Pick any crime/criminal statute
Here’s a link to a quick list if you’d like to use the list as a starting point to generate ideas: https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/view-all-criminal-charges.html
Find an example of someone who has been convicted of the crime (you can do an online search)
For example, if you select “aggravated assault,” you could Google: “man convicted of aggravated assault in….(insert the name of a city)”
Include the following sections when Writing the Paper:
Title Page
See the APA 7th edition example title pages!
CREATE a catchy/original title (do not use the title: Final Paper)
Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)
You could include an overview of your crime and statistics about your crime
Many introductions are like a funnel— they start out general (e.g. general ideas/thoughts about crime) and get more specific (e.g. definition of the crime you chose, some statistics about the crime)
End the introduction with a thesis statement that sums up the whole paper. For example you could use one of the following if you’d like:
This paper provides an overview of ______________(insert the crime you chose) by highlighting a ____________ (insert the crime you choose) case.
Or
In order to better understand ______________, (insert the crime you chose) it is helpful to dissect a _______ (insert the crime you chose) case through a criminal justice system lens.
Leading up to the Arrest (2-3 paragraphs)
Include a paragraph highlighting at least 3 facts about the offender (prior to the arrest) [i.e. offender’s name, age at the time of the crime, and factors about the offender such as job/status in the community/criminal history]
Include a paragraph with at least 3 facts about the crime the offender committed (e.g. year the crime took place, information about the victim(s), location of the crime, some details about the crime)
Criminal Justice Involvement (1-3 paragraphs)
Include at least 5 terms/vocabulary words/concepts from our textbook [BOLD the vocabulary words/concepts when writing this section]. You may write a paragraph for each concept if you’d like (i.e. explain the concept THEN link the concept to your case)
For example, some common system response terms mentioned in our book that you may find simple to include/discuss in this section may be: information about the arrest, a confession, the initial appearance, pre-trail supervision or bail, defense attorney, a preliminary hearing, a plea bargain, the sentence, restitution, fine, forfeiture, victim impact statement, correctional institution, life sentence, extended supervision, parole, revocation from supervision
USE the textbook glossary as you form/write this section– you will likely have more than 5 terms/vocabulary/course concepts when writing this section without even trying hard to come up with concepts!
Conclusion (1-3 paragraphs)
Include a summary of the case to include your views about the case and the system’s response to the case (e.g. did the offender’s sentence seem appropriate, did mitigating or aggravating circumstances affect the sentencing, how likely will the offender be rehabilitated or feel remorse,
how will the community or victim(s) recover)
Reference page
Use APA 7th edition to cite you utilized to help you write your paper
There are great citation assistance sites to make citing super easy. For example (scroll down to see the boxes that say “cite source automatically in APA”): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/index.html
Formatting/Writing your paper:
Use APA 7th edition to format your paper. Here are fabulous APA web pages with lots of examples:
EXAMPLE APA Paper (with citation & Reference page examples): https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/student-annotated.pdf
APA Style Guide: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines
Sample Title page: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/title-page
Purdue Owl with great APA examples too: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/index.html
Use Section Labels/titles when starting each section (i.e. Lead Up to the Arrest, Criminal Justice Involvment, Conclusion)
Double space the paper
Write in 3rd person (it’s a more professional writing style). Here is a quick example:
3rd person:
Murder is a crime that is often misunderstood.
2nd person:You might not realize how often people misunderstand murder.
1st person:
I didn’t realize how often murder is misunderstood.
Please submit the paper on time!
10 points will be deducted from the final paper grade for every ‘calendar day’ the paper is submitted past the deadline. For example, a paper submitted 3 days beyond the due date will result in 30 points being deducted from the final paper grade.
THE PAPER MUST BE AN ORIGINAL PAPER (written for this class
