The United States criminal justice system is governed by various sets of policies and practices developed from federal statues, regulations, and case law. Interpretation of these policies and practices is ultimately adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the United States, and that court’s decisions affect many practical, on-the-job components of everyday criminal justice professionals. For example, whether and how officers may legally stop, search, and seize evidence. As such, it is essential for a criminal justice professional to understand two things: first, how Supreme Court decisions impact a criminal justice professional’s everyday job in significant ways; and, second, how leadership and administrators in criminal justice take action within their organizations to enforce the court’s decisions.

To Prepare:

Review the Learning Resources on criminal justice policies.
Review the articles and media on the Supreme Court decisions related to policing and corrections.
Explore contemporary Supreme Court cases related to policing and corrections.
For this Assignment, select one of the two topics:

Policing
Corrections
Use the Supreme Court of the United States Blog, located in the Learning Resources, to find a contemporary case related to policing or corrections.

The Assignment:

Using the APA Walden Writing Center Template, in 4?5 pages, your report should include:

Provide a brief summary of the case.
Provide an argument about whether you believe the ruling is correct or what it should be, if the case is still active.
Ensure that your argument is supported by at least three credible resources.
Provide references to case laws and facts to support your argument.
Explain how you think the Supreme Court’s decision, or potential decision, may impact agencies (police or corrections) moving forward.
Recommend at least 2–3 specific actions or steps that could be implemented by leadership to avoid future violations.

Learning Resources
 Mallicoat, S. L. (2016). Crime and criminal justice: Concepts and controversies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Chapter 6, “Criminal Justice Policy” (pp. 128–142)
Crime and Criminal Justice: Concepts and Controversies, 1st Edition by Mallicoat, S. L. Copyright 2016 by Sage College. Reprinted by permission of Sage College via the Copyright Clearance Center.

 Donohue, J. J., III. (2017, March 29). Moore v. Texas and the pathologies that mar capital punishment in the U.S [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://law.stanford.edu/2017/03/29/moore-v-texas-and-the-pathologies-that-mar-capital-punishment-in-the-u-s/

 FBI.gov. (n.d.). National use-of-force data collection [Video file]. Retrieved August 8, 2018 from https://ucr.fbi.gov/use-of-force

 

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 7 minutes.

 Ford, M. (2017, October). American policing goes to the Supreme Court. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/supreme-court-carpenter-cases/541524/

 SCOTUSblog. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2018, from http://www.scotusblog.com/case-­-files/terms/ot2017/

 Krzan, B. (2016). International criminal court facing the peace vs. justice dilemma. International Comparative Jurisprudence, 2(2), 81–88. 

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

 SCOTUSblog. (n.d.). Supreme Court procedure. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from http://www.scotusblog.com/reference/educational-resources/supreme-court-procedure/

Note: This site provides case details of all pending Supreme Court decisions.

 United Nations. (n.d.). International law and justice. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/international-law-and-justice/index.html 

Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Moore v. Texas oral argument [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

 

C-SPAN. (2016, November 29). Moore v. Texas Oral Argument, Nov 29 2016 | Video | C-SPAN.org [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.c-span.org/video/?418887-1/moore-v-texas-oral-argument

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 63 minutes.


Accessible player 
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Supreme Court Considers Cellphones And Digital Privacy [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

 

©2017 National Public Radio, Inc. News report titled “Supreme Court Considers Cellphones And Digital Privacy” as originally broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition on November 29, 2017, and is used with the permission of NPR. Any unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 6 minutes.


Accessible player 
Optional Media
 Global Dispatches. (2017). This Supreme Court case could have a big impact on US foreign policy [Audio file]. Retrieved from http://www.globaldispatchespodcast.com/this-supreme-court-case-could-have-a-big-impact-on-us-foreign-policy/

 NPR. (2016, March 8). At Supreme Court, debate over phone privacy has a long history. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/02/29/468609371/at-supreme-court-debate-over-phone-privacy-has-a-long-history