Week 2

evaluationassign1.docx

Written Assignment 1 Evaluation

Recommended Score: 44/50 — 88%

Rubric Criterion	Score	Evaluation
Conceptual Development and Application of the Theories	8.5/10	Level 3. You demonstrated good knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis. The research question is specific and identifies the population/location, community-policing practices, trust, and neighborhood safety. Procedural justice theory is appropriately selected and connected to fairness, legitimacy, trust, and cooperation. The hypotheses and variables generally follow logically from the research question. However, development is not yet at the Level 4 standard of demonstrating all six competencies, particularly synthesis and evaluation. The proposal would benefit from a fuller explanation of why procedural justice theory is the best framework and how its concepts specifically connect the independent and dependent variables.
Research Quality and Thoroughness	10/10	Level 4. The submission uses three relevant academic sources and incorporates them into the discussion rather than merely listing them. Hevi et al. (2022) support the procedural-justice/community-trust discussion, Alehegn et al. (2025) support the community-policing/safety relationship, and Ormrod (2023) support the research-design discussion. This exceeds the rubric requirement of at least one credible and relevant source.
Writing Quality	8.5/10	Level 3. Your paper is generally readable and appropriately scholarly, but several editing issues prevent it from receiving full credit. Examples include “The independent variables are;” rather than a colon; awkward wording such as “residents feeling fair, respectful, transparent…”; and the subproblem paragraph skipping from (1) to (3) without labeling the second question. Some sentences could also be tightened for greater precision and graduate-level clarity.
Structure, Organization, and Length	10/10	Level 4. The submission is approximately 588 words, satisfying the 500-word minimum. It is logically divided into research question, subproblems, framework, hypotheses, variables, assumptions, delimitations, and limitations. These sections closely correspond to the Chapter 2 structure for developing the first section of a proposal. One substantive issue should nevertheless be addressed in the revision: the study's significance is not clearly developed as a distinct component, even though Chapter 2 identifies its importance in the proposal's first section.
Format and APA	8.5/10	Level 4. The document uses 1-inch margins, includes in-text citations and a separate reference section, and generally follows an academic-paper format. However, there are several APA/presentation issues. The date should read “September 3, 2026” with a space after the comma. Headings appear centered throughout rather than consistently following APA heading conventions. The reference entries also require closer APA formatting, including journal title and volume in italics and DOI information when available. These are correctable issues but warrant Level 3 rather than Level 4.
TOTAL	45.5/50	91%

Professor’s feedback

Travis, this is a strong beginning to your research proposal. You have developed a focused, researchable question examining the relationship among community policing practices, trust in law enforcement, and perceived neighborhood safety in Miami. Your selection of procedural justice theory is particularly appropriate because fairness, transparency, respectful treatment, legitimacy, and cooperation are directly relevant to the relationships you propose to examine. Your identification of independent and dependent variables also demonstrates that you are moving toward a workable quantitative research design.

For the next assignment, deepen the analysis and synthesis rather than simply identifying each required component. Explain more clearly how procedural justice theory connects your variables and why it provides the most appropriate theoretical lens for the study. Also review the subproblems: the numbering currently jumps from (1) to an unnumbered question, then to (3). Consider making each subproblem distinct and explicitly connected to the primary research question. Most importantly, develop a brief significance/importance of the study section explaining why examining community policing, trust, and neighborhood safety in Miami matters to criminal justice scholarship, police practice, and the community. Chapter 2 specifically identifies the study's importance in the proposal's first section.

Finally, conduct another careful proofreading and APA review. Correct minor grammar and punctuation issues, refine awkward sentences, and ensure that headings and references conform to APA 7th edition requirements. Overall, you have established a clear, feasible, and promising foundation for the larger research proposal. With additional theoretical synthesis, attention to the study's significance, and APA polishing, this can develop into a very strong proposal.

Recommended: For any research or paper you write in academia, I highly encourage the development of a problem statement.

How to Write a Problem Statement in Four Easy Steps – Tutorial [context of the issue, problems or issues, rationale for the research, and the object of the research]. This will clarify the issue and help you stay on track. The proposal abstract is written in the future tense for what you [researcher] intend to accomplish, methodology, etc. At the end of the research paper, the researcher returns to the abstract and rewrites it in the third person, as the research has concluded. I hope this helps you.

week2.docx

1

6

Research problem

Writing the First Section of the Criminal Justice Proposal

First Section of the Criminal Justice Research Proposal

Research question: To what extent is residents’ exposure to or perceptions of community-policing practices associated with their levels of trust in law enforcement and perceptions of neighborhood safety in Miami, Florida?

