Prior to beginning work on this assignment, please complete the assigned readings in your textbook. You may also wish to consider some of the recommended resources for this week. For the Final Paper you will address issues, analyze challenges, and assess effectiveness for correctional institutions within the context of the following scenario:

You work as an upper-level administrator in a department of corrections for a fictional or other scholarly or credible resources to support your assignment.

Your superior has also asked you to explain cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness issues as well and to consider the effectiveness of public and private institutions for corrections.

To help you explore functions, issues, objectives in corrections through the six assignment prompts for your Final Paper you may consider optional sources referenced in the following Final Project Scenario and References interactive resource (Links to an external site.) in addition to other scholarly or credible sources.

As noted below your paper must use at least five sources in addition to the course text. Also, at least three of the five must be scholarly and two may be credible resources. Note that of the three scholarly sources, at least two must be obtained from the Ashford University Library.

Assignment Prompts

The purpose of the Final Paper is to consider functions, issues, and objectives in corrections. Your paper needs to address each of the following six elements:

• Explain functions (in terms of goals and activities) of a historical state correctional system and functions of a contemporary state correctional system.
  • To assist you with this part, you could consider your textbook’s discussion of historical correctional systems. You may also consider state department of corrections websites and/or other relevant scholarly or credible resources.
• Analyze criminal justice issues for corrections personnel and the constitutional rights of offenders relevant to punishment, rehabilitation, treatment, and supervision.
  • To assist you with this part, you could consider issues relating to administrative objectives and duties for corrections personnel and issues relating to constitutional rights of incarcerated persons.
• Examine impacts of incarceration and social justice issues for at least one correctional institution in the case file and at least one private correctional institution.
  • For private institutions, you could draw on your textbook and/or other scholarly or credible sources that address privatization of corrections.
• Examine cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness issues relevant to one or more of the following settings: jails, prisons, or community corrections.
  • You may wish to consider scholarly or credible sources that you used to address any cultural sensitivity issues and diversity issues from your Week 1 Issues and Constitutional Rights assignment.
• Analyze at least two methods of alternative sentencing utilized by one or more of the correctional systems in the case file.
  • You could also consider alternative sanctions such as electronic monitoring, halfway houses, and/or other types of community corrections mentioned in your textbook.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of at least one correctional institution in the case file and of at least one private institution.
  • To help you with this part, you may wish to consider effectiveness regarding one or more of the following: security, costs, recidivism, social justice interests, and/or other measures relevant to correctional goals.

When consulting resources, examine statistical data and analyses to inform your positions and any other scholarly or practical references that lend credibility to the project and the findings presented.

The Functions, Issues, and Objectives in Corrections Final Paper

• Must be eight to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least five sources in addition to the course text. At least three must be scholarly and two may be credible resources. Of the three scholarly sources, at least two must be obtained from the Ashford University Library.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.