Midterm essay question

Midterm and Final Essays Instructions and Essay Questions

Both the Midterm and Final Essays will require you to respond to one broad based question about criminal justice administration. In essence, you will be asked to demonstrate critical thinking about controversial issues in criminal justice administration and take a position on which course of action would be the best approach for criminal justice administrators. You must format your essays as you would a formal paper, following the guidelines set forth for papers in this course. To adequately respond to the question, you will need to write at least 3 pages (not including the title, abstract, and resource pages.) The essays are open book/open notes.

Midterm Essay Question:

As a student of human resource management in criminal justice organizations, you have studied the potential effects and cost associations of section 1983 Liability lawsuits arising out of the violation of certain protected Civil Rights. Many times such civil liability risks can be handled with confidence gained through well-informed personnel who have been well trained in the topic. The author of the article you are to read for this essay provides a well-versed paper on the basics of Section 1983 Liability. This article is 8 pages with 29 additional informational pages. Please use accordingly to properly prepare a full and adequate response. This is a policy issue that will have long-term effects on your department.

As you write your essay, keep these questions in mind:

• How much training is enough?

• Do I need an attorney to teach this to my personnel?

• How often should it be taught?

• Should a department policy be updated with each new case?

• What policy will you recommend to your chief executive (police), your warden (corrections), your commissioner (state police), your sheriff, and/or any executive role with which you must deal?

• Do not forget to review the grading rubric.

The Midterm Essay is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of Module/Week 4.

Final Essay Question: 

Truth is the key to making good and well-informed decisions in management. However, criminal justice organizations in some jurisdictions do not practice the ethics of truth. They do not create trust in their ability to deal with their citizens and fellow criminal justice organizations with truthfulness in a court of law. Many years ago some folks said, “if we don’t clean this mess up, someone else is going to clean it up for us.” The article you are reading for this essay was written in 2007, about three years after this old issue came back with a vengeance. It, too, will cost money, if you do not have a decisional policy point and procedure in place before that court date arrives. Do not ever think that cannot happen here, because it always does. Two very key cases here: Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States.

The writer poses the question, “Should Police Officers Who Lie Be Terminated as a Matter of Public Policy?”

As you strive to answer the question, keep the following in mind:

• It is simple, but is it fair?

• Is it possible that you could lose some really good personnel who only messed up once in their whole career?

• What effect will such a drastic measure have on the personnel’s families?

• If you keep them, will it affect the overall credibility of your agency?

• What conclusion does the writer reach? Why or why not?

• What policy would you recommend for your chief, sheriff, warden, state police commissioner, and/or any other affiliated executive with whom you may work?

The Final Essay is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday of Module/Week 8.