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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 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, and these 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 to best serve the interests of the department and the community. To do so effectively, criminological theories are applied to address specific motives and underlying factors influencing the issue at hand. These theories assist in developing departmental policies that can stand the test of time, not conflict with public policy, and remain flexible enough to adapt to societal changes. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Five, and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine.

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 upand- coming asset for the department and 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 developingrecommendations 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 elements must be addressed:

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

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 supporting this issue. Specifically:

• Identify key trends, both modern and 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?
• Identify court cases that have shaped the evolution of the public policies related to your chosen public policy issue, justifying your identifications.
• How have the previously identified historical events impacted the public’s perception of the relevant state or federal public policies? Provide specific examples. How has public perception evolved in relation to these specified events?
• Predict the potential future direction of 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?

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

• Select a criminological theory that 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.
• Draw connections between the selected criminological theory and the departmental policy. Where are there specific connections between the theory and the departmental policy?
• Draw connections between the selected criminological theory and the related state o r federal public policies. Where are there specific connections between the theory and the selected state or federal policies?

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:

• Identify specific needs of the public and the relevant branch of the criminal justice system at the center of the departmental policy, justifying your identifications.
• To what extent does the departmental policy address these specific needs?

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:

1. 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?
2. What specific recommendations do you have to improve the existing departmental policy?
3. Justify how the recommendations will improve the delivery of criminal justice services. Provide specific examples.
4. 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.
5. What are the potential impacts of 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?
6. How does your assessment of the potential impacts inform your 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?

Milestones

Milestone One: Departmental Policy and Issue Selection and Introduction

In Module Three, you will submit a 1–2-page document introducing the public policy issue that your departmental policy will seek to address. First, review the document A List of Public Policy Issues and select an issue. Next, review the document Examples of Departmental Policies and select a departmental policy that you plan to make improvement recommendations for to address this issue. Discuss related public policies (decisions, actions, laws, and/or positions) of both the state and federal government on the issue that you seek to address with your departmental policy. Describe your selected policy issue, the related state or federal positions or actions on the issue, and explain the connection between the departmental policy and state or federal guidance on the issue. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Historical Analysis and Analysis of Relevant Criminological Theories

In Module Five, you will submit the 2–3-page draft of your historical analysis as well as your analysis of criminological theories relevant to your public policy issue selection. You will analyze the history of the public policies (related decisions, actions, laws, and/or positions of both the state and federal government) related to your selected public policy issue. This draft should be as detailed as possible in order to allow the instructor to provide significant feedback. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Public Needs and Policy Recommendations

In Module Seven, you will submit the 2–3-page public needs and policy recommendations sections of your final project. This milestone is really about drilling down more deeply into the “drivers” behind your recommendations to the selected departmental policy. As you write these sections, you will identify what public needs are targeted by this policy and determine how well the policy addresses these needs. You will also need to examine how this policy can be changed or improved upon to continue to address the identified need and how these changes can be accomplished while at the same time improving upon the delivery of necessary criminal justice services. Ensure that you support your recommendations with relevant criminological theory. The draft should also incorporate the research you have performed up to this point as set forward in Milestones One and Two. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Final Submission: Policy Recommendation Report

In Module Nine, you will submit your policy recommendation report. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This final submission will be graded using the Final Project Rubric.