preview

Reflection In Practice In The Criminal Justice System

Decent Essays

The term reflective practitioner was coined by Donald Schön in his book “The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action” (1983). Schön (1983) argues that a reflective practitioner is one who is able to effectively utilise the reflective practice, that is, using both reflection-in-action, reflecting on actions as they occur, and reflection-on-action, reflecting on previous actions. By adhering to the reflective practice, the reflective practitioner is able to gain valuable insight into how they can improve their performance for the future, as reflection on one’s experience is key to learning (Loughran, 2002). This effectiveness has made the reflective practice extremely valuable in certain fields, for example, the criminal justice system. Law makers must be constantly reflecting on societies ever changing values to ensure that sanctions handed out by the criminal justice are in line with those views (Cowdery, 2008). Additionally, if a law that is enacted is unpopular with the public, law makers must be able to reflect in action to make changes to that law to ensure that it meets the standards of the public.

Throughout the field of criminal justice, practitioners are investigating multiple different areas, each with varying degrees of importance. For example, Jerry Ratcliffe (2002) posted an article examining the effectiveness of burglary reduction methods, and whether displacement, criminals relocating to another area due to police crime-prevention efforts, was a legitimate concern when trying to reduce burglary. Investigation into this topic by practitioners is important, as burglary is one of the most commonly committed crimes in Australia, as of the most recent figures released (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2014), with over 200,000 incidents of burglary occurring in 2013. Therefore, it is important to reflect on how effective burglary reduction efforts are, and whether the theory of displacement should be considered when attempting to reduce burglary. Additionally, Robin Cameron’s book (2013) investigates the effect Australia’s foreign policy approach to the war against terror has had on domestic policy in Australia. Once again, research into this topic by practitioners is vital,

Get Access