Criminal Justice and How it Impacts Families

Each paper will address a different family issue and a policy or set of policies that attempt to address criminal justice. Each paper will consist of the following components:

1. Introduction – “What’s the problem?” 1 PARAGRAPH. Students will write a brief summation of the issue and how it impacts families. This should be no longer than a paragraph and should be informed by the content provided in Canvas as well as relevant outside research. APA-style citations should be included in-text to identify relevant source material.
2. Scope of the problem – “How big is the problem?” 1/2 PAGE. Students will use the resources provided and relevant outside research to describe the scope and impact of the issue on families (include statistics/number of people impacted). Particular attention will be paid to evidence of unequal or different impacts based on gender, race, SES, age, sexual orientation, family structure, or other relevant family demographics. This section should be at least one-half page in length and should include in-text citations for the source content.
3. Description of policy – “What has been done to help/ fix the problem?” 1 PARAGRAPH. Using the information provided in Canvas and any relevant outside sources, students will describe a policy or set of policies that aim to address the focal family issue. This section will be no more than one paragraph and should include a brief description of the policy and its purpose along with appropriate APA citations back to the relevant source material.
4. Evaluation of impact – “Did the fix work?” 1/2 PAGE. Students will digest information from provided sources and relevant outside source material and prepare a brief (approx. one-half page) summary of the impact the identified policy has had on the focal family issue. Citing relevant sources, using APA, the students will describe how the policy has or has not impacted the family issue (the policy’s intended consequences) as well as any unintended consequences that may have resulted from the policy’s implementation. As with the above sections, this portion should be primarily informed by research and should contain APA in-text citations for used source material.