Criminal Justice
PLEASE COMPLETE ALL PARTS, SO NOT COMMIT IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE.
Part 5
Address the following in 2–3 pages:
The blood type did not match the assailant’s; could this be ignored today?
Why or why not? Explain.
Are crimes still tied together today? Explain.
With the today’s studies, it is realized that most murders or rapes are
intraracial, not interracial. Should people have realized that in 1984, or was
it just a matter of bigotry?
Use scholarly and academic resources to support your argument.
Take this case and make 2 scenarios:
Create 1 in which the perpetrator is Caucasian and 1 in which the
perpetrator is a minority.
Explain how it would be handled in this day and time.
Locate 2 cases that are similar to your scenarios, and use them as scholarly
sources to back up your opinions.
Explain the legal and ethical details pertaining to your scenarios’
individuals.
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
Part 6
Address the following in 3–4 pages:
What effect would this have on his leadership role with his officers?
Explain.
What effect would this have on his interaction with another agency? Explain.
Would this have an effect on community relations and cooperation with the
community with the FBI? Explain.
If this attitude continued and Sheriff Jones held back pertinent information
from the FBI that caused the perpetrator to flee the area, would this behavior
cause moral problems within Sheriff Jones’ department? Why?
How would it have an effect on the officers?
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
Part 7
Address the following in 4–5 pages:
Most judges are elected; would it be better to have the judges appointed by
a committee? Why or why not? Explain.
Would the committee be affected by graft?
If so, how?
If not, how will it not be affected?
Be specific and detailed in your responses.
When judges violate the constitution, what should be the recourse? Explain.
What current policies exist regarding judicial misconduct? Explain in
detail.
Do these policies sufficiently address judicial misconduct? Explain in
detail.
What can be done to improve these policies?
Should there be political and financial pressures put on judges? Why or why
not?
Pertaining to re-election, should judges be held to a higher standard than
other candidates for any political office? Why or why not?
Be sure to use at least 5 academic and scholarly sources to support your
arguments.
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
Part 8
In those states with the three strikes laws, any person who has 2 felony
strikes and commits another felony, whether it be violent or not, can be
required to serve a sentence of 25 years to life.
Look at the case of Ewing v. California:
Ewing v. California
Click on the PDF link next to the case title.
The defendant had his third strike when he committed grand theft at a golf
course in Los Angeles County. This was not a violent crime but he was subject
to the three strikes laws. He appealed this case up to the United States
Supreme Court—and lost.
The public has always been worried about violent crime, but just how worried
are citizens about nonviolent crime? With mandatory sentencing, society will
have many older inmates within the prison system. In the criminal justice
community, it is known that inmates “age out of crime.” Can you imagine a
68-year-old man climbing in a window or jumping an 8-foot fence? By keeping
these older inmates incarcerated, is this a disservice to society?
State prosecutors have the discretion to lower the charge so that the third
offense would not be considered a third strike. For this assignment, you are a
policy maker in your state legislature. You are concerned about the heavy tax
burden on your constituents. The cost of the actual running of the prison and
costs of personnel will rise.
You are also up for re-election, and the feedback that you have received
from your constituents has shown that they are dissatisfied with the law that
now stands. They are afraid of violent crimes, not just felonies, and are very
aware that the last crime committed by the perpetrator does not have to be a
violent crime. They are also worried about the use of their tax dollars to
incarcerate nonviolent offenders.
Assignment Guidelines
Address the following in 5–7 pages:
Develop a policy regarding the three strikes laws in the State of
California. Address the following in your policy:
What alternatives would be placed in the law to give the state prosecutor
more freedom to manipulate the third strike?
Many prosecutors “load up” charges against defendants to force a plea
bargain. What can be done to limit or prevent this practice?
Will your policy allow multiple counts arising from the same incident to
count as multiple strikes? (For instance, a man arrested for aggravated robbery
because of the use of a weapon is charged with aggravated robbery and a felony
gun possession charge. Should that count as 1 strike or 2?)
If one of the alternatives was supervised probation, how would you convince
the public that it would be more cost-effective for the person to be supervised
than incarcerated?
Show the public where you would be saving money by not incarcerating the
perpetrator.
If brought up in the legislature to be an amendment to the law, could this
be grandfathered in to help older inmates?
Could this have a backlash from the public, or would they approve? How? Why?
Once you are finished with the policy, draft an executive summary of the
policy to be used for political decision making.
Use 6–10 scholarly resources to support the provisions of your policy.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias are not scholarly sources. Look at federal and
state legislation and court cases.
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
Part 9 (new 2-4 pages but 8-10 pages total)
First, revise your Week 4 Key Assignment based on your instructor’s feedback
and peer responses.
In Week 4, you developed a policy regarding the three strikes laws in the
State of California. Now, the state has decided to try to revamp other systems
within the government to accommodate more diverse populations. The three
strikes laws are now causing a problem for the correctional institutions in the
United States. Now, there is an older inmate population because of the aging of
the population.
Locate and analyze the current problems pertaining to the three strikes laws
and incarceration.
For this assignment, you will develop a policy change to address prisoners
who have been sentenced under these three strike laws and have reached the age
of 60.
In your policy, address the following:
Describe your proposed policy in detail, and provide the specific language
you would propose to be part of any statute or regulation that results from
your proposed policy.
What information could you provide to the community and the state
legislature to implement such a policy change?
What would be the advantages of this policy? Explain and provide support for
your arguments.
What would be the disadvantages? Explain and provide support for your
arguments.
You should use the same format that you used for your Week 4 Key Assignment
Draft policy.
Address the following in 1-2 pages:
What effect would your corrections policy have on the state budget and state
taxes? Explain.
How have you ensured that your second policy effectively utilized the
feedback you received for your three strikes policy from Week 4? Be specific
and explain in detail.
Remember to support your policy with scholarly and academic resources.
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.
