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- QUESTION
CJMS 660 9040 Issues in Criminal Justice Leadership (2188)
Project 3: Plan of Action (20%) – Course Objectives #8
Using the information and concepts from our readings, lessons, and discussions, develop a plan of action for identifying and addressing political issues faced by criminal justice leaders.
Grading will be based on the degree to which students meet the following criteria:
Cover page with student’s name, course title and number, and date submitted.
The quality of the Plan of Action to address the politics of criminal justice leadership:
State the political issues from the text which pertain most to criminal justice leaders
Application of the information from the text book which addresses the identified issues.
Articulation of a vision, core values, and planned goals, objectives and subordinate action steps in the plan which will address the political issues identified.
This project deliverable will adhere to APA guidelines and be a minimum of three (3) computer-generated, double-spaced 12 point font pages. Margins are to be 1 inch (top, bottom, right, and left).The essay is about political issues faced by criminal justice leaders:
What must a Criminal Justice leader do to stay alive politically when attempting to lead an adaptive change initiative relating to current issues?
For example:
Criminal justice leaders face significant challenges staying alive politically and introducing adaptive change processes in organizations. The leaders often find themselves between a rock and a hard place as they try to maintain allegiance to their supporters and prevent their opponents from ousting them out of office (Hollis, 2016). Besides, leaders are unable to predict the reactions of individuals occupying the middle ground between their opponents and supporters, and this makes them uncertain about their actions. However, it is possible for criminal justice leaders to find a solution to this dilemma by following several strategies.
Foremost, criminal justice leaders should collaborate with other partners who share a common vision. The partners willingly put aside their differences for the successful introduction of the change initiatives (Hayes, 2018). Moreover, the partners help to protect the leaders from opposition, but-the leaders should collaborate with them and not take credit for all the work.
Secondly, the leaders should work with the opposition closely. Although the opposition may share different ideas how the criminal justice leaders should conduct their operations, the leaders should be willing to listen to their arguments and consider their arguments (Homberg, Vogel, & Weiherl, 2017). As a result, the opposition will feel appeased, and their focus will shift towards ensuring the community’s welfare.
Arguably, the biggest challenge for criminal justice leaders is managing supporters. Leaders appreciate the loyalty from people close to them and use different ways to show their gratitude. On the other hand, the supporters feel entitled to their position and try to dictate the leaders’ actions (Homberg, Vogel, & Weiherl, 2017). It is important for the leaders to ensure the supporters are on board with their vision and work towards common goals. For the middle-level individuals, the trick is managing the public’s expectations and the final output.
References
Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management.
Hollis, M. E. (2016). Community-Based Partnerships: Collaboration and Organizational Partnerships in Criminal Justice. Journal of Family Strengths, 16(2), 1.
Homberg, F., Vogel, R., & Weiherl, J. (2017). Public service motivation and continuous organizational change: Taking charge behavior at police services. Public Administration.
CJMS 660 Week 4 Discussion
Kossi Amouzou
Drugs and the Community versus politics
To stay alive politically when attempting to lead an adaptive change initiative relating to drugs and community as current issue, Criminal Justice Leaders must work as closely with one’s opponents (drug dealers and drug users as informants) as with supporters (people who are against drug like the community).
According to week four lesson, Criminal Justice Leaders need access to people they can work with, call on, and rely on in reference to whatever current issue is at issue is at hand(Heifetz, R., Linsky, M., 2002).
Most informants are referred to as Confidential Informants (CIs) by themselves, police and courts, they are able to do something that the police can't do as snitchers. They infiltrated an organization, or a person involved in illegal activities. From street corners to jails to courthouses to prisons, every year the government negotiates thousands of deals with criminal offenders in which suspects can avoid arrest or punishment in exchange for information. These deals typically take place off-the-record, subject to few rules and little oversight. While criminal informants—sometimes referred to as “snitches”—can be important investigative tools, using them has some serious costs: informants often continue to commit crimes, while the information they provide is infamously unreliable. Taken together, these facts make snitching an important and problematic aspect of the way America does justice. For example, acting on a bad tip from a local drug dealer-turned-informant, Atlanta police sought a no-knock warrant for the home of Mrs. Kathryn Johnston. In order to get the warrant, the officers invented an imaginary snitch, telling the magistrate judge that a non-existent “reliable confidential informant” had bought crack at Mrs. Johnston’s home. While executing the warrant on November 21, 2006, police shot and killed the 92-year-old grandmother (Natapoff A.,2010).
