You will select a topic of your choosing that is related to the material presented in this course. The purpose of this research paper is to fully describe and analyze a specific family of theory (pick one of the six that we covered this semester: Trait, Choice, Social Process, Social Structure, Conflict, or Developmental or you may choose Victimology). You must then explore each of the typographies of crime that we covered (violent, property, enterprise, and public-order) from your theory’s perspective. In other words, you need to describe how your theorists would explain crime from each of the four categories. Finally, you will describe the prevention strategies that your theory would suggest we employ to reduce or eliminate crime.
Outline:
Title page – Include a title page with the title of your proposal, your name, course name, mentor’s name, and date. The title page will be the first page, but should not be numbered.
Abstract – A short abstract (no more than 200 words) of the proposal should appear on the second page and be labeled as page 1. An abstract is a summary that provides an overview of the proposal. The abstract is very important because it provides a first impression of the entire paper. You can take a look at an issue of most any criminology or criminal justice research journal for an example.
Introduction – Here you will provide a statement of the issues that you are addressing. In this section, you will provide readers with the “setup” for the paper. Explain what you are going to study and why anyone might want to read it. The introduction will begin on the third page of the proposal and will be labeled as page 2. This is the beginning of the “body” of the paper. This section should be about 2-3 pages.
Briefly present your chosen family of theory and what you hope to accomplish with this paper. (A good way to start is: “The purpose of this paper is…..)
Theory – Fully describe how your theory works to explain crime. Who are the major theorists involved? How do their explanations of crime differ? What are the basic principles of your family of theory? How are they different from other families of theory? How long has your family of theory has been around? Do you think it works well to explain crime? What are its weak and strong points? etc….. What are some examples of specific theories within your family of theory? etc….
Application- The third section of the research paper is the direct application of your theory to actual crime. Be sure to use examples from each the four typographies of crime that we’ve studied. The point here is to explain how your family of theory explains a variety of different crimes. Can it explain all crimes or is it limited to just one typography of crimes?
Prevention – How does your theory suggest that we prevent crime? What should we do with known criminals? Basically, describe how your theory would put an end to crime if its theorists were put in charge of the criminal justice system.
Conclusion – Summarize the key concepts you presented in the paper. Sum it up; restate the most important ideas you presented in your paper.
References – Conclude the paper with a list of all articles, books, and technical reports referenced in the paper. Make sure that all studies cited in the paper are in the reference section and that all studies appearing in the reference list are described in the paper. Follow the format from a recent issue of Justice Quarterly.
General Guidelines
Provide a review of at least 10 research articles on the topic. You can supplement the 10 articles with books and technical reports. Do not put the studies in chronological order and provide a summary of each one. A good literature review should tie previous studies together in some logical fashion and should lead readers to anticipate something important to be gained from your study. At this stage, it is best to err on the side of depth rather than brevity.
Your research must contain at least ten sources of reference excluding the course textbooks, other textbooks on criminal justice, encyclopedias, and non-academic websites. Educational and government websites (generally denoted by a .gov or .edu address suffix) are acceptable sources, but the focus of your research should be on scholarly journal articles which can be found through the library’s research page. Again, please consult with the instructor if in doubt about your sources. (Hint: one reason for a poor grade is the use of inappropriate sources – do not use .com or .org websites, especially Wikipedia, for an academic paper.)
You must cite all of the sources that you use when writing the paper. A citation is necessary for any information that you paraphrase or directly quote. If you do not have direct personal knowledge of the information that you use in the paper, then a citation is required. Be sure to cite your sources in the body of the paper and list them in a bibliography.
Your paper should be between 10 and 12 pages. The paper can be longer (no more than 15 pages) but it should not be any shorter than 10 pages.
Formatting Guidelines:
Include a separate title page with the title, your name, course name, instructor’s name, and date.
Do not number the title page.
Do not repeat the title on subsequent pages.
Use Times New Roman script with a font size of 12 for the entire document.
Make the entire document double-spaced.
Tab once at the beginning of each new paragraph.
Do not include bullets, numbered lists, drawings, or algebraic formulas in your paper. Use only text.
Do not type in ALL CAPS except for the title of paper.
Pick one referencing style and use it for in-text citations and the reference pages.
Margins should be one inch all around (most programs are preset this way).
Submit the paper as an attachment.
The paper must be submitted as a word document. All assingments will go through turnitin to check for plagarism and AI. Each paper receives a plagarism score from turnitin. For each 15% of the paper that is indicated as plagarism, 10 points will be deducted.
Sources used in outine:
Ades, J., & Mishra, J. (2021). Education and Crime across America: Inequity’s Cost. Social Sciences, 10(8), 283. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10080283
Brian Bell, Rui Costa, & Stephen Machin (2022) Index to volume 130. Journal of Political Economy, 130(12), 3337–3342. https://doi.org/10.1086/723279Links to an external site.
Boessen, A., Omori, M., & Greene, C. (2021). Long-Term Dynamics of Neighborhoods and Crime: The Role of Education over 40 years. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 39(1), 187–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-021-09528-3Links to an external site.
Brutti, Z., & Montolio, D. (2019). Preventing Criminal Minds: early education access and adult offending behavior. Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3360341
Hazra, D., & Aranzazu, J. (2022). Crime, correction, education and welfare in the U.S. – What role does the government play? Journal of Policy Modeling, 44(2), 474–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2022.03.007Links to an external site.
Zaman, K., Usman, B., Sheikh, S. M., Iswan, Khan, A., Kosnin, A. M., Rosman, A. S., Ismail, S., Ali, D. F., & Hishan, S. S. (2019). Managing crime through quality education: A model of justice. Science & Justice, 59(6), 597–605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scijus.2019.08.004Links to an external site.
Lochner, L., & Moretti, E. (2004). The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports. The American Economic Review, 94(1), 155–189. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282804322970751Links to an external site.
Hjalmarsson, R., Holmlund, H., & Lindquist, M. J. (2015). The Effect of Education on Criminal Convictions and Incarceration: Causal Evidence from Micro-data. The Economic Journal, 125(587), 1290–1326. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12204Links to an external site.
Fast, R. (2021). The effects of education on Alabama’s violent crime rate. Socioeconomic Challenges, 5(2), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.21272/sec.5(2).5-14.2021Links to an external site.
Veselak, K. M. (2015). The Relationship between Educational Attainment and the Type of Crime Committed by Incarcerated Offenders. Journal of Correctional Education, 66(2), 30–56. https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-3765409541/the-relationship-between-educational-attainment-and
