Criminal justice system

Examine the causes and consequences of discrimination that occurs within one of society’s core institutions.
For this assessment, you will explore both the causes and consequences of institutionalized discrimination,
from the perspective of the individuals it directly affects, the institution you have chosen, and society as a whole.
To complete this assessment, presume that you work for a think tank that conducts and publishes social and economic research to inform economic decisions and local, state, and federal policy making. Your manager
asks you and the other members of your team to create a public information piece based on research and analysis of the prevalence and persistence of discrimination in a particular social institution.
Deliverable
First, choose one of the following major institutions for this assessment: criminal justice system, health care
system, educational system, housing market, or the U.S. workplace. Then complete the following:
Research institutional discrimination in your chosen institution, locating reliable, scholarly sources. Examples are provided in the Resources for this assessment.
Choose one of the following public information pieces in the list below. It is your job to create a public information piece that highlights your findings regarding inequities (based on race, ethnicity, religion, age,
disability status, or sexual orientation) within your chosen institution. You will need to support your conclusions with credible data and scholarly research, rather than relying on opinion, and demonstrate your ability to apply
sociological thinking to your topic.
Information booklet targeted to the general public.
Position paper or brief targeted at state or federal legislators.
Mock website or blog.
Public service announcement (a script for a radio or television program).
PowerPoint presentation targeted to a specific audience, with a description of the audience and detailed speaker’s notes (in PowerPoint, use the Notes area below each slide to provide speaker’s notes and explain
the information on your slides in more detail).
A recorded speech to be given at a national meeting of practitioners who work in the institution you are researching. If you choose this option, include your script and references in a Word document along with your
audio file.
Create a final, professional-quality product in which you accomplish the following:
Create a public information piece that effectively conveys the causes and consequences of the problem of
institutional discrimination in one of society’s major institutions, with support from data and scholarly sources.
Describe factors contributing to racial, ethnic, or other forms of inequality within a specific institution.
Analyze data on the factors contributing to inequality in a specific institution.
Keep in mind that, to be accurate in your assessment, you will need to look at raw data and percentages as well as to consider the data in relation to each racial or ethnic group’s percentage within the overall U.S.
population.
Explain ways in which public policies are linked to inequalities within a specific institution.
Consider any historical or contemporary influences that may have contributed the disparities you have identified. Example: If you are studying institutional discrimination in the justice system, you would need to consider national policies such as the War on Drugs, as well as law enforcement policies.
Assess the impact on minorities and minority communities caused by institutional discrimination within a specific institution.
Describe specific, measurable policy strategies for reducing institutional discrimination.
These can be community based, legislative (at the local, state, or federal level), or law enforcement strategies.
These strategies should focus on institutional policies, not individual solutions.