Assignment Details

The assignment requirements are provided below. You will turn in a reference list, an outline, a rough draft and a final draft of your paper. The instructor will provide feedback to you on each assignment. If you follow the feedback on your assignments you should secure a passing grade in the course.

General Requirements

All assignments in this course must adhere to the following standards:

Submitted materials must be typed using Microsoft Word. There are often problems opening and reading other types of documents. If you do not have Microsoft Word, you can order a copy from the UC Bookstore.

All assignments must have your name on them.

Assignments must be typed using Times New Roman 12 font with double spacing and 1 inch margins. No other fonts are acceptable. Manipulating your font size or paper margins to meet page length requirements will result in a failing grade for the course.

Papers must be formatted according to APA standards, which includes proper APA in-text citations to reference any points, ideas, facts, etc. drawn from an outside source and a properly formatted reference list. Improper citation constitutes plagiarism. Students should not take this course if they are uncomfortable with how to do APA in-text citations/reference pages. Some examples follow:

Examples of how to reference material in your paper:

–Reference in paper when not directly quoting what was said (author(s) last name and year); for example (Sherman 1993)

–Reference for a direct quote (author(s) last name, year, and page number; for example Sherman 1987, p. 174)

–Multiple references for the same idea (name, year; name, year; name, year); for example (Sherman 1993; Eck 1993; Bayley 1994)

Papers must have page numbers. Top or bottom of the page is fine.

Spelling, grammar, and neatness will be graded. Please proofread your submissions. Students usually run into problems when they use long sentences or attempt to impress me with “fancy” words. Simple is better.

Only original papers written for this class are acceptable. Papers or parts of papers that were written for other classes are unacceptable. Using any text from a previously submitted paper will result in a failing grade for the course.

All assignments must be submitted on Canvas and will be checked for plagiarism with the Turnitin system.

Save your files using your lastname_first initial_assignmentname (for example: smith_m_references1, smith_m_outline, smith_m_roughdraft or smith_m_finaldraft).

Assignment Specific Details

While it may seem like you have plenty of time to complete the course assignments, the due dates for this course will sneak up in no time. In my experience, if you wait until the last minute to complete the assignments, then you will likely fail.

Reference list: You must submit a detailed reference list with full reference information in APA format. I will provide feedback within a week.

Paper Outline: A detailed paper outline must be submitted. The purpose of the outline is to ensure that students on the right track and to ensure that you are making progress toward developing a final paper. The more details you provide in your outline, the more feedback I can provide you. Quality feedback will make it easier for you to develop your rough draft and ultimately your final paper. The lack of detail in your outline will place you at a disadvantage when you go to write your paper.

Rough Draft: The rough draft should be a complete draft of your paper. This is a chance to get feedback without suffering a penalty, and will place you in a great position to complete your final paper and submit it by the mandatory due date.

Final Paper: Your final paper is due by December 5, 2021 at 11:59 PM. You must submit it on Canvas so it can be checked for plagiarism. You should be able to use the feedback on the rough draft to finalize the final paper.

Papers must adhere to all requirements previously listed. In addition, the following also apply to your final paper.

–Papers must be between 11 and 15 pages in length, not including your references. The average paper in this course is usually about 13 pages. Papers that manipulate the font/margins to lengthen the paper will result in a failing grade for the course.
–Papers must include at least 10 additional academic sources (Wikipedia is NOT an academic source, while journal articles and book chapters are).

In addition, please keep your sentences short. If your sentences span multiple lines, then they are likely too confusing. Confusing papers get poor grades because I am unable to figure out what the student is trying to say. Also, please don’t hesitate to email me with questions or pose questions on the discussion board. It is likely your fellow classmates have the same questions.

Readings

THIS IS NOT A STATISTICS CLASS. Many of the articles have very advanced statistics or involve a meta-analysis, which is a statistics-based summary of studies. When looking at the articles, pay special attention to the review of the literature and the discussion/conclusions. You should also look over the methods and findings but do not worry about not understanding all of the statistics. I understand that most of you have not had enough advanced statistics to fully understand the methods employed by the authors. Rely on what they say in their discussions.

Readings will be posted in Canvas under the Modules tab. These should be considered a beginning point for your research. These lists should not be considered exhaustive, they are only a beginning point. The listed readings in your selected area must be used in your paper if they are applicable. Each student must submit a list of at least 10 additional academic sources. One way to gather outside information is to use the reference sections of the assigned readings. Backtrack to the sources to add to your understanding of research issues. Feedback will be given about the materials you propose to use in your paper in addition to those listed on the syllabus.

Wrongful Convictions

Recent research and well publicized cases have focused on the occurrence and extent of wrongful convictions. This research has also highlighted criminal justice system factors that lead to wrongful convictions. For instance, some critics have suggested that the jury system is flawed while others believe the activities of criminal justice personnel are to blame. First, define wrongful convictions. Second, how prevalent are wrongful convictions and are they a problem? Third, what do the readings suggest are the causes of wrongful conviction and what remedies are available to possibly reduce the incidence of wrongful convictions?

Wrongful Convictions

Ramsey, R.J. and Frank, J. (2007). Wrongful Conviction: Perspectives of Criminal Justice Professionals Regarding the Frequency of Wrongful Conviction and the Extent of System Errors. Crime and Delinquency, 53(3): 436-470.

Zalman, M., Smith, B. and Kiger, A. (2008). Officials’ Estimates of the Frequency of “Actual Innocence” Convictions. Justice Quarterly, 25 (1): 72-100.

Schoenfeld, H. (2005). Violated Trust: Conceptualizing Prosecutorial Misconduct. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 21(3): 250-271.

Gould, J.B. and Leo, R. (2010). One Hundred Years Late: Wrongful Convictions After a Century of Research. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 100(3), 825-868.

Gross, S. and O’Brien, B. (2008). Frequency and Predictors of False Convictions: Why We Know so Little and New Data on Capital Cases. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 5(4), 927-962.

Leo, R. and Richman, K. (2007). Mandate the Electronic Recording of Police Interrogations. Criminology and Public Policy, 6(4), 791-798.

Dwyer, J. (April 1, 2011) “New York’s High Court Attacks False Confessions”, New York Times, 2 pages

The post Assignment Details The assignment requirements are provided below. You will turn in appeared first on PapersSpot.