Assignment

Instructions

This assignment is to demonstrate your mastery of how the criminal justice system works. This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to display your knowledge of the parts and processes of the criminal justice system. The more specific and detailed the paper is, the more effective it will be in demonstrating your understanding of the system.

Step 1. Select a current events case, in the last ten years, to analyze in the American criminal justice system. The case should be one where a life sentence or death sentence was the outcome.

**Your case must be submitted to the instructor for approval in week four. Please submit your topic and briefly explain how the topic meets the project criteria. Topics must be approved before moving forward with the project.

Step 2. Describe the details of the case, including the nature of the offense, background of the offender, and an analysis of each component in the criminal justice system: advantages/disadvantages of police procedures, details and/or issues with court proceedings, and whether the correctional sentence was appropriate based on the nature of the offense and background of the offender.

Step 3. Conclude your paper by thoroughly analyzing the impact this case has had or will have on future criminal justice outcomes. Careful critical thinking is required here. Invest considerable effort in thinking about what you have learned over the course of the term in addressing this final aspect of the mission.

The sources you are to use to obtain information for your descriptions of the criminal justice process include the course reading material and two peer-reviewed journal articles. As an academic paper, it must contain APA formatted citations throughout the paper whenever information is being presented from a source.

Even though you may have personal experience in the field (e.g. police officer) or use knowledge obtained in previous courses, information used in this paper must be supported through the use of citations which meet the criteria for sources indicated above.

An example of the correct page header and title page format can be found in Unit 3 of the APA Tutorial in the Course Content.

Here are the sections that should appear in your paper, each of which should be subtitled:

· Introduction

· Description of the case (including the nature of the offense and the background of the offender)

· Police procedures

· Court proceedings

· Correctional sentence

· Analysis of the impact this case has had/will have on the American criminal justice system process

· Conclusion

Form and Format Requirements

· Paper should be a minimum of 1,500 words and a maximum of 2,000 words

· Double space

· 12 pt. font

· 1" margins

· Use APA citations for all sources

· Include reference page (not included in word count)

·Additionally -

· Create a cover page for your assignment (not included in word count)

· Include your name

· Course title and number

· Project title

· Topic selected

· Date of submission

If you have any questions about this assignment, please contact your instructor.