Descriptive research (usually quantitative) focuses on describing certain characteristics of the target population. It does not explain the origins of these characteristics, or any other causational links (Cozby & Bates, 2015). Descriptive studies are often useful for finding out what currently exists, what the situation is, or for categorizing something.
Descriptive research can be applied to a research project to comprehend the current situation. For instance, a descriptive approach needs to be taken if one wishes to find out how many policemen there are is a specific county and what their rank division is (i.e., what percentage of recruits, deputy sheriffs, master deputies, corporals, etc., there are).
Correlational
Similarly to descriptive research, correlational studies (quantitative) investigate certain characteristics of the target population; however, they also examine the correlations between these characteristics. Correlational research does not permit making inference about causal relationships (Cozby & Bates, 2015).
Such studies can be applied to a project by helping explore the association between measured phenomena. For example, the correlation between the number of imprisoned individuals and the number of crimes in different states can be investigated. This will allow for finding out, e.g., with which change in the number of crimes a 1-unit change in the number of prisoners is associated. However, this will not permit concluding that, e.g., more prisoners cause more crime, or that more crime always causes an increase in the number of prisoners.
(Quasi-)Experimental
(Quasi-)experimental studies are quantitative studies in which the causal relationship between several variables is investigated. For this purpose, the independent variable(s) are manipulated, and the resulting change in the dependent variables is measured, while all the other important conditions are held constant.
(Quasi-)experimental studies feature control groups. In experimental studies, the assignment of participants to control and experimental groups is random. In quasi-experimental studies, however, the assignment to groups is not random; also, some external conditions might not be well-controlled (Cozby & Bates, 2015). It is noteworthy that (quasi-)experiments are often difficult to implement due to the need to satisfy numerous requirements (isolated environment, appropriate participants, ethical reasons, etc.).
(Quasi-)experimental studies can be used in a project to investigate causation between phenomena. For instance, the impact of new methods of crime prevention on crime rates can be checked via an experimental study. The baseline levels of crime should be measured; then, in some randomly selected areas (experimental group), new methods should be implemented, whereas, in the other areas (control group), the old methods should still be used. All the areas should be homogenous for potential confounders. Crime rates should be measured in both types of areas and compared. This will allow for assessing the impact of new crime prevention methods on crime rates.
Phenomenological
Phenomenological studies (qualitative) investigate people’s perceptions and experiences of particular situations or phenomena. For this purpose, in-depth interviews (often semi-structured) are performed with several participants (e.g., 10-20), and recorded. Then, the gathered data is processed, and conclusions are drawn; one method to do so is coding, which permits finding common themes and issues in the data (Creswell & Poth, 2013).
Phenomenological research can be useful in projects where it is needed to comprehend the opinions and experiences of people. For instance, it is possible to conduct phenomenological research with criminals or delinquents of a certain category to understand their driving motives, thus allowing for solving similar crimes in the future, or for preventing such crime by eliminating the causes of criminal intentions.
Case Study
Case studies are qualitative studies examining a very small sample of participants (e.g., 1-3 participants) in an in-depth manner. This permits conducting a detailed investigation of the phenomenon in question, its relationships to other phenomena, etc. (Creswell & Poth, 2013).
Case studies may be used in various projects – for instance, to examine the potential impact of some innovation on a single subject before investigating it on a larger sample (a pilot study). For example, the impact of a behavioral intervention on 1-3 criminals with mental disabilities may be examined via a case study before implementing that intervention or testing it on a larger scale (Pritchard et al., 2016).
Applying Research Methods to a Hypothesis
The hypothesis will be as follows: Implementing stricter weapon regulations allows for reducing homicide and suicide rates.
Correlational Study
To conduct a correlational study to check the proposed hypothesis, it is possible to gather data on homicide and suicide rates in different areas with varying degrees of the strictness of weapon regulations. It will be needed to classify weapon regulations using a categorical scale (e.g., strict, moderate, and non-strict). Then, it will be possible to assess the association between different levels of strictness and homicide and suicide rates over a certain period, as well as the association between different levels of strictness and the number of suicides over that period. This will allow for supporting or rejecting the provided hypothesis (although it will be impossible to infer causal relationships).
Quasi-Experimental Study
To test the proposed hypothesis, it will be required to measure the baseline level of suicide and homicide, e.g., over 2 years in several counties in a state where weapon regulations are non-strict. After that, it will be needed to make weapon regulations stricter, but only in some of these counties. Then, it will be required to measure the new levels of homicide and suicide in each of the two types of counties and compare them (while taking into account the baseline levels of suicide and homicide). This will allow for supporting or rejecting the hypothesis. It should be noted, however, that such a study will be very difficult due to practical reasons.
References
Cozby, P. C., & Bates, S. C. (2015). Methods in behavioral research (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Pritchard, D., Graham, N., Penney, H., Owen, G., Peters, S., & Mace, F. C. (2016). Multi-component behavioural intervention reduces harmful sexual behaviour in a 17-year-old male with autism spectrum disorder: A case study. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 22(3), 368-378.
Each specialist working in the field of justice (as well as each student who is planning to build his/her career in this sphere) must follow ethical standards of moral conduct that provide guidance in complex or controversial situations, especially those involving ethical dilemmas. It is also crucial to formulate one’s individual understanding of ethics since it is not a rare case for criminal justice professionals to deal with problems in which universal rules are inapplicable, and a personalized approach is required.
Thus, the paper at hand is going to discuss my personal philosophy of balancing issues. It will cover such topics as individual rights and the public’s protection, reward and punishment, and immoral means to accomplish desirable results. The discussion of the Ethics of Care and Peacemaking Criminology will also be included.
Individual Rights and the Public’s Protection
I believe that the ability to balance rights of separate individuals with the protection of the general public is one of the key issues involved in the daily practice of any criminal justice specialist as it often happens that the rights and freedoms of the two parties contradict one another (Kleinfeld, 2017). Unfortunately, there is no universal philosophy that would allow for solving this problem. That is why it seems reasonable to unite several approaches. Thus, my personal philosophy will combine deontology and utilitarianism since I am convinced that the existence of the society as a unity is the basis for the common good. That is why its laws must be prioritized over individual rights.
If the goal is to promote common well-being, protect community members, or restore social order, it is possible for a criminal justice professional to use his/her power to limit individual freedoms. However, if it is not clear from the case, whether the decision to do so will indeed lead to considerable improvements in the quality of life of the society as a whole, I prefer using the utilitarian approach.
This implies that the pros and cons of each option must be weighed to assess what positive and negative consequences my decision may trigger. For instance, if it is clear that the actions of a particular individual may potentially lead to public unrest and make it easier for terrorists to use the situation for their benefit, I will be forced to request this person to quit his/her activities for the good of the public. Yet, if these assumptions are not evidenced, I cannot limit the freedoms of the individual.
Reward and Punishment
There are two major views on reward in criminal justice. Utilitarian philosophy states that rewards must be based on the results, while the justice approach requires rewarding efforts, too. As far as punishment is concerned, there are utilitarian (serving as a deterrent for potential criminals), retributive (given for the crime committed), and restitution (aimed to provide compensation to victims) types of it (Kleinfeld, 2017).
