Week 9 RJA

Week 9 RJA

Argumentative Paper Thesis:

Research Question: Are kids who go to jail more likely to re-offend than those who get probation?

Precise Claim: Kids who go to jail are more likely to re-offend than those who get probation. 

Reasons/Blueprint: 

·        Jail is a punishment but, it doesn't teach any lessons.

·        Probation gives you more "real life" experience with resisting temptations.

·        Probation officers can also serve as counselors.

·        Once juveniles are in the system they may never get out.

·        People who are in jail often get out and don't know how to function in the real world; this could be very detrimental for a child.

Thesis: Juveniles who do jail time are more likely to not re-offend than those who are given the alternative sentence of probation because once juveniles are in the system they may never get out and after being in jail people often get out and don't know how to function in the real world; this could be very detrimental for a child. 

Argument:

Research Question: Are kids who receive probation more likely to re-offend than those who go to jail?

Thesis: Juveniles who receive probation are more likely to re-offend than those who are given the alternative sentence of jail time because 

4 Reasons:

·        Probation isn't really a punishment; jail is,

·        Many kids offend because of  a lack of structure in their lives; jail teaches structure.

·        Jail is often the punishment for a second or third time offender for whom probation was not successful.

·       If jail were the standard punishment it may scare some kids aware from offending at all.

3 Objections/Counterarguments:

·        Probation also teaches structure. It requires very intensive monitoring and surveillance which can teach responsibility and accountability. 

·        Some kids make once in a life time mistake that they will never make again. These types of offenders will not benefit from jail therefore, it should not be the "standard" punishment. 

·        Historically the juvenile justice program in the United States was meant to serve as a rehabilitation program rather than a program geared towards incarceration. We shouldn't try to fix something that isn't broken.

Week 8 RJA

Week 8 RJA

Field Research Plan

For my field research I will be conducting an interview with a juvenile probation officer. I have placed a call to the Arapahoe County Probation Department to see if they will allow such an interview and to see who is available for an interview. I think that this person will have at least a bachelors degree in social work or a masters in social work. I am hopeful that they will allow this. I would like to conduct this interview in the next month or so. Following are some questions that I would like to ask the probation officer:

What education do you have?

Where did you go to school?

What are the requirements for this job?

What types of clients do you have?

What types of cases do you see?

What is the most predominate infraction that your clients deal with?

What are your job duties?

What is a typical day like?

Do you testify in court often?

What are the requirements of probation?

What do you think the challenges of probation are?

How do you fulfill the requirements of probation?

On average, how many people do you think are successful with probation?

What do you consider a success?

What constitutes a probation violation?

How many violations are allowed before being thrown out of the program?

How does a client receive probation over jail?

What happens if you violate probation?

Do you have many repeat clients?

Is there a part of probation that teaches against re-offense?

Do you enjoy your work?

MLA-Style Annotated Bibliography

1.      The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. "Court System in the United States — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813817.html#ixzz1Fz3qr2qS>

The writers of the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia and Infoplease.com are focused on education and providing information for educational purposes. The authors provide comprehensive and relatable guidelines to the U.S. Court systems. This source is especially useful to me when providing an detailed accounting of our court systems. It will help to understand the reasons why and how people  end up in the system and how the system works; this information is essential for a background essay.

2.      Hult, John. "Minor Crimes Landing Kids in Jail; Study First Step in Finding Alternatives to Juvenile Detention" Argusleader.com. Published 02/18/11. 

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110219/NEWS/102190312/Minor-crimes-landing-kids-jail?odyssey=nav|head

The author of this article is an accredited journalist. This article focuses on the alternatives to juvenile detention. I think that this information is important because at the heart of my paper is the alternatives to juvenile detention. In a background essay it is important to also identify alternatives.

3.       "Archives." The Crime Report - Your Complete Criminal Justice Source. 28 July 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2011. <http://www.thecrimereport.org/archive/juvenile-justice-budget-shortfalls>.

The Crime Report website states that it's mission is to "serve as a resource and a marketplace of ideas for journalists, practitioners, researchers, and the general public." Therefore it would seem as though they are a professional organization with a lot of expertise on the topic of Criminal Justice. This particular article focuses on the shortfalls that may occur within the juvenile justice program. This information is important to understand what the oppositions may be in the juvenile justice program.

4.      Cox, Steven M. Juvenile Justice: a Guide to Theory, Policy, and Practice. 6th ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008. Print.

The author of this book focuses on the policies, practices and theories of the field of juvenile justice. This text includes information on the history of juvenile justice and the current practices. This text is more informational than those that may offer opinions. I think that it is important to find unbiased information for a background essay; opinions will be more appropriate for the actual paper.

Week 7 RJA

Week 7 RJA

Evaluation of Sources:

1. Reference Article:

Bibliographic information: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. court system in the United States — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813817.html#ixzz1Fz3qr2qS

Evaluation: The authority of this reference article is very high in my opinion. The Columbia Encyclopedia is a very credible resource and I believe that the expertise of the author is also very high. I am unsure as to the specific author of this article but would say that anyone who is writing for the Columbia Encyclopedia accredited and affiliated with Columbia. Although the guidelines say that websites, especially those that do not list an author, are not the most credible I am more apt to believe that Columbia is a very trusted resource. The timeliness of this article is questionable because it was published in 2007 and has not been updated since then. Although the topic of this resource not to be one that would need to be updated often. The documentation of this resource is great because it is from an Encyclopedia so they would not reference any other resources; this resource is one that others would use as a cite-able resource. Bibliography information is provided and related links are provided. I believe that the purpose and audience are presented to inform and not really to persuade for this reason I believe that it is scholarly and does not provide any bias. I also believe that this organization is produced by a v3ery credible organization. As for the review process I am not sure where to access this information for the Columbia Encyclopedia. While I do believe that an Encyclopedia is probably peer reviewed I'm not able to verify this. I absolutely believe that this information is written at a level that I can understand and that the information contained therein is completely suitable for my topic.

