In the Article Critique Assignments, you will systematically and objectively critique criminal
justice-related research articles to understand published research. You will critique the
strengths
and weaknesses of peer-reviewed journal articles and carefully analyze arguments and points
in
the article. You will develop the technical writing skill of critiquing while furthering critical
thinking application and knowledge of the topics investigated. You will incorporate and apply a
Christian worldview perspective to each topic and Article Critique Assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS
Article Critique: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution
Locate two (2) peer-reviewed articles no older than 5-10 years about ethics in policing
administration. Provide an in-depth discussion of the findings in each article.
? Based on your critique of the literary pieces, what might an ethical organization look like?
? Specify the characteristics of training, leadership, and employees that might be expected in
an ethical police organization.
? Review the biblical themes in the video titled: “Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and
Historical Evolution” found in the module’s Learn section.
? Discuss some of the challenges associated with organizations that are replete with
corruption like racism and discrimination from a Christian and Biblical worldview.
Article Critique: Dual-Court System and Roles of Courtroom Workgroup
Locate two (2) peer-reviewed articles no older than 5-10 years that discuss 2 historical
Supreme
Court cases and review the video titled: “Dual-Court System and Roles of Courtroom
Workgroup” found in the module’s Learn section. This historical case law choice is limited to
search and seizure, stop and frisk, searches for evidence, or police interrogation and
confessions. Chosen articles do not have to be on the same topic although they may be. Find
articles related to case law on the aforementioned topics but do not consider articles merely
discussing the case law itself. Provide an in-depth discussion of the findings of each article.
With respect to the specific case law you have analyzed, defend constitutional democracy
and the
issues raised in case law from a Christian and Biblical worldview.
Article Critique: Correctional Goals and Prison Privatization
Locate two (2) peer-reviewed articles no older than 5-10 years that discuss American prison
privatization. One article must present arguments advocating for American prison privatization
and the second article must present arguments against American prison privatization. Provide
a
critique of each author’s position on the privatization of prisons. From a
Christian and Biblical worldview, critique the current state of private prisons in America and
present a clear argument on how to fix the system.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 1
Article 1-Background
Paragraphs….
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
Paragraphs….
Weaknesses
Paragraphs….
Article Critique
Article 2-Background
Paragraphs….
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
Paragraphs….
Weaknesses
Paragraphs….
Summary of Articles
Paragraphs….
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 2
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview
Paragraphs….
References:
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 1
Article Critique: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution
Emily Moxley
CJUS 500
Liberty University
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 2
Abstract
The criminal justice system is a complex place, and police are vital in protecting and
serving the community that needs them. With that being said, officers are in close quarters, and
they all share a big part of their lives with one another, all experience uncertainties involving
individuals and the community. All share same viewpoints when dealing with a lot of hard
situations they face on an everyday basis. All of these instances become apart of who they are,
apart of their culture, a culture they all share with one another and the relationships that go along
with it too. It is important in knowing what type of police culture good and beneficial and which
ones is not and are harmful for not only the officer but the general public. This is why proper
training and reoccurring evaluations are such a vital and influential part of being apart of the
criminal justice profession.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 3
Article 1-Background
The first article is by Ingram, J., Terrill, W., & Paoline, E. (2018) and they primarily
focused on two different topics of discussion, the first being the professional attitudes of the
officers and other criminal justice employees in the workplace and weather the conversation and
actions that are used at times are appropriate or not, and weather they could be considered
misconduct. The second topic they addressed is the environment in a professional atmosphere
and assessing/ determining certain behaviors within the police culture and addressing when use
of force behavior happened. The results that were posted were based off of a survey of 116
different items to be addressed and that was passed out to 1,022 different officers and criminal
justice professionals across five different law enforcement departments. The survey incorporated
questions about characteristics law enforcement expect and hold people accountable for, how
they handle and hold themselves to different cultural situations, use of force actions and policies.
