Propose an alternative policy suggestion for one of the criminal justice policy development agencies to at least two colleagues.
During this period in United States history, it is best to identify criminal justice agencies at the national level to demonstrate how they impact criminal justice policy. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is probably the most powerful of these agencies at directing changes in policy for federal, state, and local law-enforcement.
To demonstrate this assertion, it is only necessary to go to the DOJ's website and view topics and DOJ initiatives such as The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, or Best Practices for Victim Response and Reporting of Cyber Incidents (https://www.justice.gov/). The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended specific action steps to build trust and legitimacy in law-enforcement as well as other logical improvements. The DOJ utilizes a national map that shows local law-enforcement reports regarding integrating these recommendations into their day to day operations.
The benefits of a national approach are that resources available for developing and reviewing policy are far greater than those of a local level. The DOJ employs a large number of attorneys on staff which provides legal guidance without having to go through the trial and error of defending the policy and developing legal precedence. The drawbacks of attempting to nationalize criminal justice policy are to disregard local customs and nuanced laws as well as creating possible constitutional overreach by mandating national policy onto state and local entity's, in the area of 10th Amendment arguments. When there is an equal relationship between states and the federal government, there is probably less pushback from state and local law-enforcement agencies.
References
United States Department of Justice website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/.
President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015, May). Final report of the president's
task force on 21st century policing. Retrieved from
http://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/TaskForce_FinalReport.pdf.