For the final course paper, which will relate to a Class, Race/Ethnicity or Gender Incident, you are asked to choose a recent incident or series of incidents in your hometown or state, in which class, race/ethnicity or gender were thought to be a factor in how the criminal justice system dealt with the issue. Try to stay as local to your city as possible in your choice of an incident or incidents. If this is not possible, then choose an incident from another city.
You are to imagine that you are a criminal justice consultant who has been asked by local government leadership to research the case and propose a set of strategies or interventions to prevent such an incident from taking place again. Note that you are not expected to investigate the case nor determine who is right or wrong in their actions. You are required to put your emotions aside. Within your paper, you are expected to deal with such factors as the reactions of the local community, law enforcement, and/or other criminal justice agencies or institutions (reactions to the incident…in regards to class, race/ethnicity, or gender).
Also include a comparison of your state or municipality crime statistics with those of the United States. Note especially those percentages or rates that are different from the national average. This analysis provides essential information for the analysis of the incident that you have selected. You may need to present your findings in tables, which you can attach to your project. You will submit a crime statistics project in Session 8, and include it in Paper.
Finally, you are expected to apply concepts and theories studied in this course to your analysis of the event(s), reactions to the event(s), and your recommendations.
Paper Objectives
To successfully complete the Class, Race/Ethnicity or Gender Incident project, you will be expected to:
1. Analyze your chosen incident, including descriptions of the reactions of community members, law enforcement, criminal justice agencies, and the media.
2. Recommend strategies or interventions that could prevent such incidents from happening again.
3. Compare crime statistics for the region where the incident took place to national averages, noting differences. (Use your stats from the assignment due in Session 8.)
4. Apply concepts and theories from the course toward your analysis of the incident.
5. State known facts about the incident and cite relevant research. Remember that you are to imagine that you are a criminal justice consultant who has been asked by local leadership to research the case and propose a set of strategies or interventions to prevent such an incident from taking place again. You are expected to write your paper from the viewpoint of a criminal justice consultant.
