Public Policy

The purpose of my paper is to discuss what public policy means? And how public policy is relevant to criminal justice in discussing what relationship it has with gun control, legalization of certain controlled substances, progressive programs in the prison systems, raising the driving age, and lowering of the drinking age. We have a general idea how some of these topics affect and impact our society, so I will propose a social change in each of them and gather text book information to back up my ideas, if my ideas are viewed by the public policy close to what my beliefs are or my opinions.

According to the U.S. criminal justice policy, public policy means, deliberate courses of action to achieve goal or objectives, for example applying social science in criminologists conduct empirical research aimed at understanding, explaining, predicting, and preventing crime. Some brought questions are the causes of terrorism? How can recidivism be reduced? Here are only two of the many questions that are explored by criminologists. Here in the United States it's all about having responsibility over your actions and how you carry yourself around certain objects. Safety and Security will always play a big role in public policy or in general. Everything you do or handle will always come with consequences and we need to make sure we find ways for improvement or change on certain concerns when dealing with criminal justice issues or public policies (Karim Ismaili, 2011).

Let me begin with gun control, certain states in the United States are able to carry a side arm, how much as it affect those locations and in what way? Statistics show that crime in certain states that due carry a fire by their side has decreased, you may ask how does crime decreased if they are entitled to carry a gun and shoot whom they pleased. According to the instructors from Westwood College and a few articles I read, the only reason why crime is reduced in certain states is because in states like Texas, Florida, Utah, Dallas etc, you never know who might be caring a firearm and use it against you. Meaning that citizens in those states follow the rules and regulations that are required, but can we do that in the state of California? No. Too many people live in California and many of us live our life's at a fast past, meaning if someone was to get in front of us while being in a hurry we tend to get aggressive and have no patience and might react in a violent way.

If we were able to issue a fire arm to someone and that person was able to carry it on the street whenever he wanted here in California I would say a good plan to make this happened in this state would be hard. The amount of people that live in this state is overwhelming, but it can be done. I'm sure those that due carry a fire arm have gone thru an extended background check just to get a fire arm. But let's look at other options when issuing a fire arm, such as where the person might live even do the majority of the American do not care much about owning a fire arm, my proposal to whom may be eligible to carry one has to do with that person not having any crime convictions, our any of his or her closes relatives. Depending in what area in California they live they can't be entitled to carry one such as anywhere in Los Angeles for example where the majority of the people live, some exemptions can be like out in Napa Valley or out in the dessert.

But like many aspects of public policy, gun control is a matter of federal, state, and even local legislation. Federal gun control was enacted by congress in 1934 which regulated the sale of fully automatic firearms like machine guns. This new federal law prohibits persons that have a criminal record to purchase any weapons and makes sellers respect the law by obtaining the proper license to sell any weapon. In addition any one that has a felony conviction, mentally ill or incompetent and users of illegal drugs will not be permitted to obtain a license that will have these individuals from obtaining a weapon in the future (News Batch, 2009).

In the state in local gun control, guns are additional regulated by state and local legislation and there is little uniformity among states, some major issues are child access prevention laws, where you cannot leave a loaded weapon in the reach of any child or minor, this has been passed by many states. Concealed weapon laws, seven states prohibit concealed weapons. Many others require a proper license to carry one, but not those individuals with felonies, the only state that does not required a individual to carry or obtain a license would be Vermont. Regulations of private sales to minors, any minor under the age of 18 are prohibited from possessing a weapon and fewer than 21 to purchase a weapon from dealers. Another Ban on assault weapons is the use of automatic weapons; California was the first state to ban automatic weapons back in 1989. One handgun a month law policy entitles that any individual wanting to purchase multiple guns in one month is not able to do so. The only four states that due this are South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and California. Like mentioned before the majority of the states have laws which prohibit local authorities from passing local control ordinances and it gives officials in cities which are able to pass such ordinances, such as New York, credit their existence to a dramatic reduction in violent crimes. Waiting periods on background checks are no longer necessary under the federal law. Since a background check is necessary to obtain a firearm, there is no need to wait for background checks, about half the states still use state