In this assignment, identify issues confronting modern law enforcement, corrections, and the court system; reflect on policies that currently impact those components of the criminal justice system; and point out problems that exist in today’s criminal justice system.

Consider situations in the criminal justice system that have developed in the past 10 years. These situations will have surfaced in public media pertaining to issues, problems, and policies of law enforcement, corrections, and the court system.

Tip: Finding these concerns is easily accomplished using media search engines of major news publication archives. The hardest issue will be to decide which ones to read. You can search for death penalty, juvenile boot camps, or plea bargaining, for example.

Think of a topic and then evaluate whether or not it is a public concern. If you begin to research a topic and can only find 4 or less articles on it, then do not select it for a research concern. You will need to select a topic for this assignment where sufficient information exists to research. There are a number of large newspapers and online news archives. Also, the major news agencies will have online archives for issues they have reported on. These are just a few suggestions. The limitations on this project are determined by your own creativity.

Assignment Guidelines

• Address the following in 2–3 pages:
  • Identify at least 2 issues, problems, or policies in criminal justice for each of the following 3 components:
    • Law Enforcement
    • Corrections
    • Court System
  • This should result in the identification of a minimum total of 6 issues, problems, or policies.
    • Relate whether the areas identified are an issue, problem, or policy, and explain why.
    • Keep in mind they can be a combination.
    • The amount of attention paid by the media to the topics you selected may be an indicator of the level of concern the public holds regarding these topics.
      • However, it could also be an indicator of the agenda of that particular media outlet. Be careful, because the media outlet can be the driving force behind the issue, trying to make it a public concern.
  • Select 2 (out of the 6 or more you identified from the media search) of the issues, policies, or problems you found in terms of current public interest.
    • Select 2 topics that actually interest you, just to make the assignment more fun. There is nothing wrong with enjoying your research. You will find your end product is enhanced when you like what you are doing.
  • Create an annotated bibliography for the 2 research topics.
    • Find 8–10 peer-reviewed scholarly references (total) that pertain to your 2 topics.
    • Following each one of the individual references, prepare 2–3 sentences that describe what each reference is expected to contribute to your research.
    • It is not expected that you will read every word, but the abstracts should give you an idea of the content, and skimming through the document might also be helpful.
      • You may find other references later that better support and define your logic, but this is a start.
• Be sure to reference all sources using APA style. Include introduction and conclusion.