Essay Instructions: Public Policy Analysis Project
It is for this policy analysis to address the issue of prison overcrowding. Prison overcrowding has escalated in the United States to dwarf the comparative prison populations of other countries throughout the world. There must be a resolution to the growing epidemic.
Overcrowding in prisons does not produce the desired results of rehabilitation, reintegration, and recidivism reduction. There are numerous public policies that all collectively add to the direct causation of prison overcrowding. Among them is the “tough on crime” policies, sentencing guidelines, the lack of alternative methods, and funding.
The purpose of this public policy analysis paper will be to identify and evaluate public policy in the area of criminal justice that lead to prison overcrowding. The paper will also attempt to inform policy makers in the area of criminal justice on some steps that can be taken in the form of policy that will reduce prison populations. The hope of this policy paper is that policy makers in criminal justice will select the best policy to solve prison overcrowding.
Instructions:
A resource in the form of a PDF policy analysis guide will follow.
The paper must focus on structure, organization, grammar, clarity of presentation, and thoroughness in analyzing the policy.
Also, it must contain the following sections:
1. Policy Environment
2. Policy Effectiveness and Efficiency
3. Policy Alternatives
4. Summary of Comparison
5. Listing of sources in APA format
Every source cited must come from an academically peer reviewed journal, e.g. Journal of Criminal Justice.
US Governmental websites may be okay for some references, but not all.
Every source must be from 1999 or later.
At least 6 of the following sources should be used:
Applegate, B. K., Surette, R., & McCarthy, B. J. (1999). Detention and desistance from crime: Evaluating the influence of a new generation jail on recidivism. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 539??"548.
The Pew Center on the States (2008). One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. Retrieved on May 23, 2011 at http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/8015PCTS_Prison08_FINAL_2-1-1_FORWEB.pdf.
Karberg, J.C. and Beck, A.J. (2004). New Incarceration Figures: Thirty-Three Consecutive Years of Growth, The Sentencing Project, pp. 1??"5.
Austin, J. (2004). The proper and improper use of risk assessment in corrections. Federal
Sentencing Reporter, 16, 3, 194??"199.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2002). Correctional populations in the United States, 1998 (NCJ
192929). Retrieved from the official BJS website at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cpus98.pdf.
Chaiken, J. (2000). Crunching numbers: Crime and incarceration at the end of the millennium.
National Institute of Justice Journal, January, 10??"17. Retrieved from N.I.J. website at
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/jr000242c.pdf.
Davis, R.K., Applegate, B., Otto, C.W., Surette, R., and McCarthy, B.J. (2004). Roles and
responsibilities: Analyzing local leaders’ views on jail crowding from a systems perspective.
Crime and Delinquency, 50, 458??"482.
Huff, R.C. (2002). Wrongful convictions and public policy: The American Society of Criminology
2001 Presidential Address. Criminology, 40, 1, 1??"18.
Lab, S.P. (2004). Presidential address: Crime prevention, politics, and the art of going nowhere
fast. Justice Quarterly, 21, 4, 681??"692.
Lynch, J.P. and Sabol, W.J. (2004). Assessing the effects of mass incarceration on informal
social control in communities. Criminology and Public Policy, 3, 267??"294.
Lynch, M. (1999). Beating a dead horse: Is there any basic empirical evidence for the deterrent
effect of imprisonment? Crime, Law, and Social Change, 31:347??"362.
Mauer, M. (2005). Thinking about prison and its impact in the 21st century. Ohio State Journal of
Criminal Law, 2, 607??"618.
Moore, M.H. (2002). The limits of social science in guiding policy. Criminology and Public Policy,
2, 1, 33??"42.
There are faxes for this order.