CJS 217 Policy Brief Assignment
The goal of this assignment is to create a two-page policy brief you could present to either a state or federal legislator about recent (last five years) justice policy. To complete the assignment, you will do a few things:
You will create your two-page policy brief for either a state representative (for a state bill) or to a U.S. congress person (for federal bills).You can browse both the state legislation and federal legislation and choose which you want to use for this assignment. It can be about any justice bill that has 1. been sponsored, 2. Considered/argued before congress or 3. Passed by your state legislator or the United States congress in the past five calendar years (So, from 2016 to present).
The following websites (not all inclusive) will help you get started on this task:
https://www.govtrack.us
http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep
http://whoismyrepresentative.com
http://il–nea.capwiz.com/nea/il/home/
https://www.illinois.gov/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/default.asp
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/
Your two-page policy brief will either argue in support (why a bill should be passed) or (in opposition) to any justice related legislation of your choice in the past five calendar years.Some important guidelines for this assignment:
1. Keep the “Brief” to two pages
2. Be creative and stylistic in the policy brief portion of the assignment – those things count for a policy brief!
3. Provide details or research from at least three reputable sources about your support/opposition to the legislation
4. Consider personalizing it for the congressperson in some way (get your document to stand out!)