Same as in the previous section, I am convinced that it is not sufficient to use only one approach for all, as there are numerous factors that may affect the decision in each individual case. For example, sometimes, it is reasonable to award results as the best success indicators; however, it may also happen that a person fails to achieve them due to some emergency situations, which makes it logical to award the effort. The same rule works with punishment. Although I tend to prioritize the utilitarian approach, in some cases (e.g., child molestation and murder), it is more important to provide compensation to the victim’s relatives.
Immoral Means to Accomplish Desirable Ends
This is the issue is frequently referred to as the so-called Dirty Harry problem and arises when it becomes impossible for a justice professional to resolve the problem using exclusively moral means. For instance, in order to stop offenders, it may be required to resort to lying or bribing (Fekjær, Petersson, & Thomassen, 2014). Although it can be said that the goal justifies the means, such methods still place professionals on equal footing with criminals, which is a doubtful achievement.
Still, I believe that there are some circumstances in which this course of action is admissible. For example, when failing to achieve good ends may bring about deplorable consequences. In this case, it would be immoral to miss the opportunity to save people’s lives. Where there is no other option that would allow achieving the same results, it is the duty of a justice professional to make use of every opportunity.
Thus, I will again combine utilitarian and deontological principles if I encounter this problem in my career. Being generally against such means, I will allow exceptions when human lives are at stake (e.g., using forbidden methods of interrogation to find out where hostages are kept).
Ethics in Decision Making
The Ethics of Care and Peacemaking Criminology provides key theories of normative ethics (deontology, virtue, justice, and utilitarian ethics), which serves as a background for the decision making process in criminal justice.
In order to increase the effectiveness of decision making, it is recommended to combine principles suggested by each framework. For instance, such deontological milestones as protection of common welfare and the primacy of law can be applied together with utilitarian principles of reward and punishment and the use of immoral means in some situations (Bradford, 2014).
References
Bradford, B. (2014). Policing and social identity: Procedural justice, inclusion, and cooperation between police and the public. Policing and Society, 24(1), 22-43.
Fekjær, S. B., Petersson, O., & Thomassen, G. (2014). From legalist to Dirty Harry: Police recruits’ attitudes towards non-legalistic police practice. European Journal of Criminology, 11(6), 745-759.
Kleinfeld, J. (2017). Three principles of democratic criminal justice. Northwestern University Law Review, 111(6), 1455-1490.
Juvenile and criminal justice issues concerning legislators include crime control, prison overcrowding, and inadequate prison funding. Opposing personal views of federal and state legislators may result in different legislative outcomes, so their decisions should be appropriate and supported by relevant evidence. The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency that presented legislators with the choice to either prioritize the problems and risks associated with the virus or strengthen current punishment and rehabilitation policies. The legislator’s personal views and biases may impact the ability to properly assess the risks (Bar-Siman-Tov, 2020). Thus, the main challenge for lawmakers is the dilemma between public health stability and effective crime control during the COVID-19 crisis.
On the one hand, if the legislator is mainly concerned with overcrowding and funding issues, he/she may focus on the restriction of person-to-person interactions in treatment and correctional facilities. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) (2020), the legislator can also expand citation in lieu of arrest and safe release policies for low-level/non-violent crimes and elderly or clinically vulnerable individuals. The measures may help to reduce overcrowding in prisons, prevent the spread of the disease, and decrease federal and state expenses on COVID-19 preventive measures and protective equipment in correctional facilities.
On the other hand, the lawmaker, whose personal views are based on strict crime control, may propose legislation requiring mandatory testing, medical assessment, vaccination, and safety procedures at correctional facilities. Burki (2020) reports that prisons and detention centers in their current state are not ready for COVID-19, so legislation needs to address high infection rates in penal institutions or youth detention centers. Moreover, the NCSL (2020) states that social distancing is difficult due to limited space, while hand sanitizers, soap, and masks are in scarce supply. Therefore, state legislative outcomes may be directed towards temporary transportation bans and suspension of prison visits, and federal legislators can develop national COVID-19 relief and aid policies for juvenile and correctional facilities.
In criminal justice, the instrumental theory is based on the idea that criminal justice and criminology is one of the main tools which help to control the poor. If this is true, socio-technical transformation cannot be conceived in terms of instrumental categories because the very act of using criminal justice reproduces what is supposed to be transformed. Instrumentalist theory shares the common-sense assumption that the subject of action can be defined independently of its means. Following Siegel (2007), “offenses designed to improve the financial or social position of the criminal” (p. 54). In contrast, the instrumental role of the criminal justice system is to control and prevent crimes. In this case, “the state is a tool of capitalists” (p. 58). Siegel underlines that most Americans believe that criminals commit their predatory and violent acts for what they get out of them, the advantages they receive. Often those benefits are obvious, as in the case of most property crimes. A person who breaks into a house and steals a television set does so because he wants either the television or the money that can be obtained from selling it. Even in the case of violent personal crimes, the criminal can gain something, whether it is perverse pleasure from inflicting pain, the satisfaction of having control over another human being, or the resolution of a problem by eliminating a person causing that vexation.
Hale et al (2005) share the same opinion stating that “Much of preoccupation reflects a particular, instrumental way of viewing these figures; that is, as an index of a real phenomenon (crime) calling for specific control measures” (p. 52). With practically every crime committed, the offender benefits in some way, typically at the expense of the victim. In its turn, the instrumental task of the criminal justice system is to control the population and prevent crimes. The main difference between Siegel and Hale et al is that Siegel concentrates on the poor and low social classes while Hale et al involves all classes and social strata in its definition. Hale et al underline that factors related to the individual’s socialization and environmental circumstances are also thought to contribute to the decision. But in each case the offender is perceived as having some choice; alternatives may be limited, and in some cases, a decision to commit a crime may be the easier decision to make, but almost never are life’s decisions cast for an individual so that no choice can be exercised. Similar to Siegel and Hale et al, Magnire et al (2007) state that the role of criminal justice is merely instrumental based on prevention and control functions. Thus, Maguire et al broaden this definition and apply instrumental theory to juvenile offenders. Similar to other authors, Maguire et al state that “offenses (it is alleged’) are strictly instrumental and offenders have much to lose from prosecution; prison” (488). Such thinking is consistent with criminological theory in general. Criminal justice is an achievement-oriented field that expects its citizens to act purposefully and productively. To do otherwise is considered impulsive, irresponsible, and sometimes evidence that the person is no longer in control.
Three books share the same opinion that crime control should be implemented in a manner consistent with beliefs about criminality. People assume that if the costs are sufficient, both in terms of likelihood and severity, then potential offenders will refrain from illegal behavior. This philosophy of crime control incorporates a relatively simple idea of cost-benefit. Offenders are assumed to be attracted to criminality by the benefits they may receive and are deterred from such activity by threats of criminal sanctions which pose potential costs that outweigh any benefits to be derived. If the gains fall short of the potential losses, it is assumed that people will refrain from the activity. Yet if the gains from crime exceed any potential losses, then crime makes sense. Rational choice is thus an important factor in criminality as well as in its control.
References
Hale, Ch. Hayward, K., Wahidin, A., Wincup, E. (2005). Criminology. Oxford University Press.