Subproblems

One of the main research challenges is the lack of research evidence concerning the link between community-policing practices, residents' trust in police, and perceptions of neighborhood safety. The subproblems are: (1) What is the relationship between residents' perception of the role of police visibility and their level of trust in the police? How does residents' trust relate to how they perceive that the police are doing their job fairly and promptly? (3) What is the relationship between community involvement in policing and people's notions of neighborhood safety?

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

The research will adopt procedural justice theory for guidance. The theory suggests that an individual's feelings of fairness in their encounter with authority affect their trust, legitimacy evaluation, and cooperation with authority. In the context of community policing, residents feeling fair, respectful, transparent, and responsive to citizens might be more likely to trust policing and cooperate with law enforcement (Hevi et al., 2022).

A Priori Hypotheses

The first hypothesis states that residents who report greater perceptions of fairness and responsiveness in community-policing practices will report higher levels of trust in law enforcement. The second hypothesis states that greater exposure to or perceptions of community-policing practices will be positively associated with residents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety. These hypotheses are theoretically sound and have been backed up by research that supports the idea that a well-designed community-policing model might help to promote safety and crime prevention in the neighborhood (Alehegn et al., 2025).

Key Concepts and Variables

The independent variables are; police visibility, communication, fairness, being attuned, and community participation. They will be evaluated by residents' responses to a survey asking them about their experiences and perceptions of the relationship with the police. Perceived neighborhood safety and trust in law enforcement will be considered dependent variables.

My Assumptions

The study takes the stance that participants will remain honest with the researcher in their answers with regard to experiences and perceptions of the police. It also assumes the questions in the survey will be comprehensible to respondents, and the respondents will have some familiarity with or awareness of the policing practices in their community, or local neighborhood, in order to answer the questions.

Delimitations

It will include only community members, and the relationship among community-policing practices, trust in the police, and neighborhood safety will be examined. It will not review other areas of the police service like the salaries of police officers, various criminal sentencing options, recruitment for officers, or national crime patterns.

Possible Limitations

Some limitations are self-report bias, as the participant might give socially desirable answers or their personal experiences may affect the answers. Some of the limitations of sampling may also limit the generalizability of findings (Ormrod, 2023).

References

Alehegn, D., Karunakaran, R., & Engida, B. (2025). The role of community policing structures in enhancing safety, security, and local crime prevention in Addis Ababa City Administration. SN Social Sciences, 5(10), 168.

Hevi, S. S., Ketemepi, G. E., Dorkoo, C., & Wuttor, A. (2022). Community policing experience, public trust in the police, citizens’ psychological safety and community well-being in Ghana. Safer Communities, 21(2), 123–136.

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

Writing assignment 2

Writing the Criminal Justice Literature Review

Complete a Literature Review of four (4) sources related to your research question. Use the Review of the Literature example on pages 80-85 of your text, and make sure that you answer the following questions for each of the sources:

What is the research question?

What is the theoretical framework?

Briefly describe the methodology.

Briefly describe the results.

Briefly describe how this research pertains to your research.

Format the assignment exactly as stated in your textbook.

You must complete the assignment with a minimum of 500 words.

D1 250 words

Research proposals generally have a section or chapter that describes the theoretical perspectives and previous research findings related to the associated research problem.

What role does the literature review play in your proposal

Describe five benefits you believe will be associated with your literature review.

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

D2 250 words

Conducting the Literature Search

Conducting the literature search for your literature review can be a very frustrating process. Pages 74-75 in your text describe a concrete and effective method for mind mapping.

Write out your research problem and sub-problems, then identify the associated keywords or phrases. From there, you can translate your keywords into specific topics you need to learn more about. Complete the assignment as shown in Figure 3.1 in your text and attach it to your narrative post. Did you try the keywords in a library search?

Describe the five general resources for locating related literature referred to in your text and describe how you will utilize them in your literature search. Make sure you include the keywords you utilized. Did they return what you expected? And how would you change/improve them?

