CRIM 2652 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Due Process, Edmonton Journal, Factiva
14 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
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SOSC/CRIM 2652 Criminal Justice Systems (Pratt)
Guidelines for the Media Analysis Assignment
Length: 5-6 pages
Due : Feb. 27th , 2014 (in class)
A) CHOOSING YOUR ARTICLE
1) Students will select a current newspaper or magazine article, published between September 1st
2013 and February 14th, 2014, that deals in some detail with a criminal justice topic of interest. It
should be more than a brief crime report. The article should relate to a criminal justice policy,
practice, issue or debate.
2) The article should discuss in some detail a criminal justice practice, process, event or issue that
is addressed in the course materials (lectures or readings). The major component of this
assignment is to critically analyze the story in light of the major themes of criminal justice as
discussed in lectures and readings. These are: 1) due process and crime control; 2) the myth of the
‘system’ (multiple mandates, system complexity and diversity, competing interests); 3) discretion;
4) accountability; 5)inequality; and 6) socio-historical context. You should keep these themes in
mind when selecting your article.
3) The article which you select may be ‘case specific’(one that discusses in some detail a
particular criminal case) or ‘issue specific’ one that discusses a particular criminal justice event or
issue that is not limited to a particular case. Or, it may do a little of both. Keep in mind that this
assignment will be easier to do if the article contains more substantial discussion/analysis of the
event or issue in question such as that found most commonly in editorials and commentaries.
4) You may want to choose your article by looking through current Canadian newspapers or
magazines or you may want to do a media search at the library (see below).
B) WHAT SHOULD YOUR PAPER INCLUDE?
1) Introduction (approximately one paragraph)
The introduction defines the purpose and sets the parameters (the scope) of the paper. It should
preview your main points, and foreshadow the order in which your points will be discussed. By
the end of the introduction the reader should know the subject of your paper and the way in which
you will discuss it. This section should be approximately one paragraph long.
2) Body
a) What is the article that provides the focus for your discussion? (approximately
one paragraph)
Introduce and provide a brief summary of the article that you have selected. Be sure to
reference your article (include the title, author/journalist and source (name of
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2
newspaper/magazine, date, page number(s)). Your summary should include: the main
criminal justice event(s)or topic(s) addressed; the key features of the story; the main issues
raised; and central arguments or recommendations made (if any).
b) What is the institutional and operational criminal justice framework of the topic(s)
addressed in the article? Approximately one page.
Identify and briefly describe and explain the key stage(s) of the administration of criminal
justice that is/are most relevant to the topic of the article. In this effort it may be helpful to
think about what information about the administration of criminal justice (the components
of criminal justice, the stages of decision-making, the functions and operations of criminal
justice) would provide the reader with a more complete understanding of the topic(s)
addressed in the article.
Provide this information by drawing from and referencing relevant information from the
article, text, readings or lectures. For example, if the article has to do with the topic of
parole, provide a brief description of the most relevant aspects of the parole process. If the
article addresses an event or issue having to do with sentencing, provide a brief discussion
of the most relevant aspects of the sentencing process. Imagine that somebody who knows
nothing about the criminal justice system has read the article which you have chosen and
that you need to give them some empirical background information about the nuts and
bolts of the relevant parts of the criminal justice system raised in the article in order that
they might have a fuller understanding of the article and the specific topic which it
addresses.
Your article is likely to raise more than one component of criminal justice - you you
should indicate that you know what they are, but you do not have to describe all of them.
Address what you believe to be the most important aspects and explain why.
c) Critical analysis: how does the media story link with the broader themes of
criminal justice? (approximately four pages)
This is the most important component of the assignment. This section should be the most
expansive in your paper. Ask yourself how the story/article relates to (raises, illuminates,
exemplifies) the major themes of criminal justice - as discussed in lectures. The themes
may not be explicitly mentioned in the article; they may be implicit or implied.
Moreover, the themes of criminal justice are overlapping and related. Your selected
article/story is likely to raise several themes. Your analysis should be as comprehensive
as possible.
This part of the paper requires that you think more analytically about, and probe more
deeply into, the criminal justice topic addressed in the article. It requires you to make
analytical connections between the specific topic of the article, the issues which it
addresses, how it addresses the issues in light of the criminal justice themes which it
raises.
The following brief examples are intended to help you get a sense of the kind of analyses
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Document Summary
Due : feb. 27th , 2014 (in class) 1: choosing your article, students will select a current newspaper or magazine article, published between september 1st. 2013 and february 14th, 2014, that deals in some detail with a criminal justice topic of interest. It should be more than a brief crime report. The article should relate to a criminal justice policy, practice, issue or debate: the article should discuss in some detail a criminal justice practice, process, event or issue that is addressed in the course materials (lectures or readings). The major component of this assignment is to critically analyze the story in light of the major themes of criminal justice as discussed in lectures and readings. These are: 1) due process and crime control; 2) the myth of the. System" (multiple mandates, system complexity and diversity, competing interests); 3) discretion: accountability; 5)inequality; and 6) socio-historical context. The introduction defines the purpose and sets the parameters (the scope) of the paper.
