Explain and examine the impact of injustice and/or differential treatment on a specific identity group in a way that relates to crime or criminal justice.

The goals of this course are for students to:

• Develop an understanding of the social and criminal justice-related factors related to cultural diversity and ethical treatment of diverse groups within the CJS.
• Explain and examine the impact of injustice and/or differential treatment on a specific identity group in a way that relates to crime or criminal justice.
For the research paper, students need to think about a criminal justice issue that results in differential treatment or injustice to a particular identity group and write a well-organized research paper that examines this. The research paper requirement is for students to pick a criminal justice (law, police, courts, sentencing, corrections, etc.) issue, problem, or policy and examine the impact on an identity group.
It is very important that students will select one issue, problem, OR policy within the CJS in regard to an identity group. Do not try to cover many issues- pick one! You also need to pick a focused topic. For example, race and the war on drugs is a very broad topic area- narrow down the topic since there is no way that you can sufficiently cover the war on drugs in a short research paper.
Is also crucial that students clearly identity the identity group. This can be race, class, gender, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, etc. You can pick more than one- and I encourage you to do this- since we are all part of many identity statuses. In this examination, students should explore what social and criminal justice factors impact the treatment of the identity group.
After selecting the issue and identity group students will conduct academic research and locate academic sources to complete a research paper.
The project is worth 100 points and there are two due dates:
Paper Topic Proposal Due: April 8 at 11p.m.
Final Paper Due: April 29 at 11p.m.
Paper Proposal: The paper proposal is a one page typed, double-spaced explanation of what you propose your paper will be about. This is worth 15 points. I will only allow a few students to do the same paper topic and I will grade these first come, first graded and approved. I will email the class if a topic “fills up.” This frequently happens with the topic of police brutality and war on drugs so consider other topics!!! Also, this is not just a paragraph about what your topic is. You need to write a one page paper clearly explaining how your topic will address an identity group and a CJ related issue and what you will write about- think of this of what sub-topics or sections your paper will be divided into. YOU MUST HAVE A TOPIC APPROVED TO MOVE FORWARD WITH YOUR PAPER!
Final Paper: November 19 and is worth 85 points.
Students will submit their paper into Safe Assign. This is a plagiarism check tool that will check each paper against existing sources and other student’s papers. You cannot use a paper that you wrote for another class. You must properly cite sources to avoid plagiarism.

Each paper must contain the following content:
Sources:
All papers must include a minimum of 4 academic sources (this includes ONLY peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly sources and published books). Keep in mind that news sources, organizational reports, and webpages are NOT academic sources. If you wish to use a non-academic source such as a government or organizational report you may do so only if you also have 4 academic sources. Do not use any websites and Wikipedia for any source. Textbooks also do not count toward the 4 academic resource count as well. Lastly, students may have more than 4 academic sources, this is a minimum. Most students will need more than 4 academic sources, this is the bare minimum.
If you need help with understanding and locating academic sources, the library offers a number of resources to students. For example, one-on-one help with research, live chats, etc. You can only locate many academic sources through the MSU library databases. Failure to have the minimum number of sources and/or failure to have academic sources will result in major point deduction. Essentially, a student who does not have the correct sources does not have a research paper. Also, you must cite each source in your paper that is in your reference page, or it will not be counted as a source.
Paper Format:
The key to succeeding on the paper is to carefully read the selected sources and address the above objectives.
• All papers need to have a title page. Students do not need to provide an annotated summary.
• NOT COUNTING THE TITLE PAGE OR THE REFERENCE PAGE- the paper needs to be 7 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, 10-12 pt font) paper. This page requirement does not include a title page and reference page. Your paper component needs to be 7 pages. This means with a title page and reference page your total paper count should be 9 pages.
• Each paper should have a reference page that is APA citation style. Do not use MLA. Points will be deducted when students do not use proper APA in-text citations and/or correct APA reference page.
• Papers should be double-spaced with margins no larger than 1” and typed in 10-12 pt. font.
• All papers need to have the selected research cited within the paper using APA in-text citation style and reference style. Student must cite research or it is considered plagiarism.
• All papers should be carefully edited and be free of spelling and grammatical errors. I strongly encourage all students to have another person read their paper before turning it in. I suggest using the Writing Center!
• Use direct quotes rarely in your paper. You should have as much of the paper as possible in your own words. Direct quotes should only be used if changing the wording greatly affects the meaning. You should put information in your words and cite properly. A paper full of direct quotes is not a paper that is written by a student and it usually does not flow well because the paper is in many voices. If you do use direct quotes, the sentences that are direct must be cited and in quotation marks.
• Do not use lists, charts, or graphs. This is not a long paper and the focus is on good writing and presentation of material.
• Avoid using vague terms. For example, don’t write “this is a huge issue”. Huge is a vague word and is not specific to the issue. Avoid using “you.” Avoid writing questions, use statements instead.
• I can’t stress enough how important good organization is. Papers should not be organized by source (basically summing up one source and then the next, etc.). Your paper should be organized by issue and your sources should be integrated into your paper. Best practice is to use sub-headings in your paper as well.

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