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

evaluationassign1.docx

Written Assignment 1 Evaluation

Recommended Score: 44/50 — 88%

Rubric Criterion	Score	Evaluation
Conceptual Development and Application of the Theories	8.5/10	Level 3. You demonstrated good knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis. The research question is specific and identifies the population/location, community-policing practices, trust, and neighborhood safety. Procedural justice theory is appropriately selected and connected to fairness, legitimacy, trust, and cooperation. The hypotheses and variables generally follow logically from the research question. However, development is not yet at the Level 4 standard of demonstrating all six competencies, particularly synthesis and evaluation. The proposal would benefit from a fuller explanation of why procedural justice theory is the best framework and how its concepts specifically connect the independent and dependent variables.
Research Quality and Thoroughness	10/10	Level 4. The submission uses three relevant academic sources and incorporates them into the discussion rather than merely listing them. Hevi et al. (2022) support the procedural-justice/community-trust discussion, Alehegn et al. (2025) support the community-policing/safety relationship, and Ormrod (2023) support the research-design discussion. This exceeds the rubric requirement of at least one credible and relevant source.
Writing Quality	8.5/10	Level 3. Your paper is generally readable and appropriately scholarly, but several editing issues prevent it from receiving full credit. Examples include “The independent variables are;” rather than a colon; awkward wording such as “residents feeling fair, respectful, transparent…”; and the subproblem paragraph skipping from (1) to (3) without labeling the second question. Some sentences could also be tightened for greater precision and graduate-level clarity.
Structure, Organization, and Length	10/10	Level 4. The submission is approximately 588 words, satisfying the 500-word minimum. It is logically divided into research question, subproblems, framework, hypotheses, variables, assumptions, delimitations, and limitations. These sections closely correspond to the Chapter 2 structure for developing the first section of a proposal. One substantive issue should nevertheless be addressed in the revision: the study's significance is not clearly developed as a distinct component, even though Chapter 2 identifies its importance in the proposal's first section.
Format and APA	8.5/10	Level 4. The document uses 1-inch margins, includes in-text citations and a separate reference section, and generally follows an academic-paper format. However, there are several APA/presentation issues. The date should read “September 3, 2026” with a space after the comma. Headings appear centered throughout rather than consistently following APA heading conventions. The reference entries also require closer APA formatting, including journal title and volume in italics and DOI information when available. These are correctable issues but warrant Level 3 rather than Level 4.
TOTAL	45.5/50	91%

Professor’s feedback

Travis, this is a strong beginning to your research proposal. You have developed a focused, researchable question examining the relationship among community policing practices, trust in law enforcement, and perceived neighborhood safety in Miami. Your selection of procedural justice theory is particularly appropriate because fairness, transparency, respectful treatment, legitimacy, and cooperation are directly relevant to the relationships you propose to examine. Your identification of independent and dependent variables also demonstrates that you are moving toward a workable quantitative research design.

For the next assignment, deepen the analysis and synthesis rather than simply identifying each required component. Explain more clearly how procedural justice theory connects your variables and why it provides the most appropriate theoretical lens for the study. Also review the subproblems: the numbering currently jumps from (1) to an unnumbered question, then to (3). Consider making each subproblem distinct and explicitly connected to the primary research question. Most importantly, develop a brief significance/importance of the study section explaining why examining community policing, trust, and neighborhood safety in Miami matters to criminal justice scholarship, police practice, and the community. Chapter 2 specifically identifies the study's importance in the proposal's first section.

Finally, conduct another careful proofreading and APA review. Correct minor grammar and punctuation issues, refine awkward sentences, and ensure that headings and references conform to APA 7th edition requirements. Overall, you have established a clear, feasible, and promising foundation for the larger research proposal. With additional theoretical synthesis, attention to the study's significance, and APA polishing, this can develop into a very strong proposal.

Recommended: For any research or paper you write in academia, I highly encourage the development of a problem statement.

How to Write a Problem Statement in Four Easy Steps – Tutorial [context of the issue, problems or issues, rationale for the research, and the object of the research]. This will clarify the issue and help you stay on track. The proposal abstract is written in the future tense for what you [researcher] intend to accomplish, methodology, etc. At the end of the research paper, the researcher returns to the abstract and rewrites it in the third person, as the research has concluded. I hope this helps you.

week2.docx

1

6

Research problem

Writing the First Section of the Criminal Justice Proposal

First Section of the Criminal Justice Research Proposal

Research question: To what extent is residents’ exposure to or perceptions of community-policing practices associated with their levels of trust in law enforcement and perceptions of neighborhood safety in Miami, Florida?

