Criminal justice professionals write for diverse audiences, including the following:
peers and supervisors in an organization or members of other, related organizations
readers of professional and academic publications
the general public
When you write in a criminal justice course, you might be asked to imagine that you are writing a memo to a new police chief explaining local crime trends and demographics. Or you might write a memo to the head of a law enforcement organization describing a policing practice or policy and making recommendations for change. You might write about the same practice or policy for an audience of public defenders or for public resources officers who must make sure that citizens understand what the policy means to them. You might be asked to write an article about the practice or policy for a magazine such as Police Chief, whose audience consists of many different kinds of practitioners in the field.
Given these multiple and often overlapping audiences, you must analyze your readers’ needs carefully.
Checklist for assessing the writing situation
Approaching assignments in the disciplines