Write a paper on police officers legal authority.Prior to writing your paper, please review the learning objectives for this course and use the objectives to help guide your reflection as you navigate this research paper: Demonstrate an understanding of criminological theories used to explain crime and criminality. Explain the methods, theories, and concepts associated with the sources of crime data, the emerging patterns of criminal activity, and the costs of crime. Demonstrate an understanding of the history, development, and structure, and function of American police, courts, and corrections. Demonstrate an understanding of the history, structure, and function of the police.5. Convey an understanding of the process of adjudication. Show an understanding of corrections including the roles of probation, parole, and community corrections, as well as the functions of prisons and jails. Identify and describe special issues in the criminal justice system involving juvenile delinquency, drugs, and the future development. Critically analyze and discuss issues of crime and justice from varying perspectives. Utilize conclusions from scholarly research in creating informed positions on controversial issues in criminal justice. Demonstrate the ability to raise critically relevant questions based on independent reading of criminal justice literature. Effectively follow the appropriate writing style practiced in the social sciences. Explain the definitions of crime. Demonstrate an understanding of the extent of the crime problem in America. Term Paper #1 Task: There are many aspects of the Criminal Justice system in America. As a student you are challenged with understanding many aspects of our justice system and applying that information when necessary. Many have charged the criminal justice system in general, and the police specifically, with being racially biased while acting under their authority. While miscarriages of justice have occurred both historically and recently, legitimate uses of authority or force, supported by fact a law, are often overshadowed by a general lack of trust. Using what you have learned in this course, your task is to describe, in writing, your understanding about police officers’ legal authority to stop, search, and/or arrest people. It is important that you thoroughly articulate not only what makes such stops, searches, and arrests justified and legal, but also provide at least one example of a real or hypothetical situation that would justify the police actions before, during, and after the stop. Make sure you do a complete synopsis of policies, procedures and laws that give law enforcement the authority to act under these circumstances. Once you document justifiable and legal authority, comprehensively explain the purpose, importance and impact law enforcement officers have in our society when executing these duties. Consider what might happen if officers no longer stopped, searched, and/or arrested people out of fear of accusation of racial bias. Conversely, consider the historical impact of race and bias on the effort to grow trust that such stops could all be perceived as legitimate and humane. Incorporate the learning from each of the chapters and tie it in with constitutional law designed to protect our rights as citizens. Finally, close your paper by reflecting personally on the information you have provided in your paper and discuss your thoughts about the significance of these type of police actions in our American Justice system. Your paper should be authentic and represent college level writing, including APA writing standards (i.e. cover page, an introduction, double-spaced type, running header, page numbering, use of citations and references, etc.). Please use Times New Roman, 12pt Font. Grammar is essential and all students are encouraged to proofread their papers several times before submitting the final draft. The topic surely touches on sensitive issues, but your research must go beyond a mere emotional response and should be supported by research, empirical data, scientific evidence to prove or disprove your assertions. While it is okay to use the internet to find legitimate, scholarly information to support your assertions (not Wikipedia or blogs, but scholarly articles), your paper should rely predominately on resources located in our library or scholarly journals or reports. All sources, whether from our library or from other scholarly articles, must be properly cited in the text of your paper and included on your references page, using APA formatting. This paper should be 7-9 pages of content.