Magnire, M., Morgan, R., Reiner, R. (2007). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford University Press; 4Rev Ed edition.
Siegel, L. J. (2007). Criminology: The Core. Wadsworth Publishing; 3 edition.
In the US, police officers regard crime investigation procedures as a paramount facet of criminal justice. These processes entail examination and evaluation of crime scenes with the aim of recovering crime evidence and documenting crime details (Albanese, 1999). For effective crime investigations, police officers are required to assess, observe, document, search, collect, and analyze crime scene evidence. This paper focuses on police experiences as they perform their policing duties.
Simple Assault
Simple assault is defined as a willful cause of bodily harm to an individual. In the US, procedures used in criminal investigations related to assaults are similar to those used in homicide investigations. Simple assault differs from aggravated assault in that it does not involve the use of weapons (Fisher, 2000). Upon arrival at the crime scene, police officers should analyze the scene critically. Through this, they should collect samples of fingerprints and blood samples. After this, they are supposed to interview the witnesses. During this procedure, the victim’s information is paramount.
The above procedures have been stated in accordance with the procedures documented in the textbooks and classroom environments. However, in contemporary society, some of these procedures do not hold. For instance, more often cases of physical assault are reported after the suspects or other individuals have distorted the crime scene evidence. Because of this, the investigators will be forced to rely on other evidence (Fisher, 2000). Any individual who willfully causes threat or bodily harm to another individual is termed to have violated the assault law. To understand the major causes of this crime and how to deter it, law enforcers should employ psychological theories in coming up with appropriate policies.
Robbery
Robbery crime refers to the unlawful act of taking someone’s property. More often, investigators arrive at the scene of the robbery after the robbers have fled. This implies that soon after arriving at the robbery scene police officers are required to attend to emergencies (Fisher, 2000). Thereafter, they are supposed to broadcast the robbers’ information to their fellow officers at various locations to begin the follow-up searches. After this, follow-up vehicles are supposed to be dispatched. Similarly, police officers and forensic experts should detail the evidence left behind by the robbers by taking pictures of the crime scenes and searching for fingerprints.
During the robbery investigations, investigators may find that some of the mentioned procedures do not hold in any of the investigations. According to the existing literature, police officers are expected to follow standardized procedures during their investigations. However, during their investigations, investigators might be prompted to interview the eyewitnesses before first-hand information is lost. Just like other common crimes, a better comprehension of robbery crimes can be achieved through the help of psychological theories (Albanese, 1999).
Burglary
Individuals who forcefully enter someone’s property are termed to have violated the burglary laws. Once the police officers arrive at the crime scene, their primary objective is to identify and preserve possible sites of forensic evidence. Through this, the police officers are expected to determine the points of entry and methods of entry into the premises (Albanese, 1999). Afterward, the experts are expected to collect tool marks left behind by the burglar. During this process, the tool marks should be collected with caution to ensure that the impressions of the crime scenes are not destroyed. Similarly, the cast impressions and photographs of the crime scene should be taken. After this process, investigators should interview the witnesses.
By employing the use of rational choice theories and routine activity theories, the investigators can evaluate who conducted the crimes, where the crimes were conducted, and how burglary crimes were carried out. Similarly, societies can employ these theories in exploring means of deterring burglary crimes. Through this, they can comprehend what encourages burglars to break into their properties (Albanese, 1999). During the criminal investigations, investigators might realize that the public members have interfered with the tools or marks left behind by the suspects before their arrival. In such extreme situations, the procedure is dropped in favor of other procedures to enhance the case’s admissibility in the court of law.
Domestic assault dispute
Domestic assault dispute crimes are assault crimes that involve domestic relationships. When investigating such crimes, police officers should conduct a search in the crime scene focusing on finding weapons, and blood samples if bodily harm occurs. Similarly, the police officers are required to evaluate the crime scene based on the evidence received from the witnesses, victims, and the offenders. After this, the police officers should do a walk-through of the scene with the victims (Albanese, 1999). Through this, the victim should be given a chance to narrate the events prior to the crime, during the crime, and after the crime. Similarly, the suspect should be interviewed. When a domestic assault crime involves bodily injuries photographs of the victim’s injuries should be taken. During the trials, the prosecutor should employ the social learning theories of domestic assault in explaining their investigations.
During the course of their investigations, investigators might find that some of the laid down procedures do not hold in their investigation process. For instance, it is required that investigators assess domestic assault cases based on the evidence received from the witnesses. More often, an investigator might realize that the witnesses gave vague evidence that will fail to pass the admissibility test during the court sessions. To strengthen his or her case, an investigator might be forced to assess the crime scene based on other available facts rather than from the witnesses’ perspectives (Albanese, 1999).
Vandalism
In the US, vandalism law is broken when an individual willfully damages another person’s property. Whenever vandalism crimes occur, members of the public are urged to report the crimes to the police departments as soon as possible. This will ensure that crime investigation is initiated before the public members disturb the crime scenes. Once the police department is informed of a vandalism case, they are required to rush to the crime scene (Fisher, 2000). At the crime scene, the police officers should assess the extent of vandalism noting pieces of evidence left behind by the suspect. Through this, the officers should look for fingerprints and footprints in the vandalized items. They should then take photographs of the crime scene. After this, the officers should interview the witnesses. Some experts argue that the adoption of the aesthetic theory of vandalism can enable investigators to improve the admissibility of their investigations. The theory will enable investigators to come up with appropriate accusations. While carrying out their investigations, investigators might realize that some procedures might jeopardize follow-up investigations in the future by disturbing the crime scene.
Disorderly Conduct
Within the US jurisdiction, disorderly conduct refers to all acts that compromise public peace. In this regard, disorderly conduct law decriminalizes all acts such as drinking in public and loitering in some areas due. In the US, police officers are mandated to arrest any individual found engaging in acts that compromise public peace (Fisher, 2000). After the arrest, police officers are supposed to interrogate the suspect. Thereafter, investigators should interview the witnesses.
To understand the basis of these crimes, police enforcers should employ the use sociological crime theories. Through this, they can understand the causes and the ways of deterring the crimes in society (Harris & Kiel, 1999).
Possession of a deadly weapon
In the US, once an individual is suspected to be in possession of a deadly weapon, the suspect should be apprehended (Fisher, 2000). After the arrest, the police should carry out an investigation to ascertain the claims. Through this procedure, the suspect should be searched for possession of the alleged weapons. Similarly, the police are allowed to extend their search into the suspect’s premises. With the help of psychological and sociological crime theories, the police should question the suspect thoroughly for further evidence.
Like other criminal investigations, investigators might collect vague evidence from interviewing the suspect and the witnesses compromising on the admissibility of their investigation (Harris & Kiel, 1999).
Loitering
Under US laws, individuals found to have violated loitering laws are supposed to be apprehended. After the arrest, investigators should question the suspect (Albanese, 1999). Similarly, the investigators should record the place where the suspect was apprehended. This information would be useful in the court of law in proving that indeed the suspect had committed a crime.