With that, the data was merged with the Assessing Police Use of Force Policy and Outcomes
project, this was assessed over a two-year period, this was an intense project that took a lot of
time and research about the procedures involving officers and their attitudes in a professional
workplace.
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
There was a lot of very insightful information all throughout this article, one very
important strength that was too good not to address was the obvious amount of multidimensional
research that was a constant all throughout the article. They not only addressed the positives
they witnessed and assessed but they also spoke and addressed possible areas of concern when
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 4
going about research which is very important when conducting a proper and effective study such
as this one. A point that was made that can be true in almost every other professional workplace
not just in the criminal justice system, is that in a professional environment you are apart of a
team, mostly everyone, works for someone. The teams work for someone, a chief, lieutenant,
and high ups in the government and criminal justice system, therefore, order and working
together is something that is a requirement when working in such a job. Officers were also under
a consistent squad assignment for 18 months on average, with some reporting being in the same
squadron for 1 year or over. They are also under constant supervision and squad assessment and
that happens on average of eighteen months, and obviously there is mandated/ annual reporting
that needs to happen to keep officers and employees accountable in their day-to-day jobs and
responsibility.
Additionally, the study dives into the behavior problems that we see in law enforcement
which they hold to the utmost importance by management. Conducting this study was done by
observing how officers interact with one another and the relationships they form in the
workplace and how they interact with citizens and if certain actions or words need to be
addressed based on negative connotation. One of these reports was that those who were set in
squadrons that were collectively distrustful and shared a universal belief in aggressive patrol
were more likely to use higher levels of force with citizens and employed tactics such as
coercion.
Weaknesses
As stated above, I talked about how I liked that the article addressed hard topics and the
weaknesses they see and experienced as an outsider looking in. one of the things I thought was a
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 5
weak point in the article was how they pointed out how citizens had a distrust in officers based
on the actions in that instance, but it did not address that sometimes officers and criminal justice
professionals have already a misconstrued mindset in the citizens eyes, which unfortunately does
happen in todays day in age, and that can affect the events that unfold after the encounter. A
citizen can make things very difficult and blow things way out of proportion solely based on
their unfortunate view of officers and criminal justice professionals and that in no way shape or
form is the officers’ fault. Another weak point I noticed is they did not take into fact location,
population and crime statistics in that area, because obviously a place like Los Angeles is going
to need more officers on duty because of heavy crime there is more dangerous situations officers
are put in, therefore, more of use of force in that setting when needed. And especially in a place
like Los Angeles a lot of peoples view of law enforcement is seen in a negative light so a
situation that is a lower scale can escalate more quickly because of a persons lack of cooperation.
Article Critique
The second article “Traditional Police Culture, Use of Force, and Procedural Justice:
Investigating Individual, Organizational, and Contextual Factors” (Silver, Roche, Bilach &
Bontrager Ryon, 2017), was a more of a literature based article, it focuses on the police culture
and different outlooks/ outcomes different cultures within law enforcement offices. There was a
lot of different routes they took throughout the article and different ways and reasoning behind
each route, it was not based on one point but on multiple viewpoints and end goals of one shared
viewpoint, and how each action people take affects the task at hand. The authors Jasmine Silver,
Sean Roche, Thomas Bilach, and Stephanie Ryon make an effort throughout the article on what
they believe and whether a certain route supported their theories and viewpoints or not. Since
there are four individuals who cohesively came together to write this, we see different
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 6
viewpoints, and outlook on multiple different things officers and law enforcement individuals
face everyday of their life.
Article 2-Background
All four officers define what they think different police culture is to them, and the social
and moral identity guidelines for how to conduct themselves in the force. Like the other article,
this article also did a survey. This one was sent over email to 781 recipients over three law
enforcement offices around New York State and the survey were constructed like a five point
grading system. The survey is separated into different parts, individual, organizational, and
contextual predictors of adherence to police and law enforcement professional culture, and the
different subsection being an analysis of relationships between police culture sponsors and
officers support of use of force in escalated forceful tactics that are approved when doing them
when needed.
