Sex Crimes Policy Debate
Policy Debate (150 point): You will be required to submit one policy debate presentation OR paper on ONE of the following topics:
Can mandatory comprehensive sexual education and consent communication classes in elementary schools reduce child sexual abuse?
Can legalizing prostitution/sex work prevent sex trafficking?
Do sex offender registration and notification prevent sexual offending?
DESCRIPTION:
Sex crimes are pervasive, affecting victims of all ages, races, genders, and socio-economic statuses. Despite the scope of the problem, implementing effective sexual violence prevention policies is difficult. For many, sex is a taboo topic. Others may misunderstand how sex crimes work or their causes. Belief in rape myths may misconstrue the problem and how to prevent sexual violence in the community or the home. So, various sociological and cultural factors may make implementing large scale policies difficult. In this assignment you will select one of the topic areas listed below:
Could mandatory comprehensive sexual education and consent communication classes in elementary schools reduce child sexual abuse?
Can legalizing prostitution/sex work prevent sex trafficking?
Do sex offender registration and notification prevent sexual offending?
Then you will state your position about the effectiveness of the policy, and formulate a convincing evidence based argument that supports your side. The goal of this assignment is to evaluate whether the policy can effectively prevent the associated type of sexual violence. Using research, theory, and knowledge learned from this class, you should be able to explain why the policy is or is not effective.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Select your topic and position.
Please select one of the following debate topics/policies:
Could mandatory comprehensive sexual education and consent communication classes in elementary schools reduce child sexual abuse?
Can legalizing prostitution/sex work prevent sex trafficking?
Do sex offender registration and notification prevent sexual offending?
State your side/opinion/position:
Be sure to clearly decide on the position that you want to argue. For example, if you select the first topic/policy—mandatory sexual education and consent communication—then you will start by saying either “Yes, mandatory sex ed and consent communication training in school can prevent child sexual abuse” or, the opposite, “No, mandatory sex ed and consent communication training in school cannot prevent child sexual abuse.”
You may want to do a little bit of preliminary research before you decide which topic to select, or which side you are going to take.
Collect information, do research, and formulate your supporting arguments.
Once you have stated your opinion or position, you will need to support it using evidence. Evidence can include:
Research studies evaluating the effectiveness of the policy.
Discussion of the characteristics of offenders or sex crimes and how the policy would address these.
Discussion of theories of offending/victimization that show the policy should be effective because it addresses the causes of offending according to the theory.
Examples, information, readings, facts, and data presented in the course material that show the policy is effective.
Other research studies that support your position/arguments.
Do some research to find sources that support your arguments and position.
You should discuss findings from a MINIMUM of 5 peer-reviewed research studies to support your points.
In homework 2, you learned to compare and contrast the credibility and quality of different sources of information. You should have noted that peer-reviewed research articles tend to offer the best quality of information, especially compared to random web pages, social media sources, and other such sources of information that cannot be verified. So, for this assignment, you are required to discuss information from a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed research articles.
Prepare your paper or presentation.
This may involve taking/reviewing notes, doing additional research on the topic—beyond readings/materials shared in class–writing up what you want to say, and/or creating a PowerPoint presentation or paper outline.
Your debate, wither in paper for or in a powerpoint presentation should follow the following outline:
Introduce the police and state your position on its effectiveness.
¿ practice/program work or NOT work as intended?
Be sure to select one side.
This section should be 1-2 pages if written, or 1-2 minutes if a PowerPoint presentation.
Next, support your position using scientific, peer-reviewed research studies and other evidence:
Use the research studies you found during the research stage, as well as other evidence to “prove” that you are correct. If you said the policy works, then discuss research and evidence showing that it does. If you said the policy does not work, then discuss studies that show it does not work.
Your conclusions about its effectiveness should be based on the research. If you say the program does not work, and then you only find studies showing that it does, then you may need to change your position, or reframe your arguments.
In this section you may want to include:
Research studies evaluating the effectiveness of the policy.
Discussion of the characteristics of offenders or sex crimes and how the policy would address these.
Discussion of theories of offending/victimization that show the policy should be effective because it addresses the causes of offending according to the theory.
Examples, information, readings, facts, and data presented in the course material that show the policy is effective.
Other research studies that support your position/arguments.
You should discuss findings from a MINIMUM of 5 peer-reviewed research studies to support your points.
This is the most important section of the assignment. This section should be between 3-5 pages if written, or 5-7 minutes if a PowerPoint presentation.
Offer concluding remarks.
In this section, you should summarize your final arguments and conclusions, restating your position.
This section should be about 1 page if written, or about 1 minute if a PowerPoint presentation.
SUBMISSION FORMATS:
In this assignment, you can choose between the following formats:
Written Paper (5-10 pages)
In this option, organize your debate into a written paper:
Your paper should be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.
The organization should follow the proposed outline above.
Format your paper in APA, including a cover page.
Use correct citation both in the text of the paper and in a reference section.
All citations/references should be formatted in APA.
The paper should be a minimum of 5 pages and a maximum of 10 pages, NOT including the cover page and references.
