Criminal Justice
In the scenarios and resulting simulations, Tim Smith, senior criminal lawyer, discusses select cases and asks a paralegal to indicate which courts would have exclusive jurisdiction of the cases in question. He also discusses various pretrial procedures and illustrates them with select cases. Finally, Tim Smith introduces the case of Roland Gary, who served twenty-three (23) years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The case brought to light several key issues, along with the manner in which they were resolved.
Use the Internet to research three real-life cases from the past five (5) years that fit the following criteria:
Cases that depict the unique processes related to different courts
The defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial
The defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated
Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:
Discuss one (1) real-life criminal case, taken from current events, and identify the court that took jurisdiction. Explain why the court that took the case was the appropriate one for the particular circumstances.
Discuss the real-life case that you have selected, in which the defendant accepted a plea bargain as an alternative to trial. Give your opinion on whether or not justice was served in the case in question. Provide a rationale for the response.
Discuss the real-life case that you selected, in which, like Roland Gary, the defendant was wrongly accused and later vindicated. Explore one (1) key aspect of the case and examine its relation to the case at large. Describe the resolution to the selected case.
Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note:Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Summarize the current ethical issues faced by criminal justice professionals and future of the criminal justice system.
Explain the development of American courts and illustrate the concept of the dual-court system.
Distinguish between the various courtroom participants, and describe the stages in a criminal trial.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in criminal justice.
Write clearly and concisely about criminal justice using proper writing mechanics and APA style conventions.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
Click here to view the grading rubric.
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Criminal Justice Assignment. Instructions
INTRODUCTION CONTENTS
GRADED PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT
OBJECTIVE
During the course of every day, various ethical issues will require you to make decisions that may affect your career, your personal life, and perhaps the lives or livelihoods of others, including your coworkers, friends, and potential criminal defendants.
At the end of most of the chapters in your textbook, you were presented with a variety of ethics-related scenarios to evaluate. This course project presents similar situations that you’ll respond to.
Be sure to answer each of the questions as completely as possible, using the information in your textbook and any other information you’ve learned to support your positions.
The questions have no absolute right or wrong answers. Your answers should be logical and supported by information in the textbook or other reference material.
INSTRUCTIONS
To satisfy the requirements of this project, you must prepare six short, 250-word essays in response to five questions. Each question is worth 20 points. The five questions are based on the following scenario.
Imagine you’re working as an administrator in a police department in your local town or city. Each day, you interact with police officers in your department and other departments, members of your office staff, public officials, members of the public, representatives from the press, potential criminal defendants, and others.
As you prepare your answers to the questions, keep in mind that you’re a public official and that you have a duty to uphold justice and follow the law.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 1: GUN RALLY
You’ve received an anonymous tip that a local gun advocacy group plans to hold a rally in the town square the next day. The group hasn’t applied for a permit to hold a rally, but they’ve held such events in the past and they’ve always been peaceful. You strongly support Article 2 of the Constitution and the beliefs of the gun advocacy group, and you don’t want to do anything to offend the members. You believe the anonymous tipster is providing accurate information, but you can’t be absolutely sure. You also believe that no one else in your police department is aware of the impending event. What do you do? Give reasons to support your decision.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 2: CHIEF’S ORDERS
Assume that in response to the tip you received about the gun rally, you decide to advise your fellow police officers. You gather a group of officers together the next day in case the unlawful rally is held. As the gun advocacy group begins to appear on the town square, you confer with the chief officer on duty. She tells you to wait until the entire group has gathered and then storm the area, with tear gas and billy clubs. You’re further instructed to arrest everyone you can and to charge them with unlawful assembly, trespassing, rioting, and anything else you can come up with. She also makes some very derogatory comments about anyone who supports such a group, claiming they’re terrorists and thugs. You personally disagree with the chief and believe she’s acting both improperly and immorally, allowing her personal beliefs to interfere with her legal responsibilities as a police officer. What do you do? Do you follow her orders? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 3: ACCEPTING FAVORS
You’re asked to investigate the gun advocacy group and their activities. To do so, you need to work with the police department in the next county. After contacting their chief, you’re assigned to work with another seasoned officer who has also been conducting some preliminary investigations of the group. You decide to do some field investigations together the following day. While you’re out working on the investigation, the other officer decides to stop at the local convenience market for some lunch. He picks up a sandwich and coffee, waves to the owner, and returns to the police vehicle—without paying for the items. When you ask him about it, he says that he has an “arrangement” with the owner and not to worry about it. He explains that he and the store owner help each other out (meaning the officer provides additional protection to the store in exchange for the food). Finally, he says, “If you’re hungry, go inside and pick up what you want.” What do you do and what concerns do you have? Explain your answers.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 4: REPORTING A DEAL
You happen to be in the courthouse during the trial of some of the members of the gun advocacy group. As you walk by the chambers of the judge who is presiding over the trial, you overhear the judge and the chief prosecutor discussing the case. The judge is talking about one of the defendants in the case and is making some very derogatory comments. You’ve often appeared in trials before this judge, and you’ve always found him to be fair and impartial. In this case, however, you’re concerned that the judge and prosecutor may be engaging in an inappropriate activity. This situation is particularly troublesome because the trial is proceeding at the request of all parties as a bench trial, with the decision being rendered by the judge without the benefit of a jury. What would you do? Explain your answer.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 5: BREAKING PRISON RULES
In the course of your investigation of the gun advocacy group, you have to go to your local county prison to question one of the group members being held there pending trial. This particular individual has been a problem inmate and is being held in solitary confinement. He’s to have no contact with other members of the group. You meet with him alone in a private interrogation room. He knows that you generally support the group, and he does his best to answer your questions, although his answers aren’t as complete as you would like. At the end of the questioning—just before he rises to leave the room—he slips you a note in a sealed envelope and asks that you give it to someone who is involved in the gun advocacy group. He says it’s very important and implores you to just hand it to the person or drop it in the mail. He then leaves the interrogation room. What do you do? Explain your answer.
