probation/parole

For your final
project, you will develop a basic departmental policy recommendation to address
a public need. You will analyze historical data and relevant state or federal
policies, apply relevant criminological theories, and evaluate the potential
impact of the departmental policy on the general public.

Public policy can be defined as the decisions, actions,
laws, and positions of both the state and federal government. A public policy
issue is at the center of public policy, and the state and federal government
react to the issue and make decisions such as creating laws and regulations to
help address the public policy issue.Public policies also provide guidance and
direction to public safety organizations and are the principles that guide the
actions of the personnel. The term public policy is not normally used to denote
what is actually done. Departmental policies are the procedures or protocols
that are created to address this public policy issue, andthese departmental
policies are what will be scrutinized in a highly publicized incident.
Therefore, it is vital that departmental policies are developed and updated to
be consistent with public policy, to address issues within public policy, and
tobest serve the interests of the department and the community. To do
soeffectively, criminological theories are applied to address specific motives
and underlying factors influencing the issue at hand. Thesetheories assist in
developing departmental policies that can stand the test of time, not conflict
withpublic policy,and remain flexible enough to adapt to societal changes.

This assessment addresses the following course outcomes:

 Analyze criminological theories for their influence on the
development of departmental and public policies

 Assess the extent to which public policies address the
needs of the public and criminal justice system by applying criminological
theories

 Evaluate the potential impact of policy recommendations on
communities and the criminal justice system for informing appropriate policy
development and implementation

 Analyze trends impacting the evolution of public policies
for drawing informed conclusions on future policy development

 Propose policy recommendations for improving the delivery
of criminal justice services

Prompt

For this project, you will play the part of an individual
recently promoted in a criminal justice organization. Your new supervisor
recognizes that you are an up-and-coming asset for the departmentand
acknowledges that your advanced degree gives you an edge over some of the other
employees in a project that needs to be completed as soon as possible. Your
supervisor tells you that after some highly publicized news events, many
departmental policies have been found to be outdated and insufficient in
unspecified areas in relation to issues within public policy. The departmental
policies need to be revised to include justification for the policies, as well
as relevant theory to support the operations. Your supervisor has provided a
list of public policy issues, and you will select one public policy issue as
well as a related departmental policy that attempts to address the issue. You
will be tasked with analyzing the public policy issue and developing

recommendations to improve the corresponding departmental
policy to better address the specific issue. To develop an informed
departmental policy recommendation, you will also analyze relevant
criminological theories and relevant public policies.

Specifically, the following critical elementsmust be
addressed:

I. Introduction: Describe your selected public policy
issue, corresponding departmental policy, and explain the connection between
the public policy issue and specific departmental policy.

II. Historical Analysis: To inform your
recommendations for the departmental public policy, you will analyze the
history of the selected public policy issue, identifying key influential
trends, and predict the potential future direction of the state or federal
policies in supportingthis issue. Specifically:

a) Identify key trends, both modernand historical,
that have shaped the evolution of the state or federal public policies
surrounding your selected public policy issue, justifying your identifications.
How have the policies around this issue evolved, and what trends have
influenced this evolution?

b) Identify court cases that have shaped the
evolution of the public policies related to your chosen public policy issue,
justifying your identifications.

c) How have the previously identified historical events
impacted thepublic’s perceptionof the relevant state or federal public
policies? Provide specific examples. How has public perception evolved in
relation to these specified events?

d) Predict the potential future directionof the state
or federal public policies based on the previously identified historical and
modern trends. How might the state or federal public policy continue to evolve?

III. Criminological Theory:Now that you have analyzed
the related state or federal public policies, you will analyze relevant
criminological theory.

a) Selecta criminologicaltheorythat best
explains the development of the public policies related to the issue,
justifying your selection. Consider how the theory explains the previously
identified influence of the trends or court cases on the development of the
policies.

b) Draw connections between the selected criminological theory
andthe departmentalpolicy. Where are there specific connections
between the theory and the departmental policy?

c) Draw connectionsbetween the selected
criminological theory and the related stateor federal public policies.
Where are there specific connections between the theory and the selected state
or federal policies?

IV. Needs: Now that you have analyzed the relevant
state or federal policies and selected a related criminological theory, you
will focus your analysis on your selected departmental policy. In relation to
the departmental policy, you will identify the needs of the public and the
relevant branch of the criminal justice system, and assess the extent to which
the policy currently addresses these needs. Specifically:

a) Identifyspecific needsof the public and the
relevant branch of the criminal justice system at the center of the
departmental policy, justifying your identifications.

b) To what extent does the departmental policy addressthesespecific
needs?

V. Policy Recommendations: In this section, you will
provide specific recommendations to the existing departmental public policy to
improve the delivery of criminal justice services, justifying your
recommendations, and examining the impact of the recommendations on the public
and specific branch of the criminal justice system. Be sure to:

a) Outline the specific aspects of the departmental policy
you are targeting for your recommendations, justifying your
selections. What specific aspects of the departmental policy need improving and
why?

b) What specific recommendations do you have to
improve the existing departmental policy?

c) Justify how the recommendations will improve the delivery
of criminal justice services. Provide specific examples.

d) How does criminological theory support your
recommendations? How do the recommendations support the public’s needs?
Consider how theory justifies the appropriateness of the recommendations
for the departmental policy.

e) What are the potential impactsof the departmental
policy recommendations on the public and the relevant branch of the criminal
justice system? Provide specific examples. If the potential impacts are
negative, how might you alter your recommendations?

f) How does your assessment of the potential impacts informyour
departmental policy implementation? For example, how can you capitalize
on positive reactions in the implementation of the departmental policy? How
might you create buy-in where there is possible conflict?