Week 9 Discussion

Different Types of Criminal Justice Reports

Writing criminal justice reports is all about precision. Clear and
unambiguous explanation is needed. As a criminal justice professional,
the ramifications of your report-writing can be significant. Creating
an accurate narrative that captures circumstances and events that occur
is critical—but not easy. Therefore, learning the components of an
effective criminal justice report is important. Within the field of
criminal justice there are a wide variety of required reports. The
information included in a police report might differ from what is
needed in a probation report. Even within an agency, reports can vary
depending on why they are being completed. Familiarizing yourself with
the different types of reports used in the field of criminal justice
can be quite useful when it is time to write a report.

For this Discussion, examine the types of reports that are used in
the criminal justice system. Identify the key elements of each type of
report. Consider how the reports might be applicable to your role or a
role in the field of criminal justice in which you may be interested in
working.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 a brief description of the two types
of reports you selected. Then describe key components of each report.
Finally, explain how the reports might be applicable to your role or a
role in the field of criminal justice in which you may be interested in
working.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Week 9 Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to
scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning
Resources.

Required Resources

Readings

• Johnson, W. A., Rettig, R. P., Scott, G. M., & Garrison, S. M. (2015). The criminal justice student writer’s manual (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
  • Chapter 11, ”Writing a Police Report”
  • Chapter 12, “Writing Probation and Parole Reports”

Please proceed to the Discussion.

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