Requirements: Students must purchase a folder (with two pockets) in which they can insert typed journal entries. Please put a white label with your name and the course number on the outside of the folder. Each entry must be a half page to a page long (double spaced with a 1.5 inch margin on the left side and typed in arial font, 12 points in size). When journals are submitted there must be two separate entries. If your journal entry is based on a written article or on the internet, i.e. if it is based on anything other than a television show or a personal experience, you must make a copy of the article and include it in your journal. As with other assignments in CJS 220, you will not receive any credit for journal assignments submitted late.

Topics: Each journal entry must report on a news steory or personal experience related to some aspect of the criminal justice system in the United States. Each must include a brief description of the issue and it must include a brief analysis of the issue.

Sources: Sources include newspapers, magazines, the internet (although weblogs are not acceptable), television news reports, etc. and these should be from within the past month. These must be news stories, they cannot be editorials, op-ed pieces, columns based on opinions, blogs or works of fiction. Students may also use personal or family experiences as journal entries (they need not be recent) but only for one entry. Each entry must clearly identify its source. For newspapers, magazines, internet sites, etc., normal citation style should be used. Articles should be substantial, i.e. articles of just a few sentences will not provide for acceptable journal entries.

Evaluation: Evaluation of the journal entries depends most heavily on your thoughtful and inciteful analysis of the issues that you discuss, remembering that analysis is to be based on the concept of myths about crime and criminal justice. See the journal rubric on the course home page for guidance.

Schedule: If you choose to submit a journal this semester, it will be due on April 21, 2016, at the beginning of class that day. It will not be accepted at any later time.