As a criminal justice leader, you will often be faced with making decisions that reflect not only on you but on your department as a whole. We often use tools like statistics and crime trends to offer the best possible route to finding a solution and ultimately making a decision.
The field of criminal justice is constantly changing; new laws, policies, and procedures make situational, evidence-based decision making a complicated daily task. And it is nearly impossible to make an informed decision without first researching the issues at play and leveraging the power of available data to determine the right solution for each particular situation and organization.
You will assume the role of a leader within a criminal justice organization of your choice.
Prompt:
You will be given information (including this data set) for your scenario, but you must also conduct your own research on comparable organizations and trends in the field to determine opportunities and external threats.
The following critical elements must be specifically addressed:
- Proposal: In this section, present and defend your plan for solving the issue facing your organization.
- Solution:
- Based on your theoretical framework and your analysis and research, propose a solution that effectively addresses the issue.
- Illustrate your proposal with the specific steps that the organization would need to take in order to properly execute the solution.
- Recommend strategic methods that leadership of the organization could apply while effectively implementing your proposed solution.
- Defense:
- Explain how your solution will improve the situation for both your organization and the community that is affected by the issue. Use specific examples to illustrate.
- Explain how the data you analyzed and the trends you identified have guided you to this solution. In other words, how did your analysis of the data inform your decision making? Use specific examples to illustrate.
- Explain how your research led you to this solution. In other words, how did the evidence from your research inform your decision making? Use specific examples to illustrate.
- Communication Plan: In this section, explain how you will disseminate the key ideas of your proposal.
- Determine who the key internal and external audiences for your proposal are, and explain how you would present the information to them. Your communication plan should reflect the best practices in the field, as discussed in your theory and methods section.
- Choose one internal audience and develop a sample communication for them regarding your proposed solution. Be sure that your communication is appropriate for this audience and is aligned with best practices in the field.
- Choose one external audience and develop a sample communication for them regarding your proposed solution. Be sure that your communication is appropriate for this audience and is aligned with best practices in the field.
III. References: In this section, cite all of your sources using APA formatting.
Guidelines for Submission: Your draft must be a submitted as a 4- to 5-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and sources cited in APA format.