What are the legal and historical bases for a justice system and its administration in the United States?

1. Do the three justice components (police, courts, and corrections) constitute a true system or are they more appropriately described as: (1) a process or (2) a true nonsystem? Defend your response.

2. What are the legal and historical bases for a justice system and its administration in the United States?

3. What are some of the substantive ways in which public and private sector administration are similar? How are they dissimilar?

4. What is a SWOT analysis and how can this be helpful in the strategic planning process?

5. What elements of planned change must the justice administrator be familiar with in order to ensure that change is affected rationally and successfully?

6. Why is planned change preferred over reactionary change?

7. Which method, a rational process or just muddling through, appears to be used in criminal justice policymaking today? Which method is probably best, given real-world realities? Explain your response.

Exercises:

1. Go to Chapter 2 and read about Primary Leadership Theories.

2. When you see a police officer speed on their way to and from work every day and then write tickets for citizens who do the same, what do you think of this leadership model?

3. What helpful suggestions did you discover from this article that could help you with your own leadership style?

4. Combine the answers to this exercise with a paragraph of your own on the kind of leadership skills that are most needed in justice administration positions.