Subproblems

One of the main research challenges is the lack of research evidence concerning the link between community-policing practices, residents' trust in police, and perceptions of neighborhood safety. The subproblems are: (1) What is the relationship between residents' perception of the role of police visibility and their level of trust in the police? How does residents' trust relate to how they perceive that the police are doing their job fairly and promptly? (3) What is the relationship between community involvement in policing and people's notions of neighborhood safety?

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

The research will adopt procedural justice theory for guidance. The theory suggests that an individual's feelings of fairness in their encounter with authority affect their trust, legitimacy evaluation, and cooperation with authority. In the context of community policing, residents feeling fair, respectful, transparent, and responsive to citizens might be more likely to trust policing and cooperate with law enforcement (Hevi et al., 2022).

A Priori Hypotheses

The first hypothesis states that residents who report greater perceptions of fairness and responsiveness in community-policing practices will report higher levels of trust in law enforcement. The second hypothesis states that greater exposure to or perceptions of community-policing practices will be positively associated with residents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety. These hypotheses are theoretically sound and have been backed up by research that supports the idea that a well-designed community-policing model might help to promote safety and crime prevention in the neighborhood (Alehegn et al., 2025).

Key Concepts and Variables

The independent variables are; police visibility, communication, fairness, being attuned, and community participation. They will be evaluated by residents' responses to a survey asking them about their experiences and perceptions of the relationship with the police. Perceived neighborhood safety and trust in law enforcement will be considered dependent variables.

My Assumptions

The study takes the stance that participants will remain honest with the researcher in their answers with regard to experiences and perceptions of the police. It also assumes the questions in the survey will be comprehensible to respondents, and the respondents will have some familiarity with or awareness of the policing practices in their community, or local neighborhood, in order to answer the questions.

Delimitations

It will include only community members, and the relationship among community-policing practices, trust in the police, and neighborhood safety will be examined. It will not review other areas of the police service like the salaries of police officers, various criminal sentencing options, recruitment for officers, or national crime patterns.

Possible Limitations

Some limitations are self-report bias, as the participant might give socially desirable answers or their personal experiences may affect the answers. Some of the limitations of sampling may also limit the generalizability of findings (Ormrod, 2023).

References

Alehegn, D., Karunakaran, R., & Engida, B. (2025). The role of community policing structures in enhancing safety, security, and local crime prevention in Addis Ababa City Administration. SN Social Sciences, 5(10), 168.

Hevi, S. S., Ketemepi, G. E., Dorkoo, C., & Wuttor, A. (2022). Community policing experience, public trust in the police, citizens’ psychological safety and community well-being in Ghana. Safer Communities, 21(2), 123–136.

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

Writing assignment 2

Writing the Criminal Justice Literature Review

Complete a Literature Review of four (4) sources related to your research question. Use the Review of the Literature example on pages 80-85 of your text, and make sure that you answer the following questions for each of the sources:

What is the research question?

What is the theoretical framework?

Briefly describe the methodology.

Briefly describe the results.

Briefly describe how this research pertains to your research.

Format the assignment exactly as stated in your textbook.

You must complete the assignment with a minimum of 500 words.

D1 250 words

Research proposals generally have a section or chapter that describes the theoretical perspectives and previous research findings related to the associated research problem.

What role does the literature review play in your proposal

Describe five benefits you believe will be associated with your literature review.

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

D2 250 words

Conducting the Literature Search

Conducting the literature search for your literature review can be a very frustrating process. Pages 74-75 in your text describe a concrete and effective method for mind mapping.

Write out your research problem and sub-problems, then identify the associated keywords or phrases. From there, you can translate your keywords into specific topics you need to learn more about. Complete the assignment as shown in Figure 3.1 in your text and attach it to your narrative post. Did you try the keywords in a library search?

Describe the five general resources for locating related literature referred to in your text and describe how you will utilize them in your literature search. Make sure you include the keywords you utilized. Did they return what you expected? And how would you change/improve them?

