Paper Prompt:
Your consulting firm has been retained by several American city governments to assist with evaluating and addressing its criminal justice system and crime problems. The cities are experiencing a myriad of problems. Using your knowledge of historical as well as current crime and criminal justice issues, you are responsible for producing a quality 4-to-6 page paper in APA format:
1. identifying and describing what you identify as one of the most significant current issues in the criminal justice system and community,
2. outlining a strategy to address that issue citing both short- and long-term challenges and benefits, and
3. justifying your strategy and description of the underlying problem based on evidence-based research.
The paper you prepare should be addressed to the Chairperson of the City Council. Use at least one informational graph or chart in your proposal. This image will not count towards your page range. At the end of your recommendation, indicate the preparer of the document by including your signature block.
Paper Considerations:
In preparing your strategy, you must think critically about historical and existing challenges in the criminal justice system. In each of the modules in this course, you and your colleagues have compared effective, ineffective, and promising programs. Use that information as well as any additional that you have in describing the problem to be solved and why your recommendation is an effective one. Your paper is a recommendation and should use reliable sources to establish trust with your audience that your recommendation should be followed.
APA Cover Sheet with Project Title
Introduction: introducing the problem(s) you have identified and briefly introducing your proposed project or police)(1 page double-spaced)
Example introduction language:
To be successful, a 21st century citizen is expected to have at least a high school diploma. For the last decade, however, the city of Baltimore has 30% drop out rate for its ninth-grade population. In the 2019-2020 school year, less than 65% of all high school students attended class. There is a related problem with juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior among youth who do not attend school. Baltimore must take action to reduce the risk of students following this pathway out of the city school system and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Relevant Literature regarding the problem and data on effective solutions: sources for your research area and use of the sources to build your arguments and justifications for your proposed program or policy. (2 pages double-spaced)
Example language from this section:
Prior research has identified critical transitions in the lives of all students as they move from family and neighborhood to school, from elementary to middle to high school to 3 college, and from school to work (Phelan, et al, 1994; Lucas, 1997). These transitions are especially critical for underrepresented students, in that they often mean contending with linguistic and cultural differences and striking out on unfamiliar life trajectories.
The research has indicated a broad range of risk factors associated with dropping out of school. A review of this research by the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University has identified an extensive set of risk factors organized into four domains: individual, family, school, and community (Hammond, Linton, Smink, & Drew, 2007).
Individual Factors include lack of future orientation, low academic achievement levels, low attendance, and special learning needs. Family factors inc
*As you work on your final papers, please remember to focus on explaining how the research supports your identification of at least one major contemporary issue in the criminal justice system and how your innovative proposal of a new program or an enhancement of an existing program addresses that problem based on the research. As the description of the paper indicates, you should ensure that the crime prevention or intervention strategy is “of your own conception.”
In your paper, discuss how your proposal will impact the short- and long-term outcomes for the institutions. You should use information from the course modules as well as additional research you identify regarding the problem you identify and program you create.
