice is an interesting one especially when one thinks of it along law. It is true that the criminal justice system has evolved over the years and this is something that has had an effect in the way that we tend to do things. Besides that, the criminal justice has evolved and this means that whatever punishment was used in the past is not the same. As such, the criminal law is now focused on giving punishment that is appropriate. I agree with you when you say that our values have changed and this has ended up having an effect on the criminal justice system, which is something that continues to affect the criminal law.