Supporters are natural allies who agrees with you on your issue and is willing to fight for it same as you are willing to fight. These supporters and informants become your allies. Allies from other factions help enormously by working within their faction on issues about which you care. It is a mistake – indeed, political suicide - to go it alone (Heifetz, R.,Linsky, M., 2002).
As Heifetz, R., Linsky, M., 2002 said: “Keep Your Friend Close and Keep the Opposition Closer”, Criminal Justice Leaders should know more about their enemies or opposition (drug dealers) than they know about their friends (the community). Being the inside man gives insight on what you will be dealing with. Nowadays, we can't seem to know the difference between the two: Enemy and friend. Your friend will always be your greatest enemy, because You trusted them enough to let them in your life. Watch them all. However. philosophically enemies can be useful especially a drug dealer who become an informant.
Criminal Justice Leaders can learn a lot from people they dislike like drug dealers and when drug dealers’ informants are close, it’s easier for the community to work with police officers without fear of retaliation. The closer an enemy is to you, the more intimately you will come to know their capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, tendencies etc. You can use this knowledge to your advantage. A close enemy is also one you're privy to the whereabouts of, so you're much less likely to be caught off-guard.
Sources
Heifetz, R., Linsky, M., (2002). Leadership on the line: staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN No. 1-57851-437-1. Chapter Four.
Natapoff A. (2010). Secret justice. Retrieved from: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2010/jun/15/secret-justice-criminal-informants-and-americas-underground-legal-system/
Law enforcement leaders must think carefully when trying to lead an adaptive change in their department. One difficult lies in that when a leader is close to the end of their term or contract, most line officers will think that decisions are being made due to the impending run for office. One thing a leader must do is draw a line between politics and leading a department. Most law enforcement agencies need a political leader very little of the time, while agencies need a true leader all the time. If the two begin to fuse together officer may not have the same feeling about the leader they "thought they knew"
According to (Murgado, 2010)The main difference between the two is that managers do things right, whereas leaders do the right thing. Therein lies the rub…the doing the right thing. Doing the right thing means different things to different people. For true bureaucrats it means doing the right thing for their careers. By trying to be someone instead of standing for something, the conditions necessary for a black hole start to form.
The next concept you need to understand is that office politics is nothing more than office relationships. I refer to this as relationship bubbles. No one is truly safe when creating a politically oriented relationship bubble because it can burst at any time. If you become a political liability or have spent all your political capital, you will find yourself outside looking in. Sometimes bubble people have a long ride and sometimes they have a hard fall.
An excellent observation from Murgado. Relationships are constantly being built and can be lost as easily as they can be gained.
Matt
Murgado, A. (2010, December 22). Surviving Office Politics. Retrieved from http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/articles/2010/12/surviving-office-politics.aspx
| Subject | Administration | Pages | 8 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Political Issues Faced by Criminal Justice Leaders
Introduction
Criminal justice leaders often find it challenging to stay alive politically even as they seek to lead an adaptive change initiative relating to radicalness against organized corporate crimes such as tax evasion, insider trading, fraud, and the like. This challenge often emanates from the fact that the perpetrators of such crimes conveniently hide behind the veil of incorporation (Friedrichs, 2009). It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the actions of the company and the actions of specific individuals within the company. Initiating radicalness herein is also politically problematic for the criminal justice leaders because the persons involved in such crimes are usually high profile personalities with a network of support from a wide range of quotas thus there is an imminent fear that they will use their networks to hide their tracks (Friedrichs, 2009). It is also highly plausible that the influence such personalities wield may be used to threaten the criminal justice leaders who seek to lead an adaptive change initiative relating to radicalness against organized corporate crime. It is therefore important to recognize this challenge and consequently put in place a stable blueprint/ action plan for addressing the challenge.