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
A big strength that was evident while reading the article was the fact that this survey was
offered and sent out via email, an online source. In today’s day in age, everything is offered and
available online, especially with the pandemic, everything became computerized in such a fast
and convenient way, this was just convenient to all parties involved. And since it was sent out
over email that makes the technology and code a lot easier to help with anonymity from
coworkers and bosses to better help and keep safe everyone involved safe and free to their own
opinions on important topics.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 7
A thing I also really liked and appreciated was the fact that in this article they addressed
ethnic and race minorities who will be in contact with the law enforcement and how different
situations and varying opinions may arise from such a topic and viewpoint as there’s. I believe
this was a good article to read especially after the last year we have seen with different instances
regarding minorities and law enforcement. The authors bring up some excellent points and
explain how certain minorities have a more deconstructed hurt view and how even the smallest
of interactions with a law enforcement professional will turn out violent, and that they are always
put in a dangerous situation, obviously that is not true, but the article does a great job at
informing us on viewpoint on others, I for one do not/ and will never understand.
The article also addresses the different levels within a criminal justice job and how
different levels do not relate to the topic at hand, police culture, because someone who works for
human resources at a desk job in the criminal justice system will not have the same culture as
officers on the street. Surrounding is everything and culture changes based on where you are,
even in the smallest of location changes, surroundings.
Weaknesses
A big weakness I assessed was of the authors hypothesis three which was “officers who
live in the South will endorse TPC more than officers who live in other regions of the country.”
(Silver, Roche, Bilach & Bontrager Ryon, 2017) The authors go into detail, but the research they
present and go into detail about completely contradicts what they say in hypothesis three. They
say as “s Southern officers exhibited greater support for use of procedural practices and were less
likely to support use of force.” (Silver, Roche, Bilach & Bontrager Ryon, 2017) The authors
made a guess that southern law enforcement professionals would be more than likely to do a
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 8
violent act because of the culture they were raised and brought up in, in that particular area, but
the authors did not address how it may influence or defer the actual violence that occurs.
Summary of Articles
The first article's (Ingram, Terrill, & Paoline, 2018) primary motive was the behavioral
aspect within police culture and assessing it through a multidimensional scale survey that was
done by over one thousand officers. The goal of this article was to see the relationship aspect
when looking into police culture and assessing behavior and influences through different
relationships in the criminal justice workplace.
The second article’s (Silver, Roche, Bilach & Bontrager Ryon, 2017) primary objective
was to give more insight to law enforcement and citizens on actual police culture. Much like the
first article, a survey was used as well, a five-point grading scale survey sent to 781 officers.
They presented their research and hypothesis, and some supported their hypothesis, and some did
not.
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview
Both articles were extremely insightful, and both were based on facts, research, and
analyzing when looking into the topic of police culture. “For he is God’s servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of
God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:4) It is biblical to
listen to authority and those who are apart of the law, so respect must be given to those in law
enforcement authority, but much like everything in life, one must use discernment when
knowing who is good and putting your faith in and who is not and will be using it for either their
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 9
own personal gain, or something else that they should not be doing. The primary job and focus
of a law enforcement individual is protecting those in the community and serving when needed.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical
Evolution 10
References:
Bible Gateway passage: Romans 13 - English Standard Version. (2021). Retrieved 2 April 2021,
from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13&version=ESV
Ingram, J., Terrill, W., & Paoline, E. (2018). Police Culture And Officer Behavior: Application
of a Multilevel Framework. Criminology, 56(4), 780-811. doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12192
Silver, J., Roche, S., Bilach, T., & Bontrager Ryon, S. (2017). Traditional Police Culture, Use of
Force, and Procedural Justice: Investigating Individual, Organizational, and Contextual Factors.
Justice Quarterly, 34(7), 1272-1309. doi: 10.1080/07418825.2017.1381756
1
Article Critique: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution
Article Critique: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution
Emily Moxley
CJUS 500
Liberty University
2
Article Critique: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution
Article 1-Background
The topic of criminal justice professionals
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
Weaknesses
Article Critique
Article 2-Background
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
Weaknesses
Summary of Articles
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview
Running head: Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 1
Articles Critique
Student Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Course Name:
Instructor’s Name:
Date:
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 2
Articles Critique.