In real-world experiences, investigators have noted that there are contentious issues when proving whether the suspect committed a loitering crime. Critics argue that the definition of loitering is ambiguous (Albanese, 1999). To understand the nature of loitering crimes, law enforcers should employ the use of sociological and psychological crime theories.
Motor Vehicle Theft
In the US, most motor vehicle theft cases are reported in large numbers unlike other crimes owing to the statutory requirements that mandate police reports when processing insurance policies (Albanese, 1999). Once a car theft case has been reported, police officers should commence their investigations by recording the make, model, license number of the stolen vehicle. Similarly, the police officers should record the names of the operators of the vehicle, the name of the places the vehicle was stolen and recovered, and how the thief broke into the vehicle. Afterward, the officers are expected to interview the witnesses.
The above procedure is based on the existing literature. However, in real-world experiences, the above procedures might be carried out randomly so long as substantial evidence is gathered (Albanese, 1999). A motor vehicle theft suspect is termed to have violated the robbery law.
Larceny
According to US laws, larceny crime occurs when an individual deprives another person’s property. In the US, larceny is one of the eight index crimes. The steps used in investigating the crime and theories used in analyzing the crimes are similar to those used in robbery crimes. As such, it is vital that the police officers assess and document the crime scene experiences with the help of crime scene processing techniques (Fisher, 2000).
References
Albanese, J. S. (1999). Criminal justice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Fisher, B. A. (2000). Techniques of crime scene investigation (6th ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Harris, B., Kohlmeier, K., & Kiel, R. D. (1999). Crime scene investigation. Englewood, Colo.: Teacher Ideas Press.
The field in which I work is criminal law. It attracts me by its intricacies and complexities, which make it more interesting to solve criminal cases. Moreover, that there are many controversies and studies on the subject of criminal law, which develops every day. In addition, personal preferences are on the side of more complex types of research, so I prefer to perform tasks that require more activity and involvement in the process (Olson, 2016 C.E.). The topic of my study is criminal justice in relation to the number of criminals in the United States. The main goal of my work is to build evidence that the number of criminals is not proportional to the severity of the crime and that despite a large number of crimes, not all of them can be treated as criminal.
The problem with this study is that many people believe that the most dangerous regions or countries are those in which crimes occur more often than in other places. However, this type of crimes includes petty theft and other minor misdemeanors. Therefore, in order to form a coherent picture of the danger of a region, it is necessary to consider the seriousness of the crime. It is important to prove that the threat depends not on the number of criminals but on the severity of the crime. Since all such crimes are under the sphere of influence of criminal law, they are interrelated, and the study of one aspect implies the use of the other.
Concerning methodology, quantitative methods of data analysis will primarily be used. The main goal of the research is to establish a pattern between the severity of the crime and the number of offenders in order to determine the most dangerous regions in the United States. Thus, it turns out that it is necessary to establish a numerical value rather than using qualitative survey data. Also, despite the large number of studies related to this topic, their quality needs to improve with each such work. This is related primarily to people’s perceptions of the criminal world and its construction, which cannot be considered sufficient for a total theoretical basis of the problem considered in this work.
Adding to the above-mentioned factors, it is worth noting that despite the number of works that exist on the topic of crime severity, most of them use qualitative analysis and data collection. Therefore, it is vital to have more alternative ways of obtaining data and, based on them, to formulate a different point of view, which may differ from the generally accepted one (Olson, 201 C.E.). Thus, the study to be worked on refers to the use of other methodologies and, as a result, may have different conclusions, which will affect the field of investigation and stereotyping in general. It is essential to understand that finding information in this regard can be difficult because this type of research is radically different from what is generally accepted. It can also be challenging to find the correct data for the report since it is impossible to visit all of the places that the study will be about. However, using the figures provided in the reports, this difficulty can be neutralized and used in the course of my work and for future research in general.
Reference
Olson, L. M. (2016 C.E.). Criminal justice students and sexual prejudice. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 28(3), 428–440.
The negligence commonly seen in the criminal justice system can be divided into three major areas. The first category can be described as violation of legal rights or other legal challenges. Wrongful convictions are a major aspect of negligence by the criminal justice system as many have cases have shown that there was gross violation of procedures by law enforcement or lack of judgement on behalf of the court to consider key evidence (Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, 2011).
Another area of negligence, which is the most common can be characterized as conditions and services available to those imprisoned. Under the Eighth Amendment, prisoners are protected against cruel and unusual punishment, including the conditions in which they are kept. However, a range of cases emerged in recent years of prisoners being held in inhumane conditions such as extreme indoor heat as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit over several days due to lack of air conditioning or provided any relief (MSNBC, 2021). Prisoners must be allowed access to basic facilities and hygiene, with reports suggesting women were denied basic hygiene needs, which can lead to health issues or infection (Perano, 2019). Finally, prisoners are guaranteed access to medical care while imprisoned, if that is not provided, it can be a direct impact on their health and well-being. Multiple instances of inmates being denied healthcare are known, which would be considered negligence (Bright, 2021).
The last category of negligence is the most dangerous, and essentially stems to injury or death caused by the actions or lack thereof by the employees of the criminal justice system. Therefore, injury and wrongful death can come at the hands of the prison staff themselves, or potentially other prisoners but the guards failing to intervene. This can be considered gross negligence and lawsuits filed in court (Livni, 2015).
As seen from an earlier discussion, negligence exists in many forms in the criminal justice system. Criminal negligence can be defined as conducted where a person willfully or incompetently ignores a known or obvious risk to the rights, safety, and life of others, it is a form of recklessness (Brown, 2020). However, elements of the criminal justice system are increasingly difficult to hold accountable because they are governmental entities and typically have immunity, meaning they have to be sued under special-duty doctrine (also known as torts). This paper will discuss the four elements necessary to prove negligence and analyze the nuances of the special-duty doctrine.
In legal terms, negligence is an aspect that must be proved in court before holding another person, company, or entity legally responsible for the harm suffered by the plaintiff or those representing them. In any civil or criminal negligence case, there are four key elements which must be proven against the defendant, and those are duty, breach, causation, and damages. Duty seeks to establish the relationship between the individual experiencing harm and the defendant, it must be demonstrated that there was a legal duty of the defendant to provide something for the plaintiff. For example, a doctor has a legal duty to competently treat their patient and cause no harm, while a prison guard or executives have a legal duty to oversee the safety and proper conditions for the inmates under their watch.
The next element to prove is breach of duty, meaning that it is necessary to prove that the defendant did not fulfill their legally obligated responsibilities or acted unreasonably given the provided context or information. The common test for this is if a reasonably prudent person would act in the same manner by doing (or not doing) what the defendant did knowing that the plaintiff would be injured in some manner. The third step is the plaintiff’s sufferance of an injury, essentially determining the extent of the injury and confirming that the plaintiff has experienced harm. The final step is causation, which is nefariously challenging to establish, but requires determination that the negligence actually caused the injury at hand, typically determined through proximate clause. Therefore, a breach of duty may be identified, but without direct cause of injury, negligence cannot be confirmed. If the injury was created by a random and unpredictable act, the defendant would not be found liable (Legal Information Institute, n.d.).
