Assignment Question
Answer each prompt in 200-250 words or more.
Prompt: In Chapter 11, Topics 2 and 3 we are looking at two types of investigative options – the Confidential Informant/Confidential Source (CI/CS) and the Undercover Officer. For this discussion compare what you believe are the benefits and potential drawbacks of each approach. For example, what are the motivations of the CI/CS? Do those motivations impact how much and what types of investigative steps they can assist in? What are the benefits and drawbacks to placing an officer in an undercover position? We often see these types of strategies on television and in books, but in the real world, what are the considerations that an investigator needs to take into account before employing one of these strategies?
Prompt 2:In the first required reading “Crime in the United States, 2018 – Violent Crime”, the FBI includes four general offense types grouped together as part of its Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Program to collect data that it classified overall as violent crime. Also included in the readings are FBI summaries of each of those four offense types that include the general elements of the offense as well as some statistics regarding those offenses. For your initial discussions post: (1) pick ONE (1) of those four offenses and generally describe the elements of the offense; (2) describe what you believe your biggest challenge as an investigator would be proving all of those elements of the offense; and (3) identify AT LEAST ONE investigative tool or technique that you think would be critical to solving that case and explain why it is important. For example, of you pick murder as your topic, you will need to explain what the general elements of that offense are and then identify what you which element you think is the biggest challenge to prove (is it the willful intent, showing how the crime occurred in the case of a found body with no witnesses, etc), and then identify an investigative technique or service that will be critical (is it polygraphs, ballistic evidence, interviewing, crime scene management, etc).
Prompt 3: Upon reading the following case study, utilize what you have learned in the chapter titled “What works in Juvenile Justice”. Based on the methods and approaches research supports, how should this situation have been handled? What negative outcomes are likely to result in the way in which it was handled? A seventh grader in an Albuquerque middle school was clowning in a class by making loud burps. His teacher reported this 13-year-old to a school-based police officer who searched the boy for drug possession. A school vice principal accused this youth of selling drugs to other students. The youth was asked to remove his shoes and pants and the officer searched his underwear. No drugs were found in this search, but the matter did not end there. The boy was moved to a juvenile detention center and later suspended for the rest of the school year. The boy was charged with interfering with the education process by threatening or inciting others to obstruct the valid mission or functions of the school. The public officials saw this relatively common benign school misbehavior as indicative of a society in moral decline. A U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the actions of the school and police officials since they “believed” that they had no other options.
