Protect Citizens

• Law enforcement agencies, including police, are responsible for promoting safety and protecting neighborhoods and the citizens they serve. This is done through patrols, police presence at community events and community oriented policing programs. Law enforcement agencies routinely process criminals to remove them from the streets, issue warnings, cite drivers for violating traffic laws and ensure that business and citizens alike follow all applicable laws of the community.
  
  

Find Truth

• Criminal justice forensic scientists, criminologists, detectives and investigators use science, trade skills and knowledge to locate evidence and preserve it for use at trial and to obtain factual truth about events that took place during a crime. This helps to ensure that the right person is convicted and innocent individuals remain free. Technology is advancing to detect evidence that cannot be found with the naked human eye or may have otherwise never been found.
  
  

Punish and Rehabilitate Criminals

• Judges, lawyers and paralegals work to ensure that the laws are kept during criminal trials and that convicted criminals are punished for their crimes and rehabilitated. The court system and rehabilitation agencies tailor treatment and punishment of the criminal to fit the circumstances of the individual crime as well as the suspects' mental capacity. Evaluations are sometimes done to determine if an individual should be prosecuted under special guidelines for mental illness or as a juvenile or adult offender.
  
  Many branches of the criminal justice system are aimed at helping punish criminals or enable them to become productive members of society. The corrections system houses prisoners. The parole and probation systems ensure compliance with restrictions handed down by the judge to offenders not placed in prison. Rehabilitative agencies include the prison education system, drug rehabilitation centers, half way houses and employment commissions.
  
  

Help Victims of Crime

• Criminal justice also assists with enabling victims to come to terms with what has happened to them and learn to lead normal lives after the event. Victim advocacy programs aim to help victims take back the control and the sense of safety they feel they have lost as a result of the crime. Advocates help ensure that victims receive justice for the crime that occurred as well as protection from the suspect during trial and after release from punishment. Victim assistance programs include witness protection, victim education programs, and the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime.