Read chapter 4 in the Mears text and answer the following questions. Remember that each answer should be at least a paragraph in length and your work must be cited in APA.
What are the benefits of evaluating the need for a criminal justice policy?
What are the problems of not evaluating the need for a criminal justice
policy?
How do you conduct a needs evaluation? How do you define the need for a given policy? For example, what level of a crime problem is needed before policy makers should respond?
Does there simply have to be any amount of crime? If so, how should
policy makers decide how to allocate funds to specific types of crimes?
To specific types of policies?
What amount of increase in a problem (e.g., crime) is needed before policy
makers should take action? Should specific policies be reduced or elim-
inated if a social problem decreases? For example, if crime decreases,
should policy makers reduce criminal justice funding because of the
reduced need? Many types of problems exist in criminal justice, and crime is but one
of them. Law enforcement officer, defense counsel, prosecutor, or cor-
rectional personnel may engage in misconduct. Courts may suffer from
case overload. The public may hold incorrect views about the preva-
lence of crime or the conditions of confinement. What priority should
be given to these and other types of problems? On the basis of what
criteria?
