The criminal justice system is made up of three parts – police, courts and correctional facilities – and all three work together to protect the rights of the individual and society's right to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “a prohibited act or omission of a duty imposed by public law and which renders the offender liable to punishment under that law.” When all three parties work together, the criminal justice system works like a finely tuned machine. In this article, I propose to talk about how all three parts of the criminal justice system work and also delve a little deeper into the issue of racism in the context of the criminal justice system since many people believe that the system most of the time act with the individual's race in mind. When an individual enters the criminal justice system, it always starts with the police. So, for the police to get involved in any situation, there must be a crime committed or a violation of any law put in place by the government. Since the police act as the enforcement agents of these laws, they are the first to be involved. There are four steps that the police follow when a crime occurs – the crime itself, the reporting of the crime, the investigation of the crime and the arrest to complete this process – these are the basic avenues that the police follow. We have already established that for the police to be involved, the crime must have been committed. Once the crime is committed, someone has to report the crime committed, and once the report is made, the police begin their work and start investigating that report to determine whether a crime has been committed. Or… middle of paper… Simpson Trial is a real life example of how once the crime is determined, the courts follow a fair trial system and then corrections follow. Once again, I will take this example and try to explain how I think justice prevailed in this case. Works Cited Schmalleger, F. (2009), Prentice Hall, Publication. Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century Heather Mac Donald (2008), City Journal, Publication. Article on “The criminal justice system is racist”Alvarado, A (2008). American Sociological Association. The industrial organization of police work. Wilson, J. A. & Davis, R. C. (2006). Criminology and public policies. Good intentions meet harsh realities: an evaluation of the Green light project reentry program. Fairchild, H. & Cowan, G (1997). Journal of social issues. The OJ Simpson trial: challenges to science and society.