Your essay should apply ONE of the criminological theories discussed in the previous section (Social Learning, Social Bonding, Self-Control, Developmental & Life-Course) to a current crime/justice issue or event, using a news article along with the textbook as sources. Students will analyze the event or issue as portrayed by news media and write a brief but in-depth discussion of how one of the theories discussed that week applies to that event, issue, or phenomenon.
Your essay should be approximately 2 pages in length, double-spaced, using Times New Roman 12-point font and APA citation.
You can use the theory to attempt to explain the event or issue of your choice (What would this theory say about this event?), use the event or issue to provide evidence for or against the theory (Does this current issue support or debunk the theory?), or use the theory to provide evidence for or against an argument, opinion, or narrative in the news (Does this theory support or debunk this news narrative?) or anything else you want to do.
Try to focus a little more on your discussion of the theory than your discussion of the news article. I do not need to hear all the gory details of the crime, for example, unless they are directly relevant to your theoretical analysis. Your discussion should be 70% theory and 30% news article or something like that.
Make sure to include the major elements of the theory in your discussion (if you write about deterrence, write about certainty, severity, celerity, general & specific, etc. and apply these concepts to the news)
The news article you discuss should be recent, meaning from 2020.
The news article you discuss should not already be talking about theory. The news story should just be a news story, without in-depth criminological analysis. It is your task to apply criminological theory to a current event described in a news article. Not to tell me what some article like “Deterrence and Crime: Here’s How They Are Connected” says. The news story should just be a basic news story.
See my previous TRACS announcement for examples of reliable news sources, if you need any ideas about where to look.
Read your paper out loud before you send it to me and try to improve your writing.
Save your paper as something unique, like your last name, instead of just calling it “Paper 1”. This helps me distinguish the files on my hard drive.
Make sure to put your name on the actual paper, as if you were handing it in in “real” class.
You will not be graded on your “ideology”, opinion, or point of view. Just make it a well written paper and I am open to anything. Follow basic essay structure – title, introduction, body, conclusion. Make it interesting. Tell me about strange things that I may not know about. Just show me that you are thinking about this stuff. Good luck.
Self-Control’s website here:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/8-easy-ways-to-increase-your-self-control/
