Your final product is a 12-page ASA-formatted paper that pulls together all of the sections you’ve worked on throughout the
semester and adds your Community Improvement proposal. This is an academic paper, so it should be well-organized,
coherent, and free of grammatical and spelling errors. The information it should cover will include, but is not limited to:
1. A brief literature review of key themes relevant to communities and crime and specific to your community. You should
collect and review at least 5 sources, with at least 3 from outside of this class
2. A description of the community. Include current demographics (size, racial and ethnic composition, age of population,
rental versus owned housing, location, etc.) and crime statistics.
3. The type and amount of business and industry if relevant. You may want to interview a business owner.
4. Residents’ perceptions of the community and crime. You will interview at least two citizens.
5. Police officers’ perceptions of the community and crime. You will interview at least one police officer or politician.
6. Local politicians’ perceptions of the community and crime.
7. A description of community organizations, including local non-profits, churches and neighborhood associations, if
relevant. How does each contribute to the community? You will interview at least one community organizer.
8. A proposal for Community Organizing and Improvement based on what you learned about your community’s residents,
resources, perceptions and problems with local crime prevention and control.
9. A summary of the project, and how it connects to broader themes related to communities and crime.