The special-duty doctrine, also known as torts, is a legal doctrine which indicates that courts can “impose liability against a governmental entity (e.g., a state or municipality) for an individual plaintiff’s injury when the government entity owed a duty of care to that plaintiff” (LexRoll, n.d.). Suing public entities such as a prison is highly challenging due to a principle known as sovereign immunity, indicating that the government cannot be sued without its consent. Even though the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) partially waived this principle, it is up to the federal district courts to determine if tort suits are meaningful. Furthermore, the FTCA does not waive sovereign immunity in regard to law enforcement officers, which includes officers of the Bureau of Prisons. The only exception is if both negligent and intentional conduct can be proven (Volokh, 2014). Negligence would have to be proven on the same four elements discussed above but will likely face much higher scrutiny against public entities than that of civil lawsuits.
References
Brown, H. (2020). What’s the difference between negligence and something criminal? Web.
The most critical thing that has been observed across criminal justice departments globally is the effort to reform criminal justice systems. Reforming criminal justice systems entails making use of the criminal justice systems to transform criminals and make them develop skills and competences that can help them fit and sustain themselves without colliding with people in the society. It can, therefore, be said that the criminal justice system is quite expansive and deals in a number of activities, unlike in the past when the system was only seen as a body concerned with punishment and conviction of criminals. In the contemporary times, departments of criminal justice deal in the administration of change among all sorts of criminals. The number of employees and their skills and competencies are also issues that are being given attention to by a substantial number of governments owing to the expanded role of the criminal justice system. According to Holbrook (1999), criminal justice organizations are charged with the task of providing multiple services to communities in which they are situated. Performance appraisal in criminal justice systems is, therefore, factor that ought to be considered in the administration of criminal justice systems in order to enhance employee motivation in criminal justice departments.
This paper explores the effect of implementing performance appraisals on job satisfaction among employees in criminal justice departments. An exploration of the relevance of implementing performance management programs in organizations that deal in criminal justice is done. The paper brings out the contemporary developments concerning performance management in criminal justice departments. The paper also brings out the nature of efforts that have been put in place in order to enforce the change of management as a way of boosting levels of job satisfaction among the employees who are working in the criminal justice department. Of greater attention in the paper is the exploration of the levels of performance management in criminal justice departments and the impact on the levels of job satisfaction among employees working in these departments.
Overview and Description of Research Problem
Performance appraisal is a crucial tool in increasing the level of job satisfaction among groups of employees in contemporary management. However, the question that ought to be asked is whether performance appraisals have been solidified in all forms of organizations and, if so, what results have been attained? For a long time, criminal justice departments have often come out as organizations that do not embrace performance management. This has been attributed to the substantive levels of inefficiency and ineffectiveness of criminal justice departments in a substantial number of countries across the globe. Criminal justice organizations have a difficult role that requires the administrators of these organizations to foster performance management, something that has been ignored for a long time. Part of the reasons that are given for the lack of efficiency and effectiveness in work delivery in most criminal justice organizations is the low levels of morale among the employees. The low morale emanates from poorly structured or lack of performance appraisals in these organizations. Are there efforts to improve the level of job satisfaction among employees who are working in criminal justice organizations? If these efforts are there, what have they attained so far and what are the factors that bar them from attaining the desired levels of employee satisfaction? These are the most profound questions that are asked by researchers who research on the attributes of performance management in criminal justice organizations. Whether significant changes in the level of job satisfaction among employees in criminal justice organizations can be attained is an issue that ought to be subjected to deeper research. The rationale behind this observation is that criminal justice organizations are confronted with diverse issues of management that make it quite tasking for the administrators to fully enforce performance appraisal programs as part of total quality management. Issues of educational levels, training needs, as well as the scope of professional development, and the levels of benefits among others comes out quite strongly, thereby compounding the effect of performance appraisals. One impediment to the performance of criminal justice organizations is the fact that they operate as government organizations, thus they replicate the poor principles that are embraced in public administration in given countries.
Literature Review
According to Slate, Vogel and Johnson (2002), research shows that a substantial number of organizations have diverted their efforts on embracing performance management. Performance appraisal is a critical part of the programs that are aimed at improving the performance of organizations. Criminal justice organizations that have been characterized with undesirable features of performance have also realized the worth of implementing performance appraisals in order to boost the performance of these organizations, thereby changing the undesirable attributes of management as has been upheld. Most researchers are attempting to explore the mechanisms with which performance appraisals can be structured in order to change the image and perception about the job delivery by the employees of criminal justice organizations (Gül & O’Connell, 2013). The question that guides most researchers is whether managers of criminal justice organizations can surpass the infrastructural problems in these organizations and put in place appraisal programs that have a high payoff in terms of employee delivery and organizational performance (Slate, Vogel & Johnson, 2002).
Therefore, the assessment of performance improvement in criminal justice organizations through the implementation of performance appraisals is an elaborate area of study. It encompasses the need for researchers to explore on the possibilities of exploring the diverse challenges of performance management in these organizations. Among these impeding factors are the issue of the centralization of command and centralization of working structures, the nature of work and high stress levels, the issue of closed communication, and the issue of the level of training and human resource development among others. According to Stojkovic, Kalinich and Klofas (2012), the implementation of the attributes of performance management in criminal justice organizations remains to be difficult and can only be attained out of the incorporating new structures of human resource management upon which performance management programs like performance appraisal can be effectively implemented (Stojkovic, Kalinich & Klofas, 2012).
Performance appraisal programs in criminal justice organizations ought to be molded around issues of training, opening communication and embracing the skills and competences of the employees in the recruitment process. This implies the need for change in the design of human resource development practices, especially in the uniformed service organizations. The change includes factoring aspects of skills and competences of employees to improve the ease of enhancing professionalism in the discharge of organizational tasks by employees.
Significance of Effective Performance Appraisal in Criminal Justice Organizations
There prevails a negative perception across the world about the effectiveness of the criminal justice organizations. Such perceptions are often drawn from the developing countries where criminal justice organizations like the uniformed correctional services and courts are marked with rampant acts of malpractices, such as corruption. These malpractices drive away the respect and confidence of the citizenry who are the main customers of these public organizations. The perceptions exert a profound level of influence on the seemingly efforts to reform criminal justice organizations through the introduction of performance appraisals and other attributes of performance management (Tankebe, 2008).
The prevalence of structures of administration that do not pay much attention to performance is one of the reasons why the administrators of criminal justice organizations have only focused on embracing the routine practices within the organizations. However, the dynamics of management in the contemporary management environment have put a lot of pressure on criminal justice organizations to formulate policies that can see them improve on service delivery. Among the policies that are designed to induce positive change in the management of criminal justice organizations is the introduction of performance management programs to check on the rate of individual employee delivery. Lilley and Hinduja (2007) indicate that performance appraisal is one of the main methods that can be used to raise the rate of job satisfaction among employees in the uniformed services. In their exploration of the differences in the rate of employee satisfaction between the police and other employees who do not utilize community policing strategies, Lilley and Hinduja (2007) unearthed several factors that enhance the rate of police satisfaction due to the deployment of performance appraisal. These factors include the implementation of training programs for the police and the development and deployment of performance appraisal tools. Research suggests that periodical reviews are critical tools for monitoring the performance of police officers and can help in keeping police on track. The mere knowledge of the prevalence of such reviews is an important factor in checking the performance of a given police officer (Porporino, Robinson & Simourd, 1997).
