Summative Assessment: Public Policy and Sentencing Guidelines
Sentencing guidelines are determined through best practice research and public policies. Criminal justice practitioners must be well-informed regarding public policies and trends that impact sentencing in order to uphold best practices. In this summative assessment, you look at your state’s sentencing guidelines for 2 crimes, as well as the public policies that influenced them.
Research examples of sentencing guidelines for 2 specific crimes in your state and the public policies that influenced these guidelines.
Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word analysis of sentencing guidelines and the related public policies. Address the following in your paper:
Identify the 2 crimes you researched.
Describe the sentencing guidelines in your state for each crime.
Compare the sentencing guidelines for adult offenders and juvenile offenders for each crime.
Compare the sentencing guidelines of your state to the guidelines of another state and the guidelines at the federal level for each crime.
Describe public policies and trends that influenced the sentencing guidelines in your state for the crimes you researched.
Explain the impetus for the public policies and data that supported the public policies.
Propose a change to the sentencing policies in your state for the crimes researched and substantiate your proposal with support from research on the benefits of this change.