Reflection assignments are essays, based on the assigned chapters noted in the syllabus. Type your reflection using correct grammar, spelling, writing mechanics and articulation. Each reflection assignment should be a minimum of 2 pages  (it can be longer), double-spaced with one inch margins and size 12 font. Upload your reflection into D2L. Follow these directions: Identify one passage from the assigned book (introduction through chapter 4), The Collapse of American Criminal Justice, that you find interesting, thought-provoking, controversial or one with which you agree or disagree. Begin your reflection assignment by reprinting the quoted passage and also provide the page #. Then reflect on the passage, explaining why you chose it, what you think about it, why it is or is not important, and/or how the passage relates to other theories, ideas, concepts, history, or findings from the lectures, reading and/or from other credible sources. In addition to the book, cite other sources as you analyze each passage in order to support your opinions, reasoning and observations. Use APA Edition 6 for all sources. A rubric will be used to grade your reflections; if instructor feedback seems auto-generated, that’s because it is. The best two or three reflection assignments will be posted so that great work can be recognized and other students have examples on how to improve. To be considered for this honor, permission must be granted in the form of a quiz to be completed in the week 1 module. EXAMPLE “Violence was not controlled chiefly through criminal punishment… it was controlled through local democracy in the network of relationships that supported it… criminal punishment was embedded in that network of relationships. Police officer sometimes lived in the neighborhood they patrolled, and had political ties to those neighborhoods through the ward bosses who represented their cities’ political machines. Those patrols happened on foot: officers, those whom they targeted, and those whom they served knew one another. Cops, crime victims, criminals, and the jurors who judged them-these were not wholly district communities; they overlapped, and the overlaps could be large.” (Stuntz, 2011, p. 31). I specifically chose this passage for two reasons. First, it addresses current issues that are relevant today; racial profiling, stereotyping, and the large incarcerated population of minorities. Second, it presents an upstream solution, which I will define and discuss further along in the reflection, to the large incarcerated population of minority that I personally quite agree with. “Crime victims in black neighborhoods have difficulty convincing local police to take their victimization seriously… Cab drivers are slow to pick up” African Americans, and “pedestrians… hold their possession more tightly when they approach young black males” (Stuntz, 2011, p.22). All these scenarios demonstrate what is formally known as stereotyping. It’s wrong, but.

1. Reflection assignments are essays, based on the assigned
chapters noted in the syllabus. Type your reflection using
correct grammar, spelling, writing mechanics and articulation.
Each reflection assignment should be a
minimum of 2 pages
(it can be longer), double-spaced with one inch margins and
size 12 font. Upload your reflection into D2L. Follow these
directions:
Identify one passage from the assigned book (introduction
through chapter 4),
The Collapse of American Criminal Justice,
that you find interesting, thought-provoking, controversial or
one with which you agree or disagree.
Begin your reflection assignment by reprinting the quoted
passage and also provide the page #.
Then reflect on the passage, explaining why you chose it, what
you think about it, why it is or is not important, and/or how the
passage relates to other theories, ideas, concepts, history, or
findings from the lectures, reading and/or from other credible
sources.
In addition to the book, cite other sources as you analyze each
passage in order to support your opinions, reasoning and
observations. Use APA Edition 6 for all sources.
A rubric will be used to grade your reflections; if instructor
feedback seems auto-generated, that’s because it is.
The best two or three reflection assignments will be posted so
that great work can be recognized and other students have
examples on how to improve. To be considered for this honor,

2. permission must be granted in the form of a quiz to be
completed in the week 1 module.
EXAMPLE
“Violence was not controlled chiefly through criminal
punishment… it was controlled through local democracy in the
network of relationships that supported it… criminal
punishment was embedded in that network of relationships.
Police officer sometimes lived in the neighborhood they
patrolled, and had political ties to those neighborhoods through
the ward bosses who represented their cities’ political machines.
Those patrols happened on foot: officers, those whom they
targeted, and those whom they served knew one another. Cops,
crime victims, criminals, and the jurors who judged them-these
were not wholly district communities; they overlapped, and the
overlaps could be large.” (Stuntz, 2011, p. 31).
I specifically chose this passage for two reasons. First, it
addresses current issues that are relevant today; racial profiling,
stereotyping, and the large incarcerated population of
minorities. Second, it presents an upstream solution, which I
will define and discuss further along in the reflection, to the
large incarcerated population of minority that I personally quite
agree with.
“Crime victims in black neighborhoods have difficulty
convincing local police to take their victimization seriously…
Cab drivers are slow to pick up” African Americans, and
“pedestrians… hold their possession more tightly when they
approach young black males” (Stuntz, 2011, p.22). All these
scenarios demonstrate what is formally known as stereotyping.
It’s wrong, but it’s inevitable. Humans make up their own image