Holbrook (1999) observed that the implementation of performance appraisal programs in criminal justice organizations should be embraced since such programs influence a number of management decisions that increase the rate of performance among the employees in such organizations. However, less attention is given to such programs in criminal justice organizations. In most cases, appraisals are kept by the management and are not effectively communicated to the employees. Research in human resource management has continually reiterated on the relevance of employee-centered appraisal programs. Therefore, implementing the appraisal programs without engaging all the employees in the program amounts to higher rates of unsustainable performance appraisal programs (Bretz, Milkovich & Read, 1992). Managerial differences are inherent in a substantial number of criminal justice organizations (Fried, Tiegs & Bellamy, 1992). Larry and Frank (2004) conducted a research about the appraisal system that is implemented by the Canadian police force in their quest to ascertain the worth of implementing performance appraisal programs in criminal justice organizations. The authors ascertained that performance appraisal programs were filled with an array of deficiencies that make it difficult for the appraisal program to attain its goals. However, the authors made a collective observation that denoted a general increase in the level of efficiency of police officers in Canada.
Job Satisfaction Factors for Criminal Justice Employees
Criminal justice organizations lack the full capacity to enforce performance appraisal programs due to several issues, among them inadequate resources and poor strategies of change. Poor strategies of change are caused by problems of training and adaptability of managerial changes in criminal justice organizations. Employees in the lower rank within the criminal justice organizations often hold a low opinion about the performance appraisals because of the nature of implementing such activities (Larry & Frank 2004).
According to Dial and Johnson (2008), criminal justice employees exhibit high levels of stress. The high levels of stress come from the strains that come with the patterns of work that they are forced to do. Their levels of stress can be minimized through subjecting them to performance management programs. Such programs are founded on the manner in which core employees are prepared to motivate each other (Udechukwu, 2009). Performance appraisals are meant to ensure that patterns of work are favorable to the employees in criminal justice systems so that they do not pass their stress to the people they serve (Slate, Vogel & Johnson, 2002; Yu-Fen, 2009). Stephens and Long (2000) observed that interpersonal communication is a critical factor in enhancing an inclusive environment in the workplace, yet the scope of interpersonal communication in criminal justice organizations is very constricted. This denies these organizations the opportunity to enforce a desirable background on which performance appraisal programs can be enforced (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2005).
Research reveals that most employees in criminal justice organizations are not satisfied with the highly centralized structure of the operation. This prevents criminal justice organizations from embracing modern human resource practices like performance appraisal. Elimination of the centralized structures of operation can result in easing the implementation of performance appraisals. However, the nature of decentralization has to be defined because the principles of operation in most criminal justice organizations are founded on strict rules and hierarchy (Dial & Johnson, 2008). Employees attain a higher level of satisfaction when their organizational tasks exhibit meaningful experiences to them. Meaningful work experiences are drawn from meaningful working relationships that are established out of collaboration with the supervisors (Halsted, Bromley & Cochran, 2000).
Management’s Efforts to Improve Job Satisfaction of Criminal Justice Employees; Appraisals
A substantial number of studies have been directed at determining job satisfaction and the level of employee commitment in criminal justice organizations. As it has come out in the previous literature, a substantial number of organizations in the criminal justice system are putting in place a set of practices that are aimed at improving the rate of performance. It should be understood that the criminal justice system is composed of diverse departments that harbor employees with diverse characteristics. For example, the courts are comprised of an array of employees, from the judges to the subordinates. On the other hand, there are the police and other uniformed services that are comprised of employees who have different skills and competences compared to the employees in the courts. According to Larry and Frank (2004), most appraisal programs that are implemented by criminal justice organizations fail to pay respect to evaluation mechanisms that touch on key attributes of performance other than personal attributes. One issue that has come out strongly as an impediment to the implementation of performance appraisals in criminal justice organizations is the problem of training. Performance appraisals focus on a number of issues of performance. These include job roles, benefits and rewards, and supervisory issues. These are the sources of stress and low morale among most of the employees in criminal justice organizations. These factors increase the rate of employee turnover in correctional organizations (Kiekbusch, Price & Theis, 2007).
Examples of Effective Appraisal Systems for Criminal Justice Personnel
Unlike in the past, researchers have noted the essence of embracing social support in criminal justice organizations. In their research, Brough and Frame (2004) discovered that social support programs in police organizations aid in the reduction of dissatisfaction and enhancement of job satisfaction among the police. Social support is founded in staging programs that cater for the social and psychological needs of the police. Criminal justice personnel deal directly with citizens, and the failure to respond to their needs has a psychological impact on the manner in which they handle people when discharging their duties. Job risk factors are inherent for employees working in criminal justice organizations. Therefore, psychological oriented programs are designed and enforced in criminal justice organizations to assist employees come with both routine and emergent factors that can put the performance of employees in jeopardy (Finney et al., 2013). Lambert and Paoline (2012) observed that administrative support is one way through which the personnel in criminal justice organizations can attain recognition and discharge their activities devoid of stress and pressure. Perceptions about issues of control and administrative support result in adjustments in tasks of employees, leading to undesirable results.
Findings and Recommendations (Improving Systems)
Findings
Performance appraisal is a critical aspect of performance management. The practice is being embraced in the management of performance in criminal justice organizations. From the literature, it comes out that criminal justice organizations are diverse and face a substantial number of challenges in the implementation of performance management programs. The first critical issue that comes out in literature is that criminal justice organizations that impact on the effectiveness of performance appraisal programs is the variation in the level of skills and competencies of employees. This is common in uniformed service organizations where the recruitment of employees is not strongly founded in the level of education and intellectual competencies of candidates. It is quite tasking to put in place and enforce issues of professional development among most of the employees in the uniformed services because of their level of education. Criminal justice organizations remain to be subjected to perceptions from the general populations whom they are supposed to serve. The profound levels of perception come from criticisms on the organizations over the manner in which they discharge their services.
Most criminal justice organizations have a highly centralized structure of operation that defines the chain of command in the operations of the organizations. While the structures denote the nature of duties and services that are discharged by these organizations, research denotes that such structures are impediments to implementation of change. Performance management is an aspect of change. Therefore, it cannot be properly enforced under the highly centralized chains of command in the uniformed services. Performance appraisals, as applied in criminal justice organizations, imply the need to change the structures of management that may aggravate the challenges of command that remain critical in the operation of the organizations. More often than not, employees in criminal justice organizations find it hard to adjust to feedback mechanisms as exemplified in performance appraisal programs. Feedback is important in molding a psychological organization. An organization that responds to the concerns and expectations of employees through feedback communication channels still finds it quite tasking to fully enforce feedback communication in criminal justice organizations due to the substantive levels of structured commands that are depicted in work relations. However, sets of changes are being made to eliminate the stiff structures in these organizations as they strive to create an environment that is employee friendly. However, it may take longer than expected to incorporate the aspect of feedback communication in the operation of criminal justice organizations as this depicts a significant change in the culture of these organizations. Employees in criminal justice organizations are used to receiving and effecting commands and instructions without questioning and without giving their opinions.
