This paper will be an opportunity to explore a topic related to policing or pris

This paper will be an opportunity to explore a topic related to policing or prisons in greater depth. You should select a topic that will enable you to compare the decades around 1900 with the past 50 years. Both historical eras saw significant growth and change in policing, prisons, and other criminal justice policies and practices. Your final paper should provide insights into the nature and practice of either policing or prisons in both time periods, and stress both similarities and differences over time.

Some dimensions you might consider in your analysis include institutional power and funding, major perceived crime threats, criminological tools/methods/knowledge, social inequities, political pressures, and/or the social forces of race, class and geography. How have governmental policies and economic growth or decline related to crime historically? Why have police and prisons become so central in managing the “dangerous classes” in recent decades?
Use the feedback you have received on your previous work to further refine your thinking and guide your writing. Your final paper should address the prompt above, using a mix of course readings and outside sources. The outside sources can be drawn from academic journals, governmental records, research institutes, and credible news sources. At least three outside sources should be peer-reviewed academic articles. Use the Criminal Justice MaxGuide and/or consult with a librarian to guide your search for peer-reviewed sources. See the resources folder on Blackboard for additional links. More information about sources and paper requirements will be discussed in class.

The final paper should be 6-8 pages, double spaced, with 1-inch margins. Title page and works cited do not count towards the 6-8 pages. It should critically and thoughtfully engage with 2-4 sources from the course readings and 4-6 outside sources. Cite all sources in APA format. Final papers should be uploaded to Blackboard.