Charandy

 

III. 

Current Events Journal

. Throughout the course, we will be discussing issues within each 

component of the criminal justice system. Your task is to find 

at least

one (1) news article, local 

or national, EACH WEEK of class, 

beginning January 17

th

, that depicts a

problem 

that you think 

is important for the criminal justice system to address. There are 

many

possibilities. Some 

examples include:

1)

Police officer misconduct (e.g., improper use of force; officer-involved shootings; 

planting evidence)

2)

Racial profiling (e.g., stop & frisks disproportionately impact minority men)

3)

The overburdened court system (e.g., high rate of plea bargaining)

4)

The cash bail system (e.g., impacts indigent or poor defendants most)

5)

Lack of reentry efforts (e.g., high rates of recidivism for inmates released from 

jail/prison)

6)

Victimization in prisons (e.g., prison rape)

7)

Differential media reporting (e.g., how are black criminals depicted versus white 

criminals?)

If your news article appears in print (e.g., newspaper or magazine), you must provide the original

article (e.g., clip it out). If your news article appears online (e.g., news website), you must print 

out a copy. For 

each

news article, you will be required to write a brief paragraph (4-6 sentences) 

that answers the following:

1)

What is the problem highlighted in the article?

2)

What component of the criminal justice system is impacted?

3)

How does this article impact the general public’s view of the criminal justice system?

Current events are due each week on 

Monday

at the beginning of class. There will be a total of 

seven (7) current events submitted this semester worth 5 points each, 

for a total of 35 points

.

Current events journals should be kept in a

3-prong folder

and brought to class every Monday. 

(I all seven done)