Meaning & use
criminal justice system
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The set of courts, police, lawyers, and prisons that handle people accused of crimes.
Grammar: Usually used with 'the': the criminal justice system; you can also say 'criminal justice systems' for several countries.
Patterns
- the criminal justice system
- reform the criminal justice system
- work in the criminal justice system
She spent her career working in the criminal justice system.
The report called for major reform of the criminal justice system.
Many countries are comparing their criminal justice systems.
nounsingularformal
The official process, from arrest to punishment, by which a society deals with crime.
Grammar: Used as a fixed phrase for the whole process, not for one court or one case.
Patterns
- the criminal justice system in a country
- a fair criminal justice system
Public trust in the criminal justice system has fallen.
The documentary follows one case through the criminal justice system.
Word forms
| plural | criminal justice systems |
|---|
Common combinations
- reform the criminal justice system
- Voters want politicians to reform the criminal justice system.
- the criminal justice system in + place
- The criminal justice system in Scotland differs in some ways.
- work in the criminal justice system
- He has worked in the criminal justice system for twenty years.
- public confidence in the criminal justice system
- Public confidence in the criminal justice system is important.
- a fair criminal justice system
- A fair criminal justice system protects both victims and defendants.
Synonyms and how they differ
- legal system
- Broader: it covers all courts and laws, including civil cases, not only crime.
- justice system
- A shorter, slightly informal way to say the same thing; often understood to mean the criminal side.
- law enforcement
- Refers mainly to the police and their work, not to courts or prisons.
Word family
Commonly confused: criminal justice system or civil justice system?
criminal justice system vs civil justice system
This deals with disputes between people or companies, such as contracts, not with crimes.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase names the whole system, so people work 'in' it. A single part such as the police does the arresting, so options 0 and 2 wrongly make the whole system act like a person, and option 3 treats it as a thing you can buy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “criminal justice system”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.