| This webpage comprises a series of exercises designed to help the criminal justice researcher, student and professional navigate the Web more effectively. They are less directive than those found in the written Quick Guide . The Quick Guide provides the users with fundamental web searching skills, using standard web directories and search engines. These exercises provide the user with research problems to solve and offer websites as supplements. They assume that you have worked through the Quick Guide and understand the basic skill needed in web searching. You may scroll down to the exercise you desire or click on the section headings below. These exercises may also be used with chapters in the Albanese text published by Allyn & Bacon. The relevant Chapter is noted at the end of each exercise. | |
| Exercises One - Five: Finding Criminal Justice Websites These exercises are designed to provide the new web user with additional web search skills. They assume that you have Internet access, use a popular Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer and have basic web browsing skills. You are to find information sources on the Web based upon the scenarios outlined. Exercises Six - Ten: Critical Evaluation of Web Information The Web comprises a wide variety of sources of information. It is often necessary for the researcher to determine which of these sources offer valid and reliable information. Several questions can assist in this process including
If the answer to any of these questions is no, there may be reason to question the validity of the source. If the answer to all of these questions is yes, the researcher must still exercise critical judgement skills in evaluating the data, much as any researcher would in evaluating research from traditional sources. These exercises are designed to impart website evaluation skills to to the criminal justice researcher. Exercises Eleven - Fifteen: Special Research Topics These exercises are designed to help the user explore useful criminal justice websites. They are more detailed than the previous exercises and pose problems similar to what a student or professional would face in the classroom or the workplace.
|
|
| Exercise One: Community Policing Programs | |
| You are a police officer assigned
to the research unit of your department. Your commissioner has decided to conduct a
study of the effectiveness of community policing programs in mid-sized American cities.
He has directed your unit to examine community policing programs in detail
and report back to him within three months. In this exercise, your task is to survey
10 mid-sized police agencies and to personally interview community police officers in
those cities. You begin by to developing a list of mid-sized police agencies
with effective community policing programs. Start with this website: http://www.search.org. For each of three websites,
describe the community policing program and the url. Community
Policing Program Community Policing Program Community Policing Program
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Seven |
|
| Exercise Two: Scholarship and Grant Search | |
| You have successfully navigated
your undergraduate education and are now ready to take on the challenge of graduate
school. Your grades are great, your attitude is outstanding and your motivation is
at a peak. Unfortunately, your bank account does not match your desire to succeed.
Like many in your position, you are in need of scholarship support. In this
exercise, your goal is to identify three potential sources of funding for graduated
school. Start with this website: http://www.fastweb.com.
For each of three websites found, describe the scholarship program and list the
url. Scholarship Program Scholarship Program Scholarship Program
For more information, see Fastweb.com |
|
| Exercise Three: Federal Funding of Criminal Justice Programs | |
| As a budget analyst with the
state Department of Corrections, you have an interest in maximizing the amount of funds
flowing to your department from external sources. In a discussion with the
department's grant officer, it has become apparent that your state receives less federal
funding on a per capita basis when compared to other states. You have decided to
examine federal spending on corrections programs by state. In this exercise you and
your colleagues must identify and analyze various corrections funding sources. A
good start is this website: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget/index.html. For each of three federal grant programs, describe the program and list the url. Funding Program Funding Program Funding Program
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Fourteen |
|
| Exercise Four: Child Abuse Prevention Resources | |
| As a counselor in a
community mental health agency, you are interested in providing resources to your clients
and the community. The clinical director requested that you continue your fine
work and develop a pamphlet describing resources available through traditional resources
and online. You are specifically instructed to ensure the the resources identified
are valid and reliable. In this exercise, you will research websites and other
resources that are useful for inclusion in your pamphlet. Start with this website:
http://www.calib.com/nccanch. For each program found, describe the child abuse prevention program and list the url. Child Abuse Prevention Program Child Abuse Prevention Program Child Abuse Prevention Program
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Five |
|
| Exercise Five: The Taxation of Internet Commerce | |
| As a third year law student, you
have been given the distinct pleasure of drafting a paper on the taxation of Internet
commerce. Specifically, your esteemed professor wants you to determine how state
supreme courts are dealing (if at all) with the issue. You are aware that there
exists several legal search engines specifically designed to assist in finding case and
statutory law. In this exercise you will search several of these search
engines. Start with this website: http://www.findlaw.com.
For each legal research resource found, describe the resource and list the url. Legal Research Resource Legal Research Resource Legal Research Resource
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Three |
|
| Exercise Six: Regulation of Tobacco Companies | |
| The Tobacco industry has been
very successful in protecting itself from significant federal and state legislation.
What appeared to be a landmark agreement to regulate the industry went up in smoke
in the final days of Congress' summer 1998 session. It now appears that the Industry
will go at least several more years before another attempt to regulate it will be
undertaken at the federal level. Do you believe that federal regulation of the
Tobacco industry is warranted? Please answer the questions listed below. Visit
the following websites to assist you in your research: http://www.oag.state.md.us/tobacco/smoke.htm
.