ETHICAL DILEMMA 6: CRISIS INTERVENTION OR USE OF FORCE?
While on routine patrol you’re dispatched to an apartment building where there’s been a report of a male disturbing the peace. As you and your partner arrive on the scene, the apartment manager informs you that the tenant on the second floor is threatening other tenants. Upon reaching the suspect you begin shouting commands for the subject to place his hands where they can be seen. The subject isn’t complying with the commands and is acting in a way that you’re trained to understand may be linked to mental health illness. What do you do? Explain your answer.
PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS
Create a title page with the following information:
Title: Ethics in Criminal Justice
Your name
Your student number
Project number: 50127900
Current date
Prepare your answers to the ethical dilemmas in a word processing program. Each answer should be at least 250 words.
Double-space your answers. Use 12-point font—either Times New Roman or Arial—and one-inch margins.
Incorporate and properly reference any sources of information you’ve used to develop your answers. Use proper APA in-text citation formatting and include an APA References page at the end of your paper. For Helpance with citing your sources and doing a references page, see the Research and Writing page in the Penn Foster Virtual Library: http://pflibrary.pennfoster.edu/c.php?g=633288
Read over your work carefully. Make sure it’s professional with correct formatting, grammar, and citations, along with adequate support for any arguments you make.
Submit the final draft of your work, along with the title page, only after you’ve completed writing your answers to each dilemma.
GRADING CRITERIA
Your project will be graded on the following criteria:
OO Content 60%
OO Written communication 15%
OO Format 25%
Here’s a brief explanation of each of these criteria.
CONTENT
The student provides an answer to each of the ethical dilemmas.
The student includes theories, judgments, ethical systems, moral rules, and/or the ethical pyramid to support the answers.
OO Ethical Dilemma 1: Gun Rally 10%
OO Ethical Dilemma 2: Chief’s Orders 10%
OO Ethical Dilemma 3: Accepting Favors 10%
OO Ethical Dilemma 4: Reporting a Deal 10%
OO Ethical Dilemma 5: Breaking Prison Rules 10%
OO Ethical Dilemma 6: Crisis Intervention or Use of Force? 10%
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
The student
OO Includes an introductory paragraph, a body, and a concluding paragraph for each answer
OO Uses correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure
OO Provides clear organization by using words and phrases like first, however, on the other hand, and so on, consequently, since, next, and when
OO Makes sure the answers contain no typographical errors
FORMAT
The answers should be 250 words each, double-spaced, typed in Times New Roman or Arial—font size 12, and contain Internet and library-research sources. For Helpance with library resources from the Penn Foster Virtual Library, please check the Criminal Justice page: http://pflibrary.pennfoster.edu/c.php?g=592726
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Criminal Justice System
In week 4, you learned about the importance of theory, the various theoretical perspectives and the ways in which theory help guide research in regards to crime and criminal behavior.
To put this assignment into context, I want you to think about how Lombroso thought one could identify a criminal. He said that criminals had similar facial features. If that was the case you would be able to look at someone and know if they were a criminal! Social theories infer that perhaps it is the social structures around us that encourage criminality. Look around your city- what structures do you think may match up to something you have learned about this week in terms of theory? These are just two small examples to put this assignment into context for you. The idea is to learn about the theories, then critically think about how can one “show” the theory without providing written explanation for their chosen image.
Directions: With the readings week 4 in mind, please do the following:
1. Choose a theoretical perspective (I.e., biological, psychological sociological)
2. Look through media images (this can be cartoons, magazines, newspapers, internet stories, etc…) and select 10 images that you think depict your chosen theory without written explanation.
3. Provide a one paragraph statement of your theory, what kinds of behavior it explains and how it is depicted through images. Be sure to use resources to support your answer.
4. You will copy and paste your images into a word document, along with your paragraph. You do not need to cite where you got your images, but you do need to cite any information you have in number 3.
