1. What is a policy?
2. Do policies apply to groups or to individuals? Why?
3. What is the relationship between group size and policy formation?
4. What are the advantages of policy making?
5. What situations trigger policy formulation?
6. Can random acts be policy decisions? Can a choice not to act be a policy decision?
7. What are the advantages of policy making?
8. What is a macro level policy? What is a micro level policy?
9. What is a system? What are the characteristics of a system?
10. What are the advantages of using the system concept to study criminal justice?
11. What aspects of the "Megan's Law" and Kevin Gillson cases illustrate the use or failure to effectively use the system concept when drafting crime control legislation?
12. What is the policy environment?
13. What is the difference between an official policy maker and an unofficial policy maker?
14. Who are official policy makers? Who are unofficial policy makers?
15. What is the difference between a policy statement and a policy outcome?
16. How might the use and continued development of the Internet influence the policy process?
17. What are some of the reasons why criminal justice research has reduced influence on the policy process?
18. What is the definition of punishment? How do the various qualifying phrases in the definition work to distinguish punishment from other concepts?
19. In our society, we appear to separate distinguish between the pain inherent in punishment (which is acceptable) from suffering (which is unacceptable). What evidence can be used to demonstrate that this distinction exists?
20. What are the basic constitutional limits on the state's power to impose a punishment?
21. What limits are placed on the state's power to define crimes pursuant to Robinson v. California.