2.  Periodical Article:

Bibliographic information: Hult, John. "Minor Crimes Landing Kids in Jail; Study First Step in Finding Alternatives to Juvenile Detention" Argusleader.com. Published 02/18/11. 

Link:http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110219/NEWS/102190312/Minor-crimes-landing-kids-jail?odyssey=nav|head

Evaluation: The authority of this article is not very strong. The host website does not offer any information regarding the author or what his expertise he may have on the subject. He is a journalist and I do believe that he must maintain certain ethical standards. The timeliness of this article is very good this article was created less than one month ago so the information contained therein should still be very accurate. I do not believe that the documentation is very good at all. The article does not provide any bibliography information, links or refer to other works. I believe that the purpose of this article is informative and news related and that the target audience is for the general public. I do believe that the article may show some bias and appears to swing a bit to the left. I do not see that there is any review process for this website. I do believe that this information was presented at a level that I can understand and that it contains information that will be useful for my paper.

3.  Website:

Bibliographic information:

Link: http://www.thecrimereport.org/archive/juvenile-justice-budget-shortfalls. Wednesday, July 28, 2010 11:40. Juvenile Justice & Budget Shortfalls. The Crime Report, Your Complete Criminal Justice Source.

Evaluation: I believe that the authority of this source is very good. The website says that it's mission is to "serve as a resource and a marketplace of ideas for journalists, practitioners, researchers, and the general public." Therefore it would seem as though they are a professional organization with a lot of expertise on the topic of Criminal Justice. The credentials listed are very good as well.  The information provided is fairly up to date and the website on the whole appears to be updated regularly.  The authors do provide, and supports their statements with,  a lot of references and links to other pages and resources. Bibliographic information is not provided. I believe that the purpose of this resource is informative and scholarly. It would also appear that their goal is to remain unbiased. I do believe that there is a review process before publication but I do not see that there is a critical review after publication. I believe that the information contained is very suitable for my purposes and written at a level that I could understand.

4. Book:

Bibliographic Information: Steven M. Cox, Jennifer M. Allen, Robert D. Hanser, John J. Conrad

·        Juvenile Justice; A Guide to Theory, Policy and Practice, 6th Edition, Published in the USA, Copyright 2008 by Sage Publications, Inc.

Evaluation: I believe that the authority of this source is very good.The credentials of the authors are very good and the information provided is up to date. I believe that this book is a part of a series so it is updated regularly. The authors do provide, and supports their statements with,  a lot of references and resources. Bibliographic information is easily accessible. I believe that the purpose of this resource is informative and scholarly. It would also appear that the information provided is unbiased. I do believe that there is a review process before publication but I do not see that there is a critical review after publication. I believe that the information contained is very suitable for my purposes and written at a level that I could understand.

Quotation, Paraphrase, and Summary:

But perhaps the most significant decision for juveniles came in 1967 when the Supreme Court decided In re Gault. (48) In this case the Court held that a juvenile charged with a delinquency in a juvenile court had four basic rights. (49) That is, if the act would constitute a crime if committed by an adult, the minor has a fight to advance written notice of the charges against her, the right to counsel, the fight to confront and question witnesses, and the right to protection against self-incrimination. (50) The Court did not role on the minor's right to appeal but encouraged the states to provide a process. In reaching its conclusion, the Court reviewed the history of the juvenile court system and the parens patriae rationale behind its lack of procedural due process rights, and its non-adversarial, civil nature. This overview of the system led the Justices to confront what it termed the reality of the juvenile court process, and they found that in the juvenile courts "unbridled discretion, however benevolently motivated, is frequently a poor substitute for principle and procedure." (51) Instead of leading to individual treatment as envisioned, the Court determined that this unbridled discretion resulted in arbitrariness and "unfairness to individuals and inadequate or inaccurate findings of fact and unfortunate proscriptions of remedy." (52)

Link:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NIV/is_1_6/ai_n25059984/?tag=content;col1

While many may believe that the juvenile justice system is lax on the children it services, many would be interested to find out that juvenile jail is harder than it may seem. In fact, in the late 1960's the Supreme Court completed a complete overhaul of the system. During this review it was discovered that "in the juvenile courts "unbridled discretion, however benevolently motivated, is frequently a poor substitute for principle and procedure."

Paraphrase: In the late 1960's the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles had four basic rights, if accused of an adult crime, all relating to due process: written notice of charges, counsel, cross examine witnesses and the 5th amendment as well as the right to an appeal process.

Summarize:

In 1967 the Supreme Court made a landmark decision ruling that juveniles had four basic rights if the act committed constituted an adult crime. These included: advance written notice of the charges, right to counsel, the right to confront and question witnesses and protection against self-incrimination. Although, the court did not rule on the right to appeal, the did encourage the process to the states. Ultimately, they discovered that the juvenile system exercised abhorrent practices and guidelines which created injustice for the individuals. 

Webpage Annotation:

Link :
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3720/is_200209/ai_n9131458/pg_3/?tag=content;col1

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