Issues in Criminal Justice
[WLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4] [CLOs: 1, 2, 4]
Prior to beginning this assignment, consider that Messer, Patten, and Candela (2016) provides a helpful summary of life course theory on pages seven through eight. Also, note that Salvatore (2017) provides a helpful summary of life course theory on pages one through two. In addition, consider pages 697“698 in Zoutewelle-Terovan and Skardhamars (2016) article which provides helpful summaries of criminological theories. Review information in the Wright (2012) text on processes for law enforcement, the judiciary, and corrections. Finally, review the web-based materials FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting (Links to an external site.) and National Institute of Justice (Links to an external site.), which support this assignment in for this week.
In this assignment, you will explore a criminal justice issue and an associated criminal justice process. You will also consider an application for criminology that is relevant to that criminal justice issue.
This assignment consists of two parts: researching a criminal justice issue using the Ashford University Librarys database of scholarly journal articles and exploring the issue through the appointed prompts.
Researching a Criminal Justice Issue

Choose one article from a scholarly or credible (see Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table for an explanation of each type of resource) source published within the past five years that addresses a criminal justice issue in law enforcement, the judiciary, or corrections, relevant to one of the following areas: poverty, unemployment, education, or illegal drug use.

To find an article from the Ashford Library, please follow these steps:
*Note: To access the Ashford University Library directly, click on the Writing Center and Library links in your left navigation. Watch the Database Search Tips (Links to an external site.) video for more and see Searching the Ashford University Library document for assignment-specific search tips.

Click on the advanced search link located under the FindIt@AU search box

In the first search box, type social justice
In the second search box, type criminal justice
In the third search box type one of the following: poverty, unemployment, education, or drugs.
Scroll down to the date published limiter and adjust the search dates to include only the last 5 years
Click the search button .
Review your search results and select a library resource to analyze.

Summarizing the Issue and Processes. As you respond to the elements below, think about questions or issues addressed by the author(s) of the source that you select.
In your paper, drawing upon the article and/or other relevant scholarly or credible sources, address the following:

Explain a criminal justice issue in law enforcement, the judiciary, or corrections, relevant to one of the following areas: poverty, unemployment, education, or illegal drug use.
Describe at least one process for law enforcement, the judiciary, or corrections relevant to the criminal justice issue.
Describe an application for criminology that is relevant to the criminal justice issue.

To help you with this part, think about how a criminological theory could support a program or approach relevant to the criminal justice issue. For example, the article by Messer, Patten, and Candela (2016) relates life course theory to the use of drug courts.
If the article that you choose addresses a theory in criminology, you may use the article to help you address this part of the assignment. If the article does not address criminology, then please use one of the following resources: Messer et al. (2016), pages 7“8; Salvatore (2017), pages 1“2; or Zoutewelle-Terovan and Skardhamar (2016), pages 697“698.

The Issues in Criminal Justice paper

Must be a minimum of 500 words double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Centers APA Style (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate title page with the following:

Title of paper
Students name
Course name and number
Instructors name
Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.

For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.

Must use at least one scholarly or credible source published within the past five years in addition to the course text.

The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Centers Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.