Careers in Criminal Justice 1a Unit 1 Activity

A simple decision tree can make complex ideas easily understandable.

As we know, there are many nuances in this process, but to keep this as simple as possible, please include in your decision tree the following terms.

• Bail
• Acquitted
• Booked
• Sentenced
• Prison
• Intermediate sanctions
• Probation
• Warrant
• Appeal
• Arrest

Step 1: Outline Steps in the Process

Since a decision tree flowchart shows a process from beginning to end, it's best to start organizing your flowchart by writing "Step 1," which for our purposes should be labeled as "A crime is reported." There is only one outcome after this step: "A suspect is arrested." Since that is the only outcome, consider this Step 2. Moving forward from here, each time there is only one possible outcome, move onto the next step. If for any reason there are two or more possible outcomes (for example: the individual is found guilty and sentenced OR the individual is found not guilty and acquitted of all charges), we will consider these sub-steps. Study the example flow chart to get a better understanding of how this will look visually.

Step 2: Create a Rough Draft on Paper

Using the list of steps from Step 1 of the activity, turn your paper over and begin drawing a rough draft of your decision tree flowchart starting in the top left corner of the page. This will ensure that you will have plenty of room for the rest of the tree to fit on the page. Please follow the guidelines for the flowchart below:

• The starting point should be a rectangular box.
• Steps that have only one outcome should also be a rectangular box.
• Steps that have two or more sub-steps should be a diamond-shaped box.
• Any steps or sub-steps that have no outcomes possible should be oval shaped.

Step 3: Create a Final Chart or Use a Word Processing Program

Once you are happy with how your draft chart looks, you can either copy your rough draft onto a new sheet of paper and take a screenshot and upload in the DropBox. You may also use a Word Processing Program and create a Flowchart or use the Insert feature and create the necessary rectangular boxes or decision symbols. Give your decision tree an appropriate title.