A Systems Approach to Criminal Justice Policymaking

The criminal legal system is comprised of multiple subsystems. There are many ways to describe what a system is, but briefly, one description is when multiple interconnected components work together for the common good of the overall system functioning. Taken from a statement made by Aristotle, Ludwig Von Bertalanffy says regarding a system: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” (Von Bertalanffy, 1972, p. 407). This description stems from general systems theory pioneered by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy (1972). While von Bertalanffy himself was a biologist, his theory is relevant and applicable to a number of disciplines, including but not limited to engineering, computer science, chemistry, and the broader field of social science.