You will be required to complete a major policy paper for this course. This paper is not intended to simply be a research paper. As many of you are practitioners and supervisors (and the rest of you are preparing for this), you will be expected to review criminal justice policy, evaluate it, and improve upon it if necessary.
As a result, you are to select a topic related to community corrections policy and practice. It may be one discussed in the course, or it may be another related topic. Potential topics include; education and training for probation and parole officers, supervision of offenders, sex offender supervision, risk/needs assessment, etc. You will need to select a topic the first week of the trimester and have it approved.
The paper must be APA style, and should consist of a Title Page, an Abstract, 9 pages of text, and a Reference Page. The paper is to be typed in 12 point font, Times New Roman and double spaced. In your text, you should have an introductory paragraph, a statement of the problem, and review of current literature on the topic in question (current standards, practices, case law, etc.), and recommendations based on an analysis of the data (not personal opinion). If professional experiences shape your recommendations, you must cite some supporting data. If your Chief/Commissioner asks you to conduct research into a problem your agency is encountering, they dont want your personal opinion. They want empirical evidence that can be backed-up in court if necessary. As such, you must be able to support your argument/position.