Political Issues Facing Criminal Justice Leaders
In order to effectively investigate and consequently prosecute against corporate criminals, there is a need to apply a significant amount of resources thereto. These is because large corporations often use state-of-the-art technological equipment and software in their daily operations and often times the crimes that are committed are crammed up in the advanced technology (Buell, 2016). When the example of Enron is considered, for instance, it is apparent that the perpetrators of the crimes used advanced technology and took advantage of the preexisting loopholes in the law at that time to commit a series of crimes that eventually led to the loss of significant resources for the shareholders. In order to fight against this magnitude of the crime, a criminal justice leader must have the prerequisite resources in terms of budgetary allocation, human resource, and infrastructural resources. The political issue herein is that there are other crimes that have a direct effect on physical security (such as eminent terror threats) of the people and these too compete for the same resources. Another political issue that arises herein is that an FBI criminal justice leader who seeks to initiate radicalness against white collar crime may be faced with the political demand of delivering good statistical reports thus he may opt to allocate resources towards crimes that are relatively easier to investigate and more likely to produce impressive statistical reports (Friedrichs, 2009). It then follows that the investigation of a white-collar crime whose outcome is uncertain may often not be a top priority for criminal justice leaders, especially considering the hefty resources and manpower that are needed. Resultantly, a criminal justice leader may find it difficult to stay alive politically while attempting to lead an adaptive change initiative regarding radicalness against white-collar crime.
As illustrated above, other political issues facing criminal justice leaders who seek to advance change initiatives with respect to radicalness against corporate crimes is the influence and networks enjoyed by corporate criminals. Perpetrators of corporate crimes are known to use their influence to cover their tracks and hide any personal involvement in the offense. They also use their influence to intimidate persons, who may want to bring them to book (Friedrichs, 2009). A criminal justice leader may find it hard to remain alive politically because of these threats thus some may end up cowering because of this pressure. The example of J. Edgar Hoover clearly brings to light this challenge. During his reign in the FBI, Hoover came across a great deal of information concerning corrupt dealings by politicians, business people as well as corporations (Friedrichs, 2009). He, however, chose to keep such information classified for his own purposes and never referred them for prosecution (Friedrichs, 2009). As a result of being privy to too much information, no one could sack him or force him to resign (Friedrichs, 2009). Because of the pressure he experienced as a result of the influence and networks of the white-collar criminals, he opted to use the information he had access to for his own purposes. Criminal justice leaders, therefore, have to incorporate various strategies to deal with this challenge so as to avoid giving way.
Action Plan
Vision
The vision of a criminal justice leader who seeks to initiate radicalness against corporate crime will be to; identify and investigate corporate crimes and to apply all the prerequisite resources to ensure that criminals are brought to book; through effective leadership, integration, and adroitness.
Planned Goals
A specified amount of resources should be channeled towards dealing with white collar crime. This will ensure that the identification and investigation of white-collar crime are not subject to the discretion of any particular criminal justice leader. The specialized team in this regard should then table an annual report detailing the results (both tangibles and intangibles) of the resource allocation.
In order to deal with the political issue appertaining to the influence wielded by the perpetrators of corporate crime, criminal justice leaders (particularly those within the FBI) should be keen on involving/ targeting the subordinates of the perpetrators of the crimes (Buell, 2016). It is easier to track down the principal criminals by using the subordinates thereto. Criminal justice leaders should also be required to provide progress reports and work alongside other criminal justice leaders in different departments so as to avoid being susceptible to collusion.
Objectives
The objectives shall include;
- Effectively combating all forms of white collar crime
- Shrewdly applying resources to ensure the best results are achieved
- Transforming the manner in which white collar crimes are handled; incorporating radicalness, agility, effective leadership, and integration.
Conclusion
Criminal justice leaders often find it challenging to stay alive politically even as they seek to lead an adaptive change initiative relating to radicalness against organized corporate crimes such as tax evasion, insider trading, fraud, and the like. Some of the political issues faced appertain to the significance of the amount of resources that are needed in the venture vis-à-vis the need for impressive statistical reports, as well as, the influence enjoyed by the white-collar criminals. Criminal justice leaders, therefore, have to incorporate various strategies to deal with these challenges.
References
Buell, S., W. (2016). Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America's Corporate Age. W. W. Norton.Friedrichs, D., O. (2009). Trusted Criminals: White Collar Crime In Contemporary Society. Cengage Learning. |