Article 1-Background
This first article by Khey (2015) is a peer-review journal published under the
encyclopedia of crime and punishment. The article looks at the history of the privatization of
prisons in the United States and some contributing factors. The author presents an analysis of the
various changes that have been brought about by privatization and why it has been beneficial in
the United States. While presenting the history of the American prison system, the author is keen
to mention how the prison population increased suddenly between 1980 and 2000. An additional
review is also presented regarding other countries such as Scotland, England, and France, which
also have privatized their prisons. We see from the article that in the past four decades, the
capacity of private prisons globally has grown significantly from 3000 bed capacity in 1987 to
over 140,000 by 2001. The article portrays privatization as a positive attribute that was urgently
needed in the American prison system to help in solving some of the underlying challenges.
Article 1 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
The article's main strength is that it examines the American prison system’s challenges
before presenting the benefits of privatization. This assists the author in making a compelling
case for why privatization was not only necessary but also mandatory. One of the challenges that
the author argues the American system faced before privatization was huge expenses in terms of
maintaining correctional facilities. The US government incurred huge expenses through their
prison system, especially because they had a large inmate population. Once privatization was
introduced, it has enabled the government to save money since private prisons charge the
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 3
government less money than they would use to run the prisons themselves. Another major
challenge the author presents is that inmates had no source of employment before privatization.
Privatization has allowed outside businesses to build within prison walls hence providing
inmates with a source of employment. Other advantages that the author presents include
improved healthcare through less expensive privatization, improved food management and
provision of education services to inmates, and enhanced mail delivery.
Weaknesses
While providing counterarguments, it is easy to note that the author’s arguments
contradict one another. For instance, one of the counterarguments states that privatization has led
to the provision of lower-quality food to inmates, such as privatized prisons in Colorado.
However, as earlier mentioned, the author stated that privatization led to improved food
management. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the credibility of the author’s information.
Similarly, few sources are used within the text to back the author’s claims. Although there is a
reference page at the end of the article, there are just a few in-text citations. Perhaps backing the
arguments with in-text citations can facilitate the credibility and reliability of the arguments.
Article Critique
Article 2-Background
This second article by Schultz (2015) is written explicitly against prison privatization,
and the author seeks to present arguments why prison privatization should be abolished. The
author claims that prison privatization is a business backed by US conservatism and
neoliberalists to make money from incarcerated bodies. This "business," in the author's opinion,
is against the justice system. To back his arguments, Schultz provides a brief history of the
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 4
American prison system, which details that prison privatization actually existed in the early 19th
century. In the 1800s, the author states that prison privatization was in the form of leasing
inmates to work on plantations and railroads. According to the author's opinions, it has currently
evolved to being completely privatized because inmates are no longer leased but are given for
good. The author also presents why prison privatization grew to prominence since the 1980s,
stating that public prisons were becoming overcrowded and expensive to maintain the inmates.
On one account, the author mentions that by the early 2000s, the US government spent up to $43
billion in maintaining prisons alone annually. However, the move to privatization has turned
correctional facilities into million-dollar institutions at the expense of the inmates’ wellbeing, as
per the author’s assertions.
Article 2 - Critique of Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Strengths
A major strength of this article is that it uses evidence backed with history to prove that
prison privatization is more harmful than beneficial. The author refers to a statement that was
issued by the Bureau of Justice Assistance claiming that private prisons would enhance the
quality of confinement, operate under small budgets and build cheaper facilities at a faster rate.
The author additionally uses data from the US Bureau of Prisons to reveal that 10% of female
inmates and 12% of male inmates are housed in private prisons today. However, these assertions
by the government bodies have contributed to several ethical concerns that the author mentions.
