Assignment 1
The prosecutor is getting feedback from local law enforcement officers explaining that they are discouraged from making arrests in cases of domestic violence and child abuse. They claim that they have been neither making arrests in domestic violence situations nor arresting both parties when they go out on a call. It seems that abused women often go back to the abusers, and children who get removed from the homes where they have been abused often return after removal. These occurrences have been especially demoralizing to law enforcement.
One of your jobs in working as a victims' witness assistant is to help educate law enforcement on the nature and behaviors involved in domestic violence and child abuse. The prosecutor's office has decided that you should present each of the following topics for the next training session:
Topic 1: Domestic Violence: Your goal is to educate law enforcement to use best practices in the investigation of domestic abuse cases.
Include the following topics:
• How to approach a domestic violence situation when responding to an emergency call
o When the parties should be separated
o How to interview parties
o What information needs to be in the report and why
o How best to help a victim
o What laws protect victims, including the use of protection orders
o Why victims return to abusers
o Length of time it may take to stay away from their abusers
• Arrests
o The legal standard needed to make an arrest in a domestic violence case
o What evidence should be collected at the arrest
o Are dual arrests effective law enforcement
o How to assist domestic violence victims
Reluctant victims
Help for victims
Topic 2: Child Abuse: Your goal will be to educate law enforcement about the dynamics of abuse and neglect cases. Include the following topics:
• Signs of child abuse and categories (physical, sexual, emotional)
• Difference between abuse and neglect
o Legal description of neglect
• Use of guardian ad litems
o The legal standards that must be met in removal from the home
o Termination of parental rights
• Requirements of Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
• Role of court-appointed special advocates (CASA) in child abuse and neglect cases
• Role of Social Services in abuse and neglect cases
• You will act as a victims' witness assistant educate law enforcement on the nature and behaviors of domestic violence and child abuse.
You will present a PowerPoint presentation that addresses both domestic violence and child abuse.
• You will discuss BOTH TOPICS- Domestic violence & child abuse.
• Your slide presentation must be a minimum of 5-10 slides with speaker notes (see explanation below).
• The title slide/Introductory slide, and reference slide DO NOT count towards the minimum slide deliverable.
• This means you need a minimum of 5-10 BODY slides.
• You should have bulleted list/sentences on the slides themselves (not too much content- should be easy on the eyes)
• For EACH slide, you should have at least 2 paragraphs of explanatory content (i.e. speaker notes - this is where the core material comes into play).
• Remember that ONE paragraph equates to at least 4-5 sentences. You need TWO paragraphs per slide.
• The paragraphs of content need to be found in the "speaker notes" section for EACH slide.
• Again, you should have at least 2 paragraphs (8-10 sentences total) of speaker notes PER slide.
• Include citations in the speaker notes section for research conducted. Remember just like your individual projects, you still need a minimum of 4 sources.
• Include a minimum of 4 sources for your IP (citations included on slides w/ separate reference list slide).
Assignment 2
When collecting data, it is important to be aware of the types of data being collected for further analysis:
• Give 3 examples of qualitative data and 3 examples of quantitative data that would be found when researching any of the following criminal justice topics:
• Corrections
• Juvenile justice
• Victimology
Wording surveys, polls, and questionnaires can be tricky to ensure that the individual responding understands the questions presented. For example, asking an individual whether he or she owns a car could lead to various results depending on whether owning a car means paying the loan on the car versus the entire car being paid off. Also, does this imply owning trucks as well?
• Give an example of a question that might be found on a survey, poll, or questionnaire that could lead to incorrect or confusing results.
• Graphs are very useful in visualizing data. Give an example of a type of data that would be appropriate for each of the following:
o pie charts
o bar charts
o line charts
Assignment 3
Develop a questionnaire or interview with a minimum of 10 questions that address the criminal justice issue that you have selected.
• Make sure your questions are clear, concise, and unbiased.
• Consider the responses you might receive. Will these responses provide answers to the research question?
• You must use each of the 4 question types (open-ended, dichotomous, multiple choice, and scale) at least once.
• Have all questions related to your criminal justice issue been included?