Contemporary Issues and Futures in Criminal Justice CJA/456

Reforming and improving the criminal justice system to address issues in policing and improve community relationships is an important current area of focus. While many police departments, correctional facilities, and court systems have processes where they routinely enact changes to their policies and procedures, future reforms are inevitable and can begin at the individual level.

Criminal justice professionals must always demonstrate professionalism, including when facing peers, senior officials, and the public to advocate for changes in the system. The mayor of a city in your area wants to make changes to the criminal justice system in response to an issue that has been worsening. Due to that, you and other representatives from various agencies and communities have been invited to speak at an upcoming city council meeting to propose and advocate for reforms that would be most beneficial to the city to improve this issue.

Preparation

Determine 1 issue within the criminal justice system in your geographic area that could benefit from reform. Select an issue supported by recent data trends. Refer to the following resources to select your issue:

• Review the 6 pillars of recommendations on positive justice reforms from the Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing from the Office of Community Oriented Policies Services (COPS).
• Research trends using the FBI’s Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer website or the All Data Analysis Tools page on the U.S. Department of Justice BJS website.

Research reforms to the criminal justice system in your area that have been proposed or implemented for positive changes related to the issue you selected.

Select 1 positive reform to use as an example for this assessment.

Investigate the following roles in the successes of the reform movement you selected: legislative efforts, police unions, agency policy, social media, and community and nonprofit partnerships.

Assessment Deliverables

This summative assessment has 2 deliverables:

• Part 1: 10- to 12-slide professionalism presentation
• Part 2: 525- to 700-word executive summary of the presentation

Refer to the instructions in Parts 1 and 2 to complete both deliverables.

Part 1: Professionalism Presentation

Create a 10- to 12-slide presentation that persuades the city council committee to vote to enact your proposal.

Include the following information supported by evidence from your research:

Criminal Justice Trends and Reform

• Issue and Proposed Reform for Positive Change: Describe a trending issue within the criminal justice system in your local area that would benefit from a change according to recent data. Identify a reform to the criminal justice system that could be made that you think will have a positive future impact on this issue. Explain your reasons for predicting that the reform will be successful.

Efforts Toward Reform

• Past Reform Efforts: Evaluate the effects of any efforts that have already been made toward this reform. If a police union was involved in the reform, describe their involvement.
• Potential Future Effects of Proposed Legislation: Evaluate the potential effect of proposed legislation on future reforms and explain which legislative effort will have the greatest impact on policing, if passed. Support your claims with examples from your research.

Reform Implementation

• Possibilities for Implementation of Reform: Describe the ways that the reform you are proposing could be implemented in your area.
• Legislation/Policy Required for Implementation: Explain how legislation at the state or federal level or in departmental policy changes could be used to implement the reform.

Pros and Cons of Implementation of Reform

• Benefits and Pitfalls of Implementing Reform: Advocate for implementation of your chosen reform by summarizing its benefits and potential pitfalls.
• Recommended Strategy for Implementation: Explain the manner in which you believe the reform can best be implemented. Justify your proposal with examples from your research.

Citations and References Formatting Requirements

Cite at least 2 scholarly sources to support your presentation. Include citations either within the slide’s content or in the speaker notes on the slide where they are mentioned.

Format citations and references for any sources and images according to APA guidelines. Use the references slide to list your references.

Presentation Formatting Requirements

Download and review the Presentation Template Example. This example has been customized to reflect your summative assessment presentation components, and it will help you get a better idea of how to organize your presentation so you can focus on the slide content and on demonstrating professionalism while you present. Review the following formatting notes and requirements:

• Template usage: Inputting your content into this presentation template is optional; you can use presentation software and design layouts of your choice to customize your presentation’s appearance (i.e., color, images, and font). However, ensure you have faculty member approval in advance to use other software.
• Slide titles: Whether you use the presentation template example or another template of your choice, include the following slides, their titles as presented here that correlate to the assessment instructions, the order they’re presented in here, and topics in your presentation:
• Title
• Introduction: Introduce your topic presentation.
• Issue and Proposed Reform for Positive Change
• Past Reform Efforts
• Potential Future Effects of Proposed Legislation
• Possibilities for Implementation of Reform
• Legislation/Policy Required for Implementation
• Benefits and Pitfalls of Implementing Reform
• Recommended Strategy for Implementation
• Conclusion: Conclude the presentation with a final statement.
• References
• Presentation recording link (if recording using video software)

Recording Formatting Requirements

Record yourself delivering the presentation either by:

• Recording narrations within the presentation slides without appearing on screen: If you record narrations for each slide within the presentation software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, you do not need to record a video.
• Recording a video or screencast of yourself delivering the presentation: If you record a video of yourself delivering the presentation, either by appearing on screen or by recording a voiceover, paste the link to your completed video on the presentation recording link slide at the end of your presentation.

For either format, ensure that slides are visible and your voice is heard clearly. Contact your faculty member for alternate deliverable formats if you need accommodations.

Part 2: Executive Summary

Write a 525- to 700-word executive summary of the presentation for city leaders to reference after the meeting. Create this summary in a separate document from your presentation.

Cite at least 2 scholarly sources to support your summary. These can be the same sources that you cited and referenced in your Part 1: Professionalism Presentation.

Format citations and references according to APA guidelines.

Submit your presentation and executive summary for your assessment.

Assessment Support

• Review the rubric for guidance on deliverable expectations.
• Access the resources on the Video Presentation Assignments page to learn how to create a presentation and record a video of yourself delivering it.
• Refer to the Summary example in the Center for Writing Excellence “Templates & Samples” section. Use the guidelines in the example to organize the information in your executive summary.
• Refer to The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Implementation Guide: Moving from Recommendations to Action from COPS for examples of professional recommendations on reforms.
• Read the report on Law Enforcement and Technology: Using Social Media from the Congressional Research Service on using social media in law enforcement.
• Review the following resources for writing guidelines and APA information:
• Center for Writing Excellence
• Reference and Citation Generator
• Grammar Assistance