Students will write a research paper that investigates an issue of racial equity and justice currently facing the criminal justice system. These projects can take many forms such as how crime affects a community (e.g. missing Native American women). Another example of a project would be an examination of a trend such as race-based hate crimes in the 21st century. Lastly, students might explore whether an area of the system discriminates by race and responses to that discrimination. For example, do police use excessive force against African Americans? If so, what have been effective policy responses to the problem? Several types of projects could work for the assignment. Students should discuss their ideas with Dr. Johnson to determine their viability.
The projects should discuss as much relevant material as possible to explain and substantiate the research conclusions. However, the primary sources for these papers should be scholarly books and articles from academic journals. The body of the paper should be a minimum of two thousand words (approximately seven double-spaced pages using the size 12 Times New Roman font). Projects must follow a recognized writing and citation style. Failure to properly cite sources will lead to a substantial loss of points and possible failure of the assignment. This paper is worth one hundred points of the total grade. The research paper is due at the beginning of class on November 25th. Papers received after this time without prior approval of the instructor will not be accepted
