Reference no: EM133497482

Questions:

1. How do you think research has influenced the criminal justice system since the President's Commission in 1967 on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice? What examples can you give of research findings that have had a direct or indirect bearing on practice in the field?

2. Discuss why you think police officers and/or their supervisors may be skeptical of researchers asking questions in and around their department. Why would officers be inclined to cooperate or not cooperate? If you were the police chief how would handle this situation?

3. How has research been used in your own experience studying criminal justice? In your education, has research generally been viewed as offering facts and truth? Have you seen examples in political campaigns or other circumstances where research has been used as a source of coercive power? Have any of your assignments reflected a participatory or self-study approach? If not, what would such assignments look like?

4. To what extent does an agency's reliance on its folklore to enhance its self-image impede planned change? Police agencies, for example, may see themselves as fighting a war on crime, or corrections administrators may see the primary role of their institutions as rehabilitation.

5. Provide a definition of a "change agent". What ethical responsibilities do change agents have? Discuss what personality traits or characteristics you believe would make a good change agent.