A series of questions related to the readings will be used to assess your comprehension and understanding of the assigned materials. Responses for Questions 1 and 2 should be 1–2 paragraphs in length (1-page maximum length for each question) and must thoroughly address each assigned question. Responses to Question 3 should be 1 paragraph in length (approximately half a page).

Your response should be based on your understanding of the material, please provide direct answers to each question, not summaries of the assigned readings. The questions are structured to require that you think analytically and critically about the material when providing your response. If you find yourself simply summarizing or paraphrasing the material described in the reading when addressing the question, stop, review the assigned question, and consider how your response addresses the question. Additionally, when addressing Question 3, you should be describing common theme(s) present across all assigned articles. The underlying question for Question 3 is, why were these articles assigned together?

In your answers, do not use direct quotations from any sources. When providing support for your positions or examples to illustrate your points you may draw on the assigned readings, academic journal articles, or books. Please do not reference websites, magazines, newspaper articles, or other non-academic sources. Additionally, support for positions or examples may not be drawn from your individual opinions or experiences (See the “Helpful Information and Examples” page on the course homepage for a discussion of the difference between taking an academic position and a personal opinion.).

Be sure to address all portions of the assigned questions. APA style must be employed in your assignments for citations, formatting, and references. Please include only one combined reference section for all responses. Instances of plagiarism will result in a score of zero for the assignment, and the use of direct quotations will result in a 50% reduction in score.

Throughout the course of this semester, I will evaluate and critique your responses and writing. I will also provide feedback to your responses. Feedback is intended to assist you in improving your writing or to consider the assigned material from a different angle.

Please answer the questions below:

1. According to the findings of Spohn and Sample (2013), elements of the uniform sentencing guidelines are not followed consistently in the three federal court districts that they obtained their data from when evaluating the legitimate reasons (i.e., legal variables) for increasing the presumptive sentence of an offender. How should decision makers in the criminal justice system interpret and respond to these findings in the context of equality and access to justice, as discussed by Lippman (2018)? Explain your reasoning.
2. As we have previously read, Donald Black’s theory suggests that law is quantifiable and predictable, but we see that many extralegal factors influence SAK submissions (Valentine et al., 2019) and perceptions of victim credibility (Campbell et al., 2015) when engaging the criminal justice system. Do all individuals have equal protection through the law based upon these findings? Why or why not?
3. Identify and describe the theme(s) (other than social control) present in the assigned journal articles that link all of the articles on a common concept. Explain how and why you have come to that position.

Please upload your response as a Word (.doc or .docx) file. Your response is worth 50 points.