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Seventeen |
|
| Exercise Seven: Evaluating American Drug Courts | |
| A recent trend in state and local
judicial systems is the creation of specialized drug courts. These courts are
staffed by judges, psychologists, parole and probation officers and other staffed
specially trained in the resolution of issues around drug abuse. There are numerous
websites developed that can help the criminal justice researcher answer questions about
the utility of drug courts. Please answer the questions below. Some
general useful websites are: http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/justice/issues.htm
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Ten |
|
| Exercise Eight: Capital Punishment | |
| It seems that everyone has a
position on capital punishment. Your research tells you that Congress is leaning
against barring the death penalty, but you want to get a sense of how the members of the
U.S. House of Representatives are positioned currently on the volatile
issue. Please answer the questions below. You have been directed to three
websites: http://www.democrats.org/index.html
For more information, see Albanese, Chapters Four and Thirteen |
|
| Exercise Nine - Selecting a College | |
| It is said that the students of
today represent the MTV generation. If it doesn't have flash and dash, it isn't
worth the time of day. Do today's criminal justice students use the same criteria in
selecting a college? Perhaps this theory may be put to the test by evaluating three
college websites: http://www.pilot.msu.edu
For more information see Yahoo! American Colleges and Universities |
|
| Exercise Ten - Accessing Census Data | |
| The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a
comprehensive research and information website located at http://www.census.gov.
Through this website is provided access to the most recent ten-year census, census
map files, special research reports, employee generated files and links to numerous
external government and institutional data sources. many of the files are available
at no cost while others (The Census Store) are available at a nominal cost or part of a
subscription. In this exercise, you will download a Census Bureau file examining
poverty during 1992-93 and answer some questions about the document. Visit the Census Bureau's PDF Publications page located at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/titles.html. Go to the the Income and Poverty link and download the file entitled "Poverty, 1992-1993 Who Stays Poor? Who Doesn't?" (File P70-55). Please answer the following questions:
Please note that the PDF Publications page includes numerous downloadable files stored in PDF picture file format. This format requires the program Adobe Acrobat Reader view these files. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you may download it at no cost via the Census Bureau website.
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Three |
|
| Exercise Eleven - Online Law Libraries | |
| Online law libraries are useful
to students, researchers and professionals. Not so long ago, the only reliable
methods of conducting legal research were a) a visit to the library or b) logging on to a
legal research service such as Westlaw or Lexis-Nexus. A law library visit can
nearly always be counted on to be time consuming and less than efficient.
Lexis-Nexus and Westlaw are much more efficient, but are extremely expensive for the
individual. Online law libraries provide the benefits of the expensive legal
research services at little or no cost. Most law schools provide low or no cost
access to their online holdings to students, faculty and community residents. The Indiana Law School Virtual Law Library is one such resource. Users of this website are able to search for many relevant topics by query or by direct Web links. The Indiana Law School Virtual Law Library is located here: http://www.law.indiana.edu/law/v-lib/lawindex.html In this exercise, you are to find the following information as directed:
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter One |
|
| Exercise Twelve - Parole Population Report | |
| This exercise is designed to use
the Web to assist in the preparation of a report outlining aggregate state parole
populations. You will gather literature (government reports, census data and written
articles, etc) concerning parole populations at the end of Fiscal Year 1998. First, we will determine if all states define fiscal years the same way. To do this search the following websites: http://www.ncsl.org.
This is the National Conference of State Legislatures Do all states follow the same fiscal year? If not which ones do not? What fiscal years do they follow?
Next, we will search for data on state parole populations. Search the following websites to gather this information. http://www.usdoj.gov.
This is the U.S. Department of Justice Does the Justice Department list parole populations by state? Were they up to date? Does the Allyn & Bacon website provide useful supplementary parole information by state?
Finally, we will search for academic and professional analyses concerning state parole populations. Search the following websites to gather information. http://www.rand.org.
This is the Rand Corporation Which of the two websites was the most useful? Do you have other suggestions for searching for online journals and professional reports? What are they?
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Fifteen |
|
| Exercise Thirteen - Missing / Unidentified Persons | |
| The Michigan Department of State
Police maintains a Missing/Unidentified webpage. The page includes pictures of
missing persons and renderings of physical reconstruction of human remains found in the
state. The website may be found here: http://www.msp.state.mi.us/missing.htm How many other states maintain websites like this?
E-mail Michigan or another state law enforcement agency with a similar page. Have they found their page to be useful?
What suggestions would you make to improve the usefulness of these Missing or Unidentified Persons websites?
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Two |
|
| Exercise Fourteen - History of Rapid Police Response | |
| A traditional method of municipal
police protection is the rapid response model. In rapid response, service units
(police cars) are centrally located and are sent to a crime incident location upon request
by a citizen. In this exercise, we will track the history of rapid response in
America and identify alternative modes of police protection. Visit the AltaVista search engine. Enter terms such as Rapid Response, History of Policing and Police Response to narrow our search. You may enter other terms as you deem appropriate. When did rapid response models become popular in American Cities?
What police protection models have been developed during recent years? Are they considered to be more or less successful than rapid response?
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Six |
|
| Exercise Fifteen - Fox and Levin: Mass Murder in America | |
| Dean James Alan Fox, of
Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice Department is generally considered
the preeminent expert on the subject of mass murder. He and his colleague have led
much of the meaningful research on the topic during the last 20 years. Many argue
that Fox and Levin seek publicity at the cost of academic rigor. Fox and Levin argue
that any interviews they do help the public understand the nature of mass murders, and
therefore protects the public from danger. Which do you believe? Visit the
following websites for additional information: http://www.dac.neu.edu/cj/fox Did these websites provide sufficient information for you to make a decision on the topic? If not, what other resources would you visit?
What other academicians are considered to be expert in their field? List three experts. Do they use the mainstream press to outline their views on issues or do they limit themselves to the academic literature?
For more information, see Albanese, Chapter Seventeen |
|