TITLE: CONTEMPORARY CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS: Review at least 1 other student’s Key Assignment Outline and provide meaningful feedback, using at least 100 words. Refrain from general feedback, such as simply stating “good job.” Your feedback to other students is most helpful if you not only point out weak areas but also offer suggestions for improvement. The best feedback takes a three-stage approach to identify what was done well, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Unit 4 Individual Project—Key Assignment

Carolelizabeth M. Mills

Colorado Technical University

Key Assignment: Police Department Sexual Harassment Policy

Introduction: Sexual Harassment Policies

a.Introduction:

a.Thesis: Female police officers face sexual harassment at work, and with the congress passing new laws, they are more protected than they ever were.

b.Still, our society faces the problem of housing transgender inmates in prison, an implementing policies in our department for handling sexual harassment. This paper will also discuss the training that will be provided.

Training Program

a.With the revised sexual harassment policy given by the supreme court, we neeed to revise our policy.

b.We will train the department about how to behave and not behave, along with resources and consequences for actions.

c.Challenges we could possibly face: is not having the policy complete, someone will end up being excluded, or people will not like the change.

Local and State Police Policies

a.Pennsylvania State Police (PSP, n.d.)

b.State College Police Department (SCPD, n.d.)

c.Similar

a.Both claim no discrimination based on family status, age, family responsibility, disability, service animals, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity.

b.They don’t appear to touch on the subject of sexual harassment.

d.Differences

a.None presented on sexual harassment, but policies in place about the prevention of discrimination of employees.

Sexual Harassment in Police Departments

a.Sexual harassment in police departments is mainly a female problem, but it does occur far too often.

a.In one study, 531 female officers reported that they had been sexually harassed (Lonsway, Paynich, & Hall, 2013).

b.We do not hear about the reports, because there is police department retaliation.

Court Responses to Sexual Harrassment

1997 and 1998 Court Cases

a.June 26, 1998 the supreme court encountered two cases that would change the policy on sexual harassment. The two cases were Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth.

b.The Burlington case highlighted that the employer wouldn’t be liable for sexual harassment if they had proven they had implemented a policy and measures to avoid the harassment from happening.

a. Since it was not the case in this hearing, they were deemed negligent (Burlington Industries, Inc. v Ellerth, 1998).

c.One of the cases that change the policy was Faragher v. City of Boca Raton. Beth Faragher was subjected to sexual touching, comments, and suggestive hand gestures (Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 1997).

d.Violation of Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the arugment for court.

Transgender Inmates

a.A prisoner’s biological sex will determine where they are housed. (EEOC, n.d.)

b.Transgender inmates are more susepctible to rape, molestation, and sexual harassment.

Inmates who are transgender cost more to house because of them needing hornomes.

c.States are being forced to pay for the inmates hormones, potentionally why they commit crimes in the first place.

case law on how courts have categorized and placed transgendered inmates in correctional settings.

Identify and describe any special needs of transgendered inmates.

Are there any misconceptions or prejudices against this population within the criminal justice system? Provide specific information to support your position..

Judgement expressed that her supervisors were responsible for protecting her the best they could from harassment and had subsequently failed to do so.

They also called for change to the sexual harassment policies at her place of employment.

References

Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1997/97-282

EEOC. (n.d.). Sexual Discrmination. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.cfm

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1997/97-282

PSP. (n.d.). PSP Equal Opportunity Employment Office. Retrieved from http://www.psp.pa.gov/employment/pages/psp-equal-o…

SCPD (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.statecollegepa.us/1177/Anti-Discriminat…

Lonsway, K. A., Paynich, R., & Hall, J. N. (2013). Sexual Harassment in Law Enforcement: Incidence, Impact, and Perception. Police Quarterly, 16(2), 177–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611113475630