Performance appraisals in criminal justice organizations dwell on the improvement of the benefits and compensation of employees. The rationale behind this approach is that the working conditions for most employees in criminal justice organizations, such as police and prison wardens, are tough. There is need for such programs to open up and be accommodative.
Recommendations
Criminal justice organizations are required to factor and enforce desirable standards of education for their recruits in order to raise the standards of performance in criminal justice organizations. This is aimed at bettering the managerial environment in criminal justice organizations by making it easy for organizational managers to enhance professional development as part of the efforts to appraise employee performance. This is taking shape in a number of organizations. This has already been staged in a number of countries around the world. A consideration of the level of skills and competencies of the employees in the selection exercise can be used as an important factor in easing the implementation of performance appraisal programs.
Criminal justice organizations need to accept and embrace modern human resource management practices if they need to enhance the level and quality of service delivery. Such changes should include the embrace of feedback communication between employees who are higher in the administration hierarchy and those employees who fall lower in the hierarchy. This is not designed to change the nature of the structures that favor the working of criminal justice organizations, but it is aimed at embracing rationalization of the work environment in these organizations. Managers in criminal justice organizations need to ensure that they bridge the gap between the superiors and subordinates in order to encourage cross-communication.
Social and psychological support programs that had been sidelined owing to the culture of administration in criminal justice organizations have to be reconsidered in these organizations. Social support is a way of responding not only to the physical needs, but also to the psychological needs of employees. This is depicted in the behavioral theories of management like the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Social programs encourage interactions in the operation of organizations, more so the criminal justice organizations that are characterized by undesirable patterns of interaction among employees.
Conclusion
Research denotes the essence of developing and enforcing performance management in criminal justice organizations. Failure to embrace performance appraisal results in low levels of morale and job satisfaction. This has a ripple effect on the manner in which the employees discharge their tasks. This argument is based on the fact that criminal justice organizations have been in the limelight for lagging behind in terms of discharging services to the public. It is evident that performance appraisal is being absorbed in a substantial number of criminal justice organizations as a way of improving not only the scale of service delivery, but also changing the long held perceptions about the poor performance of these organizations. Criminal justice organizations serve the public and the long held negative perceptions should act as a steering force and a factor for implementing change in the management of these organizations.
References
Bretz, R. D., Milkovich, G. T., & Read, W. (1992). The current state of performance appraisal research and practice: Concerns, directions, and implications. Journal of Management, 18, 321-352.
Brough, P., & Frame, R. (2004). Predicting police job satisfaction and turnover intentions: The role of social support and police organizational variables. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 33(1), 8-16.
Dial, K. C., & Johnson, W. W. (2008). Working within the walls: the effect of care from coworkers on correctional employees. Professional Issues in Criminal Justice, 3(2), 17-32.
Finney, C., Stergiopoulos, E., Hensel, J., Bonato, S., & Dewa, C. S. (2013). Organizational stressors associated with job stress and burnout in correctional officers: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 13(82), 1-13.
Fried, Y., Tiegs, R. B., & Bellamy, A. R. (1992). Personal and interpersonal predictors of supervisors ‘avoidance of evaluating subordinates. Journal of Appl. Psychol, 77, 462-468.
Gül, S. K., & O’Connell, P. E. (2013). Police performance appraisals: a comparative perspective. New York: CRC Press.
Halsted, A. J., Bromley, M. L., & Cochran, J. K. (2000). The effects of work orientations on job satisfaction among sheriffs’ deputies practicing community oriented policing. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 23(1), 82–104.
Holbrook, J. L. (1999). Managing reactions to performance appraisal: the influence of multiple justice mechanisms. Social Justice Research, 12(3), 205-221.
Kiekbusch, R., Price, W. H., & Theis, J. (2007). Causes of employee turnover in sheriff operated jails. Public Personnel Management, 36(1), 226-241.
Lambert, E. G., & Paoline, E. A. (2012). The issue of control in jail: The effects of professionalism, detainee control, and administrative support on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among jail staff. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 37(2), 179-199.
Larry, M. C., & Frank, W. S. (2004). Police officer performance appraisal systems: How good are they? Policing, 27(1), 67-81.
Lilley, D., & Hinduja, S. (2007). Police officer performance appraisal and overall satisfaction. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(2), 137-150.
Porporino, F. J., Robinson, D., & Simourd, L. (1997). The influence of educational attainment on the attitudes and job performance of correctional officers. Crime and Delinquency, 43(1), 60-77.
Slate, R., Vogel, R., & Johnson, W. (2002). To quit or not to quit: Perceptions of participation in correctional decision making and the impact of organizational stress. Corrections Management Quarterly, 5(2), 68–78.
Stephens, C., & Long, N. (2000). Communication with police supervisors and peers as a buffer of work-related traumatic stress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 407-424.
Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D. B., & Klofas, J. (2012). Criminal justice organizations: Administration and management. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning – Wadsworth.
Swanson, C., Territo, L., & Taylor, R. (2005). Police administration: Structures, processes and behavior (6thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Tankebe, J. (2008). Police effectiveness and police trustworthiness in Ghana: An empirical appraisal. Criminology & Criminal Justice: An International Journal, 8(2), 185-202.
Udechukwu, I. I. (2009). Correctional officer turnover: of Maslow’s needs hierarchy and Herzberg’s motivation theory. Public Personnel Management, 38(2), 69-82.
Yu-Fen, C. (2009). Job stress and performance: A study of police officers in Central Taiwan. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 37(10), 1341-1356.
Ways in Which Constitutional Amendments and Supreme Court Cases Influence Decision-making
It is true to say that constitutional amendments during a constitution-making process are a key determinant that affects the legal provisions. The people who draft constitutional amendments target a sustainable legal future for the Americans, which is integrated with the US Supreme Court decisions concerning various issues (Trantidis, 2017). Amending the constitution is important because it enables judges of the Supreme Court to have reference points concerning various issues that affect the government’s welfare. For example, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments allowed the judges to have a staunch stand concerning slavery and equal protection under the law in the US, respectively. Under the same amendments, the key issues were how to end the Civil War in the US (Trantidis, 2017). When major amendments are made in the US constitution, the decision-making process on the legal ground becomes easy since the judicial minds press on a certain clause under the constitution that guides the making a legal choice.
During that process of Supreme Court decision-making, the judges always make sure they have a ratification perspective guiding their verdicts in courts. Matters presented in Supreme Court are of major interest to the people of the US, and thus, the judges ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the defendants and plaintiffs (Reardon, 2017). In a given case, the law clerks, solicitor general and the media usually play a key role in the decision making of the Supreme Court. The cases may be a contested battle between the civilians and the government. Therefore, those cases influence judges to apply their legal, ideological, personal and political perspectives when making verdicts so that all the matters are equally weighed for the concerned parties. For example, the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) influenced judges’ decisions on who can ultimately choose what the law is (Reardon, 2017). Through the case, the Court was influenced by the ability to integrate laws on the ground of whether to are constitutional or not under the judicial power to review laws.
