Organizational Behavior in a Criminal Justice Agency
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- Category: Politics: Crime and Drugs
- Date Submitted: 05/29/2010 12:39 PM
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Organizational Behavior in a Criminal Justice Agency
Most criminal justice agencies are organized in a militaristic, hierarchical manner. Each section of a department has its own individual chain of command. These individual sections fall under the umbrella of an overall command element with some type of commander; Chief, DA, Head judge, Warden, etc., who sets policy and has general administrative control over all the departmental areas.
For the past 25 years, a major effort has been made to professionalize US police forces. The growth of administrative and management skills has improved the quality of justice organizations and paved the way for further reforms. Most justice agencies operate on the principles of a rational organized framework that encourages the free flow of communication, a clear chain of command, and strict guidelines and regulations enforced on its membership. In recent years many justice agencies have attempted to go to a more democratic style of decision-making to better address the needs of all involved, specifically giving lower ranking individuals a voice. This however has not caught on as a very often practiced approach to organizing a department’s decision-making process (Bohm, 2000).
One part of police organizations that receives a great deal of attention is the “police personality” often referred to as the “blue wall, or blue line.” This is the personality that many officers assume when they join the ranks of a police force. Police personality has been described as dogmatic, authoritarian, suspicious, racist, hostile, insecure, and a host of other negative qualifiers. This is believed to cause police officers to bond into a secretive and isolated group with an us vs. them view of outsiders. This is just one aspect of an organizational behavior that exists within criminal justice agencies. The “blue line” behavior serves to help officers feel more secure in their jobs, but ultimately is detrimental to the overall...
Most criminal justice agencies are organized in a militaristic, hierarchical manner. Each section of a department has its own individual chain of command. These individual sections fall under the umbrella of an overall command element with some type of commander; Chief, DA, Head judge, Warden, etc., who sets policy and has general administrative control over all the departmental areas.
For the past 25 years, a major effort has been made to professionalize US police forces. The growth of administrative and management skills has improved the quality of justice organizations and paved the way for further reforms. Most justice agencies operate on the principles of a rational organized framework that encourages the free flow of communication, a clear chain of command, and strict guidelines and regulations enforced on its membership. In recent years many justice agencies have attempted to go to a more democratic style of decision-making to better address the needs of all involved, specifically giving lower ranking individuals a voice. This however has not caught on as a very often practiced approach to organizing a department’s decision-making process (Bohm, 2000).
One part of police organizations that receives a great deal of attention is the “police personality” often referred to as the “blue wall, or blue line.” This is the personality that many officers assume when they join the ranks of a police force. Police personality has been described as dogmatic, authoritarian, suspicious, racist, hostile, insecure, and a host of other negative qualifiers. This is believed to cause police officers to bond into a secretive and isolated group with an us vs. them view of outsiders. This is just one aspect of an organizational behavior that exists within criminal justice agencies. The “blue line” behavior serves to help officers feel more secure in their jobs, but ultimately is detrimental to the overall...