Ormrod, J. E. (2023). Practical research: Design and process (13th ed.). Pearson Education.

evaluationassign1.docx

Written Assignment 1 Evaluation

Recommended Score: 44/50 — 88%

Rubric Criterion	Score	Evaluation
Conceptual Development and Application of the Theories	8.5/10	Level 3. You demonstrated good knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis. The research question is specific and identifies the population/location, community-policing practices, trust, and neighborhood safety. Procedural justice theory is appropriately selected and connected to fairness, legitimacy, trust, and cooperation. The hypotheses and variables generally follow logically from the research question. However, development is not yet at the Level 4 standard of demonstrating all six competencies, particularly synthesis and evaluation. The proposal would benefit from a fuller explanation of why procedural justice theory is the best framework and how its concepts specifically connect the independent and dependent variables.
Research Quality and Thoroughness	10/10	Level 4. The submission uses three relevant academic sources and incorporates them into the discussion rather than merely listing them. Hevi et al. (2022) support the procedural-justice/community-trust discussion, Alehegn et al. (2025) support the community-policing/safety relationship, and Ormrod (2023) support the research-design discussion. This exceeds the rubric requirement of at least one credible and relevant source.
Writing Quality	8.5/10	Level 3. Your paper is generally readable and appropriately scholarly, but several editing issues prevent it from receiving full credit. Examples include “The independent variables are;” rather than a colon; awkward wording such as “residents feeling fair, respectful, transparent…”; and the subproblem paragraph skipping from (1) to (3) without labeling the second question. Some sentences could also be tightened for greater precision and graduate-level clarity.
Structure, Organization, and Length	10/10	Level 4. The submission is approximately 588 words, satisfying the 500-word minimum. It is logically divided into research question, subproblems, framework, hypotheses, variables, assumptions, delimitations, and limitations. These sections closely correspond to the Chapter 2 structure for developing the first section of a proposal. One substantive issue should nevertheless be addressed in the revision: the study's significance is not clearly developed as a distinct component, even though Chapter 2 identifies its importance in the proposal's first section.
Format and APA	8.5/10	Level 4. The document uses 1-inch margins, includes in-text citations and a separate reference section, and generally follows an academic-paper format. However, there are several APA/presentation issues. The date should read “September 3, 2026” with a space after the comma. Headings appear centered throughout rather than consistently following APA heading conventions. The reference entries also require closer APA formatting, including journal title and volume in italics and DOI information when available. These are correctable issues but warrant Level 3 rather than Level 4.
TOTAL	45.5/50	91%

Professor’s feedback

Travis, this is a strong beginning to your research proposal. You have developed a focused, researchable question examining the relationship among community policing practices, trust in law enforcement, and perceived neighborhood safety in Miami. Your selection of procedural justice theory is particularly appropriate because fairness, transparency, respectful treatment, legitimacy, and cooperation are directly relevant to the relationships you propose to examine. Your identification of independent and dependent variables also demonstrates that you are moving toward a workable quantitative research design.

For the next assignment, deepen the analysis and synthesis rather than simply identifying each required component. Explain more clearly how procedural justice theory connects your variables and why it provides the most appropriate theoretical lens for the study. Also review the subproblems: the numbering currently jumps from (1) to an unnumbered question, then to (3). Consider making each subproblem distinct and explicitly connected to the primary research question. Most importantly, develop a brief significance/importance of the study section explaining why examining community policing, trust, and neighborhood safety in Miami matters to criminal justice scholarship, police practice, and the community. Chapter 2 specifically identifies the study's importance in the proposal's first section.

Finally, conduct another careful proofreading and APA review. Correct minor grammar and punctuation issues, refine awkward sentences, and ensure that headings and references conform to APA 7th edition requirements. Overall, you have established a clear, feasible, and promising foundation for the larger research proposal. With additional theoretical synthesis, attention to the study's significance, and APA polishing, this can develop into a very strong proposal.

Recommended: For any research or paper you write in academia, I highly encourage the development of a problem statement.

How to Write a Problem Statement in Four Easy Steps – Tutorial [context of the issue, problems or issues, rationale for the research, and the object of the research]. This will clarify the issue and help you stay on track. The proposal abstract is written in the future tense for what you [researcher] intend to accomplish, methodology, etc. At the end of the research paper, the researcher returns to the abstract and rewrites it in the third person, as the research has concluded. I hope this helps you.

week2.docx

evaluationassign1.docx

week2.docx

evaluationassign1.docx

week2.docx