3. or judgement of others in the first few seconds of seeing them.
My psychology professor had a very interesting way of defining
stereotyping: Stereotypes are made of incomplete stories and
information. When David Wechsler first started introducing
intelligence tests, a large percentage of those who were
identified as intellectually disabled were hispanic and African
American students. This was largely due to cultural bias, not
because they were unintelligent (Sharpe, personal
communication, 2017). Hispanic and African Americans had
different experiences than caucasian students, and because a lot
of the test questions heavily relied on language and american
culture, they were bound to fail (Lilienfeld, 2014). In
conclusion, it's not that these specific races are unintelligent;
they just have different cultural backgrounds, manners, and
experiences, that make it difficult to clearly declare them as
intelligent or not, good or bad, right or wrong, guilty or
innocent. Judging another human being isn’t simple, easy, nor is
it clear. The reason behind why the solution, given by the
passage I chose, worked was because of this concept.
“Scholars have noted the effect of poor economic opportunity
on black crime, but causation runs in both directions: black
crime leads to black imprisonment, which reinforces the low
level of economic opportunity in black neighborhoods, which in
turn encourages more black crime” (Stuntz, 2011, p. 48).
Because of this very fact, simply putting individuals behind
bars is nothing more than trying to relieve a patient of their
symptoms when they want to be treated for their disease. This
scenario is the perfect depiction of downstream and upstream
solution. Downstream solutions is a vigorous process of
constantly helping individuals one at a time for the same issue,
like saving each individual drowning in the river. Whereas,
upstream solution is focused on preventing the issue from
occurring, like placing a fence on the edge of the river so
people wouldn’t fall in (Upstream Public Health, 2013). The
rise of crime rates aren’t simply due to the poor choices of

4. individuals. The social environment plays a major role in the
development and attitude of their decisions. Like portrayed in
the time lapse above, low income will result to low income
neighborhood, where the neighborhoods may be unsafe and
filled with bad influences, which will increase the chance of
one’s involvement in poor choices. “Different determinants can
create feedback loops” (AFMC Primer on Population Health,
2017). Preventing the rise of crime rate should start by changing
the social environment of the neighborhoods. Lowering tension
between the citizens and the law enforcers and painting better
role models in the lives of young children would be a great
start. I believe it's important to know who you serve. One
cannot rightfully judge another person without once being in
their shoes. Law enforcers becoming a part of the community
they serve, will not only enhance their knowledge of the area
and the people, they would be able to gain trust. When the
enforcers become reliable, honorable, and respectful figure,
individuals will be less tempted to make poor decisions (Stuntz,
2011, p.29). This passage displays an upstream solution to the
very issue today- racial profiling, stereotyping, and large
incarcerated population of minorities. However, to be able to
pull this through, not only the officers themselves, but the law
enforcing community has to be committed. These changes will
be hard to make. A lot of mistakes will have to be made to
perfect the best solution, but if there is a problem in this nation,
it is the responsibility of the law enforcers to find justice in
chaos.
References
“AFMC Primer on Population Health” (2017).
Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
.
Retrieved From
https://afmc.ca/AFMCPrimer.pdf?20170510

5. [EquiateTV]. (2013, May 17).
Upstream Public Health
[Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x AmafCA
Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. L., & Woolf, N. J.
(2014). Psychology: From Inquiry to
Understanding.
Psychology
.
Sharpe, M. E. (2017). Intelligence and IQ Testing [Oral
lecture]. Lecture conducted from
Portland State University, Portland, OR.
Stuntz, W. J. (2011).
The Collapse of the American Criminal Justice
. Cambridge, MA: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.