ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the US criminal justice system as a system comprised of interdependent subsystems. The four subsystems that form the criminal justice system are: legislation, law enforcement, courts and corrections. The criminal justice system consists of complex organizations that interact with offenders and victims. Individuals with criminal justice system involvement refers to individuals who are on probation or parole supervision, those awaiting trial, arrested individuals, those charged with a crime, crime victims and survivors, and formerly incarcerated offenders who have completed all sentencing requirements such as incarceration and parole. Data can be helpful for contextualizing the size and scope of the US criminal justice system and populations with various types of criminal justice system involvement. Local governments spend more on criminal justice services than either state governments or federal government. The use of systems theory promotes social work assessment and interventions, and helps social workers to understand how the four criminal justice components function together as a system.
