The criminal justice system is a very vital element of our society and it is made up of three major components; “law enforcement, courts and corrections” (Hess & Orthmann, 2008, p. 1). It refers to the local, state and federal agencies that take the mandate of law enforcement, resolve criminal issues, and deal with convicted criminals by rehabilitating them or taking the necessary action (Kendal, 2008, p. 201). Law enforcement is one component of the criminal justice system which refers to the procedures of upholding and ensuring that the laws and statutes put in place by a given jurisdiction are adhered to (Tatum, 2010).
Law enforcement is a field that faces diversified kinds of challenges in its duties in the field of criminal justice. One of the major fields that law enforcement is well versed with is the fight against illegal drugs trafficking. Inclusive of combating gangs and terrorism, managing drug cartels has been among the most challenging areas in law enforcement (Hess & Orthmann, 2008, p. 259). Many countries inside and beyond the geographies of the united states harbors so many issues of illegal drug trafficking which despite the efforts of the law enforcement agencies have remained very demanding issues.
For instance, there are seven operating drug cartel in Mexico cities which are strong, well founded and stable organization with leaders and good communication channel which makes their operations very efficient and counter narcotics operations very difficult in Mexico (Cook, 2007; Shanty, 2008, p. 332).
Several factors contribute to the difficulties the law enforcement agencies face in their efforts to fight illegal drug trafficking in their nations. For instance, the Mexican drug cartels have been able to do their operations freely due to the isolated and rugged terrain in Mexico and the prevalent corruption in the Mexican law and judiciary. This does not only happen in Mexico but all over the world.
The people who are mainly behind drug trafficking in many nations are the top government officials, powerful people in the government and some people who may be working with the criminal justice system. When such cases are presented to the judiciary, it becomes difficult to investigate or even to enforce the law due to the positions these criminals hold in the government. Again, collapsed governments in the neighborhood may be a hiding place for criminals.
In order to ease the work of the criminal justice system in law enforcement, it is important to first ensure that the officials in the agency are law abiding and are not involved in illegal drug scandals. This will ensure that they are act on drug issues without considering personal issues. In order to manage the powerful government officials who are mainly involved in such scandals, the judiciary should set laws that are above every individual and ensure that the law is independent of any other government body. The code of ethics governing the law enforcement agency should ensure that the agencies operations are fair and just regardless of the victim’s power or social class. Also, attention towards other security issues like terrorism should not deny fight against illegal drug trafficking the attention it deserves.
The above recommendations are important and need to be employed with urgency since illegal drugs are a threat to the nation. The first step towards realization of our goal could be interrogation of the prevailing law enforcement agency officials to ensure that they are fit for their work. This would enable them perform their duties without bias.
In conclusion, the criminal justice system is the backbone of any stable and peaceful government, thus it should undertake its operations with diligence.
References
Cook, C. W. (2007). Mexico Drug Cartels. CRS Report for Congress. Web.
Hess, K. & Orthmann, C. (2008). Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Kendall, D. (2008). Sociology in our Times, the Essentials. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Shanty, F. (2008). Organized crime: from trafficking to terrorism, Volume 2. California: ABC-CLIO.
Tatum, M. (2010). What is Law enforcement? Wise Geek. Web.