ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR COURSE PROJECT

COURSE PROJECTS/MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS/EXAMINATIONS

Students must conduct research in two different areas:

1. ETHICS

2. INDEPENDENT POLICE REVIEW

1. ETHICS RESEARCH COMPONENT OF COURSE PROJECT:

Students must select at least FOUR articles involving ethical or professional lapses/issues* in at least three different professions within criminal justice (Police, Judges, Prosecutors, Correctional Officers, Probation/Parole officers, etc.), write summaries in their own words, and answer specific questions as instructed during class.

You narrative/discussion should include:

• Identification of the agency/unit/organization and/or persons
  involved.
• Nature of incident/decision/action or circumstances involved.
  Background of professional involved (Education, length of
  service, family, etc.)
• Identification of the code of ethics or professional conduct
  applicable to the individual involved.
• Identification of the specific section or sections which apply to the case discussed.
• Your perception of the reason for the violation (motivation involved)
• Exploration of who benefited from the violation and how.
• Exploration and identification of who suffered or was disadvantaged
  as a result of the violation.
• Options (lawful) available to the violator and consequences of choosing those options.
• Organizational and individual consequences as a result of the violation.
  (Law suit, government fines, government oversight, disbanding of organization or unit, incarceration or termination of persons involved, etc.
  Each of the categories above should be a separate heading which is either underlined or in bold.

Possible Violators must have been engaged in the performance of their official duty. The commission of a criminal offense in their private activities is not applicable to this research.

Students may also use articles describing exemplary behavior or conduct on the part of criminal justice professionals as part of the seven article
requirement described above. The conduct could involve incidents in which the professional was able to chose among a variety of "lawful"
options, and picked the most ethical (based on principle, etc.) but least personally beneficial course of action. The option selected must
have stood out because of any of the following:

• The decision was unpopular
• Some material loss to the decision maker
• Condemnation by the media because of the decision
• Termination from employment
• Political pressures
  Other negative consequences-describe
  You could use an example involving an incident/person/s you are familiar with, other than involving yourself.

Example activities/issues:

Enforcement policy of police agencies, discretionary acts by criminal justice officials, hiring and firing
decisions, judicial rulings, prosecutorial decisions to charge or not to charge persons with crimes, treatment of inmates by correctional personnel, excessive use of force by correctional or police officers, decisions to arrest, cite or warn, use of government funds, disciplinary actions taken or not taken against criminal justice personnel, honesty in public hearings, accumulation, retention and use of privileged information, election irregularities, dishonesty in public or election statements/campaigns, cover-ups of criminal activities on the part of other criminal justice officials, unfairness in treatment of subordinates, using governmental position for personal gain differential treatment based on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, national origin, affectional preference or sexual orientation, etc., speaking out against injustice or unlawful activities within a person's own organization, admitting to having made a mistake, and other activities approved by the instructor.

*Whistleblower articles are also appropriate. They may provide an example of one or more persons with high ethical standards and an organization that lacks them.

2. INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF POLICE COMPONENT OF COURSE PROJECT
Students must review the Independent Police Auditor or similar office for TWO of the cities assigned during class. The review of exernal review related organizations shall indicate at minimum the following information:

City or jurisdiction involved
a. Structure/nature of Review Organization; i. e. who does it report to, authority given the organizations, when started, etc.
b. Selection process or qualifications of head of organization and job security of persons working for the authority/organization
c. Duty of organization
d. Reason for its creation
e. Problems with organization or its effectiveness

f. Available data or research regarding its effectiveness..how are they measuring it?
f. Your personal opinion concerning the information you found and what you have learned from it

Contrasting what you find with the City of Fresno Independent Police Auditor would be helpful. Document is accessible through the Blackboard course section.

Below is a partial list of the cities that will be assigned.

IN CALIFORNIA:

Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Long Beach, Berkeley, Claremond, Davis, National City, Novato, Oakland, Richmond, Riverside, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Sausalito.

NATIONALLY:

Tucson, Denver, New Haven, Miami, Orlando, Honlolulu, Boise, Chicago, Indianapolis, Iowa City, Baltimore, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, New York, Syracus, Cincinnati, Eugene, Portland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Memphis, Austin, Houston, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Washington D. C. etc.,

Students must be able to present the results of their research on the Independent Police Auditor on or before 19 September, and the course project is due in written form sent as an attachment in WORD via Email on the last day of class, but it may also be submitted early as installments during the 8 weeks of instruction.

1. The written portion of the entire project, not including title, student name, partially filled out pages, etc., must amount to TWENTY or more pages.