By sending prisoners to private facilities, the author argues that they relinquish their
responsibility of processing offenders since individuals committed crimes against the state and
not the private bodies. In addition, the author quotes the law stating that only public officials
mandated by the constitution should perform state executions and not private bodies. In addition,
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 5
the author mentions that private prisons have been found to wrongly classify or even ignore
classifying inmates since they put their profit-making interests ahead. These arguments by the
author are well-backed and thus contribute to a major strength of the article.
Weaknesses
However, a major weakness of this article is that it lacks counterarguments. Even though
private prisons have disadvantages, they have had a positive impact worth mentioning. One that
ought to have been mentioned is that private prisons have helped the government save money
and this has, in turn, had a positive impact on the federal revenue. Therefore, to consider the
author's claims as strong enough, there needs to be a section that acknowledges other points of
view and determines why the author's claims are right.
Summary of Articles.
Both authors make their stance on prison privatization known. Khey (2015) supports
prison privatization in the US because it positively impacts the government and partially on the
inmates. Since the government can save money by privatizing prison, Khey (2015) believes that
this move can be beneficial to the whole nation since it helps minimize national expenses. Also,
Khey (2015) believes that prison privation helps inmates by providing employment sources due
to the buildings near the prison walls.
Schultz (2015), on the other hand, argues that prison privatization is nothing but a
business to US conservatives and neoliberalists at the expense of the inmates’ well-being.
Schultz (2015) presents evidence regarding the law that when people commit crimes against the
state, then there is no jurisdiction whatsoever for private bodies to perform executions. Among
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 6
other issues, Schultz (2015) believes that prison privatization should be abolished since it is a
crime against the law and against humanity.
Conclusion: Personal Reflection, Position, and Christian Worldview
Reading through both articles has been enlightening to me. In reality, inmates are
members of society just like us, and issues that affect them should be taken into great
consideration. I have gained quite a lot of information with regards to the structure of prison
privatization and how the whole concept works based on both articles. Therefore, I have to take
the side of Schultz (2015) and agree that prison privatization should be abolished. Looking at
both authors’ arguments, one thing that stands out from both is that prison privatization leads to
the reduction of expenses and maximization of savings. However, is it always about money? The
Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil (Bible). Instead of
saving money at the expense of the well-being of our sisters and brothers, let us spend it on
making their stay in those correctional facilities comfortable. Saving money to invest in other
areas such as war demonstrates how inhumane we have become. There is no good from prison
privatization and it should be abolished.
Police Ethnocentricity, Subculture, and Historical Evolution 7
References.
Bible, K. J. AN EVALUATION OF THE NEW KING JAMES BIBLE.
Khey, D. N. (2015). Privatization of prison. The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 1-8.
Schultz, C. (2015). Prison privatization: Driving influences and performance evaluation. Themis:
Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 3(1), 5.
Article Critique.
Thesis statement: Both authors make their stance on prison privatization known. Khey (2015) is
in support of prison privatization in the US based on the idea that it positively has an impact on
the government and partially on the inmates. Schultz (2015) on the other hand argues that prison
privatization is nothing but a business to US conservatives and neoliberalists at the expense of
the inmates’ well-being.
I. Summary of first Article.
This first article by Khey (2015) is a peer review journal published under the
encyclopedia of crime and punishment. The article looks at the history of
privatization of prisons in the United States and some contributing factors. The author
presents an analysis of the various changes that have been brought by privatization
and why it has been beneficial in the United States.
II. Summary of second article.
This second article by Schultz (2015) is specifically written against prison
privatization, and the author seeks to present arguments why prison privatization
should be abolished. The author claims that prison privatization is a business backed
by US conservatists and neoliberalists to make money form incarcerated bodies.
III. Conclusion and Christian world view.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evil (Bible).
Instead of saving money at the expense of the wellbeing of our sisters and brothers, I
believe we should spend it on making their stay in those correctional facilities
comfortable. Saving money to invest on other areas such as war just demonstrates
how inhumane we have become. There is no good from prison privatization and it
should be abolished.