Research Methods and Data Analysis
A needle exchange program provides clean needles to intravenous drug users. The research proposal is on the effectiveness of the needle exchange program in reducing infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis in New Orleans. The research question is, does the provision of clean needles through the needle exchange program in New Orleans reduce infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis? The independent variable, in this case, is the provision of clean needles under the needle exchange program. In contrast, the dependent variable is the reduction of infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis (Liamputtong, 2020). The independent variable is the cause, which means the changes in the program concerning the needles. When it comes to the dependent variable, it means the effect, and that means the reduction of infectious diseases will be the effect that the independent variable shall determine.
The null hypothesis is that needle exchange programs reduce infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. The alternative hypothesis is that providing clean needles under the needle exchange program does not reduce infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis (Liamputtong, 2020). The variables, in this case, will be measured by measurement instruments. For example, the independent and dependent variables shall be measured using scales. In this case, the effectiveness of needles shall be categorized under nominal variables that will be used to categorize data and attributes during the research (Liamputtong, 2020). The variables will be under the nominal level of measurement because of the possibility of using words, letters, and alphanumeric symbols during data collection.
The most suitable research design (RD) to use in this research proposal is a cross-sectional study. The reason is that the data from respondents shall be from different individuals at a single point at different times (Liamputtong, 2020). Additionally, using this RD is important as the variables will be observed without influencing them. The population of interest include males and females in New Orleans aged 26-40 years who have had frequent hospitalization due to infectious diseases. The sampling method will be the use of clusters where samples shall be taken from different categories based on age, gender and the other key determinants.
The sample shall contain 100 individuals grouped into 10 clusters wherein each there shall be taken samples to leverage the results (Liamputtong, 2020). To conceptualize the variables, the researcher will be required to define abstract ideas with specific characteristics. For example, one may decide to use the educational background to ascertain the credibility of the response. Operationalization shall be achieved by specifying how a given concept shall be measured in a certain study (Liamputtong, 2020). For example, a researcher may focus on introducing surveys from other regions apart from New Orleans to determine the reliability of the data given. The control variable to use in this research proposal is the type of questions. The questions must be uniform for all respondents and shall be administered similarly.
The major ethical issue associated with this study is the disclosure of ones’ health status. Additionally, the study may bring bias from the response given by the infected people (Liamputtong, 2020). The respondents will have informed consent to solve them, and data shall be clustered randomly. The degrees of freedom shall comprise a T-distribution table whereby the third shall be fixed once the first two numbers are picked. The researcher may not choose the third item in the given cluster set, giving a significance level of 0.05 (Liamputtong, 2020). If the p-values lie below 0.05, the results will be considered statistically significant. The measurement approach will have reliability and validity when the samples collected will have the same implications in the results tested. From the research outcome, the authorities in New Orleans shall be probed to encourage the needle exchange program. The reason is that the government shall be fighting the rise of infectious diseases in the southern city of the US.
CJ 505 3-2: Criminal Justice Administration
The problem with the medium-security prison administration is the type of leadership applied. When people become obsessed with giving orders and not leading others in doing the exact task, it lowers the morale of the junior employees because they are subjected to an authoritative environment. Chris Argyris believed that if people are treated positively and have shared responsibility, there is high chance that delivery shall be notably productive (Jacobs, 2020). When managers do not show their staff how to do tasks by themselves, leading as an example, there is low productivity. Therefore, in this case, what is happening is that the prison officers are receiving orders and the leaders are not responsible for assisting them, hence expressing frustration with the job.
Frederick Irving Herzberg believed that for employees to feel satisfied, they must be motivated. Under his Two-Factor theory, the hygiene factors include the environmental aspects that determine whether employees are satisfied (Jacobs, 2020). In this case, subjecting the security officers to an authoritative leadership style lowered their morale hence, not motivating them due to a poor working environment which is a negative hygiene factor.
CJ 521 Criminological Theories
Label and Rational Choice Theories
The Label Theory suggests that applying a label, whether informally designating a person as evil or troublemaker or a more formal incarceration record, has a long-term impact on the person. In other words, label theory insinuates that once a criminal, always a criminal (Shin, 2018). The policies that inspired label theory was concerned with reducing the initial labels’ negative impacts, thus, providing a new chance of growing. For example, ‘Ban the box’ policies restrict employers from asking job seekers about their criminal records where evidence may indicate a reduced probability of getting hired. Rational Choice Theory is tough on crime, and it suggests that the decision to commit a crime is developed from logical reasoning of cost versus reward (Shin, 2018). The theory presses on punishing the offender under the assumption that they were aware of what might come from their action.
From the Rational Choice Theory’s point of view, actions that lead to corporate fraud, embezzlement of funds and extortion are forms of white-collar crime since they are non-violent and planned with the right logical judgment. From the Label Theory, white-collar crime is actions that are planned from prior experience to break a given law (Shin, 2018). For example, non-payment of taxes results from a company’s previous attempts to defraud a state. According to Rational Choice Theory, aggravated assault causes significant bodily injuries such as armed robbery, forceful access to someone’s property and taking it and attacking with a deadly weapon (Shin, 2018). The Label theory may see aggravated assault as one in which a special victim is evident, for example, where the victim’s characteristics tally the relationship with the perpetrator. For example, if a close ally rapes one, the repercussions may have been foreseen if the two parties have had sexual encounters that did not lead to the actual deed.
Liamputtong, P. (2020). Qualitative research methods. Oxford University Press.
Reardon, S. (2017). Science and the US Supreme Court. Nature, 7(3), 55-58.
Shin, D. (2018). How to understand and analyze criminological theories. Journal Of Korean Criminological Association, 12(2), 73-97.
Trantidis, A. (2017). The problem of constitutional legitimation: What the debate on electoral quotas tells us about the legitimacy of decision-making rules in constitutional choice. Constitutional Political Economy, 28(2), 195-208.
The theory that will be discussed in this paper is Merton’s Strain Theory. It states that deviance is a product of social structure and that it sets the same tasks for its participants but without providing the means to solve these tasks (Cambridge, 2014). This means that although society places great value on the means to an end, not all people have them to an early degree. The main aspects of the theory are Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion (MrClinePsy, 2014). Each element is critical to the functioning of this theory. However, in order for the system to work, it must change. CrashCourse’s (2017) video lecture states that “deviance can actually encourage social change.” This proves that deviance is needed to successfully implement the theory through changing society. According to Toc A Terra (2013), 95% of children under the age of 14 caught stealing in Madrid were gypsies. This shows that some people do not have access to the resources that others use, and therefore they have to commit theft.
The presented theory can be used to understand and analyze any event in life. For example, the theory can be applied to better understand the problem of social inequality problem described in the cited documentary. Agnew (1992) states that “strain theory has a central role to play in explanations of crime/delinquency” (p. 47). However, other problems can be understood and overcome thanks to Stein’s Theory. For example, according to the film Unreported World (2018), at least 30 cars a day are stolen in South Africa. This fact is another severe criminal problem that has arisen due to the global inequality in the distribution of means to achieve goals among people. In order to solve these and similar problems, society must undergo significant changes that are achieved, as mentioned above, through deviance.
References
Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general Strain theory of crime and delinquency [PDF File]. Criminology, 30(1). Emory University.