Introduction

Criminal justice is the system of practices and institutions/organizations of governments directed at maintenance of social control, deterring (discourage (someone) from doing something by instilling (imparting) doubt or fear of the consequences) and mitigating (make (something bad) less severe, serious, or painful) crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. Those accused of crime have some protections against abuse of investigatory and prosecution powers.   
The term “Criminal Justice” refers to an area of knowledge devoted to controlling crime through the scientific administration of Police, Court and Rehabilitation/Correctional agencies. It is an interdisciplinary field making use of the knowledge basis of criminology, sociology, psychology, law, public policy and other related fields.  
Criminal Justice is essentially an agency of social control, society considers some behaviors so dangerous and destructive that it chooses to either strictly control their occurrence or outlaw them outright. It is the job of the agencies of justice to prevent these behaviors by apprehending and punishing transgressors or deterring their future occurrence. While society maintains other forms of social control, such as parental and school-based discipline, they are designed to deal with moral and not legal misbehavior. Only the Criminal Justice System maintains the power to control crime and punish criminals.  
A number of academic disciplines have been drawn upon to develop insights into the causes and prevention of criminal behavior. After taking information from various disciplines and consolidated as the knowledge base for a new era of study. Understanding what knowledge is represented in this field helps us to reach a working definition of Criminal Justice study.  
“The study of criminal Justice may be defined as the use of the scientific method to understand the Administration Procedures and policies of those agencies of Government charged with enforcing the law adjudicating crime and correcting criminal conduct. The study of Criminal Justice involves analyzing how their institutions influence human behavior and how they are in turn influenced by law and society.”  
COMPONENTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND ITS PROCESS The criminal justice system consists of three main components:  (1) Law Enforcement;  (2) Adjudication (courts which include judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers); and (3) corrections (jails, prisons, probation and parole). 

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