Being able to conduct a root cause analysis (RCA) of a problem you are facing and determine potential solutions is a skill you will use often as a criminal justice professional. A very common issue, and one that is paramount to solving crimes, is witness cooperation. This issue can occur in any of the following criminal justice subdomains: law enforcement, courts, and corrections.
In this assignment, you will use concepts you learned this week to analyze response strategies for addressing an issue with a witness in a criminal case.
Preparation
Select and research 1 criminal case where witness cooperation was an issue for investigators.
Write a 450-word executive summary
Develop your executive summary deliverable from the perspective of a criminal justice professional who has been asked to conduct the analysis of your selected criminal case for your police chief as part of the agency’s quality-control procedures.
Include the following in your presentation:
Summarize the facts of the selected criminal case.
Describe the challenges investigators faced in dealing with witnesses to the crime.
Conduct an RCA using the 5 whys approach to analyze the root cause of a witness cooperation issue.
Summarize your analysis and conclusions to identify issues with witness cooperation in a criminal case.
Propose 2 appropriate criminal justice responses to the witness cooperation issue and explain how they can be used to improve communication and cooperation with witnesses during future criminal investigations. Support your ideas by explaining why your proposed improvements would be successful.
Cite at least 3 scholarly sources to support your summary.
Format citations and references according to APA guidelines.
