1.) This assignment provides three (3)
options/questions. Choose one (1)
option/question and write an essay (1,200 – 1,500 words) answering the question. You should be sure to address everything the
question inquires about and to be thorough in your explanation. The essay should be between 1,200 and
1,500 words in length. Please keep
in mind the fact that 1,200 words is the minimum length. The depth and detail of your essay will be
taken into consideration when the essay is graded, so it is in your best
interest to be thorough in your essay.
2.) Please prepare your essay as a Microsoft Word
document and double-space your essay.
3.) Be sure to adequately
address each key issue a question asks about and balance your essay. In other words, roughly equivalent attention
should be afforded to each key issue.
You should NOT, for example, dedicate two thirds of your essay to one of
the issues inquired about and then just briefly touch upon the others.
4.) Regarding personal opinion/ideas/analyses of
the issues: Some of the essay questions may ask you to provide an opinion or
your personal ideas about or analysis of an issue. With respect to personal
opinion/ideas/analyses, there is NOT a right or wrong answer. No points will be deducted because a student
voices a specific opinion or expresses a particular idea. However, when presenting an
opinion/idea/analysis you MUST provide a clear explanation and rationale for
your opinion/analysis/ideas. In other
words, you need to describe and discuss your thoughts on the matter and provide
a supporting argument for your opinion/views/ideas. Do NOT just provide an opinion/view/analysis
without also providing a rationale.
5.) Regarding outside research/reference
materials (i.e., any research/reference materials other than the required text
and/or assigned readings), no outside materials are necessary, expected, or
permitted for this assignment. The
essay you write must be based on the materials assigned in this class.
6.) Regarding the use of quotes and the matter
of plagiarism, you should feel free to use quotes from the textbook
and/or assigned readings, but such quotes should be used sparingly. In other words, you should use no more than a
few quotes in the essay (four or five, at the most) and the quotes should be
short and relevant. There should be no
long quotes (i.e., no quote should be more than a single sentence in length) in
your essay nor should your essay consist primarily of a series of quotes from
the text. You should NOT use any direct
quotes from the online synopses of the assigned readings nor should any of your
essays strongly resemble the online summaries of the assigned readings. In short, all essays must be original. They should be written in your own words and,
in the event that a question requires you to present an opinion, the opinion
you present should be your own.
When using quotes, all
quotes should be in quotation marks and should indicate the author(s) and page
number from the text (see examples below).
Please keep in mind the fact that, as stated on the course syllabi, the
penalty for plagiarism is a failing grade for the class.
Direct Quote Example #1: Worrall suggests that “Liberals often favor
the protection of people’s rights and liberties to a higher degree than their
conservative counterparts do” (p. 34).
Direct Quote Example #2: Research on police-public contacts has shown
that roughly “6.7% of U.S. residents age 16 or older initiated contact with
police on one or more occasions to report a crime, disturbance, or suspicious
activity, while 3.5% initiated contact to report a non-crime emergency” (Davis,
Whyde, and Langton, p. 5).
7.) The
essay submitted is the essay which will be graded. When submitting an essay in response to an
essay assignment, students should be sure to submit the final draft of their
essay (it is best to prepare the essay as an MS Word document and upload the
document). The essay which is submitted
is the essay which will be graded. In
other words, in the event that a student accidentally submits an incomplete
essay, a preliminary draft of the essay, or even the wrong essay (e.g., an
essay prepared for a different class) and later realizes that the wrong essay
was submitted, there are no options for re-submitting the essay. The essay which is submitted is the essay
that will be graded, so when submitting an essay all students should be certain
that the work submitted is the correct work for the assignment.
Essay
Assignment #2
Options/Questions
(Choose and Respond to One [1] Option/Question)
Option/Question
1: Chapter 7 of the textbook, “Crime Control
Through Legislation,” contains a discussion of America’s “drug problem” and laws
designed to limit or ban the use of specific psychoactive substances (see
sections titled “Drug Bans,” “The Scope of America’s Drug Problem,” and “Drug
Ban Problems”). The federal report 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year
Follow-up Period (2005-2014) contains some discussion of the release and
recidivism of persons incarcerated for drug-related offenses.
Write an essay which briefly summarizes (i) the “drug
problem” in the United States, (ii) the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of laws
which criminalize the use of drugs, and (iii) recidivism among drug offenders
released from prison.
Option/Question
2: Chapter 9 in the textbook, “Sentencing,” focuses
on the sentences of convicted criminal offenders and contains discussion of various
types of offenders (see section titled “Thinking About Various Types of
Offenders”) and sentencing strategies/tactics which may result in longer
sentences such as determinate sentencing and mandatory sentences. The federal report 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period
(2005-2014) contains some discussion of differences in recidivism among
different types of offenders (i.e., drug offenders, property offenders, violent
offenders, public order offenders) and the research which shows that recidivism
rates are lower among violent offenders than among other types of offenders.
Write an essay which briefly summarizes (i) determinate
sentencing and mandatory sentences which require offenders be sentenced to set
periods of time in prison, (ii) the research on the differences in recidivism
between different types of offenders, and (iii) YOUR VIEWS on which type of offense/offender
deserves the longest prison sentence. The
issue being asked about here is whether violent offenders who have relatively
low rates of recidivism should be incarcerated for longer periods of time than non-violent
offenders (especially property offenders and drug offenders) who have higher
rates of recidivism than do violent offenders.
In other words, should the prison sentence be based on the offense
(violent vs. non-violent) or the likelihood that a person will continue to
engage in crime (one-time offenders vs. repeat offenders)?
Option/Question
3: Chapter 9 in the textbook, “Sentencing,”
focuses on the sentences of convicted criminal offenders and contains
considerable discussion of three-strikes laws, support and criticism of
three-strikes laws, and the research on three-strikes laws (see section titled
“Three-Strikes Legislation”). The
federal report 2018 Update on Prisoner
Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005-2014) focuses on recidivism and
shows that, overall, the majority of persons released from prison continue to
engage in crime.
Write an essay which briefly summarizes (i) three-strikes
laws and the research on effects (or lack thereof) of such laws on crime rates,
(ii) the research on recidivism among released prisoners, and (iii) YOUR VIEWS
on whether three-strikes laws should or should not be utilized. In other words, although the research on the
effect of three-strikes laws on crime rates is inconclusive (some studies
suggest the laws reduce crime rates, some studies suggest the laws do not reduce
crime rates, and some studies suggest the laws contribute to an increase in
crime), three-strikes laws do help keep repeat offenders off the streets, but
at a substantial cost to the American taxpayer.
In short, do YOU THINK three strikes laws are humane and/or do YOU THINK
three strikes laws are worth the cost to the taxpayer?
