Assignment Overview:
Each student will prepare a final paper presenting the arguments in favor and against a crime policy of their choice. The purpose of the assignment is not to determine which side of the debate is correct, but rather to present the various arguments on both sides of your selected crime policy issue.
The debate will provide an overview of each side of the argument. This should not be a discussion of the moral issues surrounding the topic or your personal opinion, but rather arguments presented in the literature surrounding each topic as related to the criminal justice system.
There are several examples of possible topics provided below
Possible topics include
Adults waivers for juveniles
Hate crime prosecution
Purpose of punishment in the criminal justice system: rehabilitation, incapacitation, retribution, or deterrence?
Lowering the legal drinking age
Criminalization of victimless crimes such as prostitution, drug use, gambling
Gun control
Legalization of marijuana
Sex offender registration laws
Role of the CJ system in responding to terrorism
Role of the CJ system in responding to mental illness
Use of force
Paper requirements (150 possible points):
Submission must be a minimum of 7 content pages in length and should not exceed 9 content pages – content pages are those directly addressing your debate topic and do not include the title page or references (the total paper may be longer than 10 pages once the title page and references are included)
Submission must be double spaced, typed in 12 pt Times New Roman font with 1” margins on all sides, including page numbers, completed in Microsoft Word
Submission must be written in APA format and, at minimum, contain:
A title page (your name, paper title, due date etc.)
A reference page properly citing any and all sources used for the assignment (make sure to include appropriate in-text citations as well)
Subheadings discussed below
Paper organization (your paper should include the following components and subheadings): Proofread the paper prior to submission – after you run spell check, make sure to read through the assignment at least one more time – proofread for grammatical and spelling errors as well as clarity.
Introduction – provides an overview of each side of the debate related to your topic and what the paper will discuss – should be no more than ¾ – 1 page – this should not be a complete history of your topic or contain simply anecdotal information or examples but instead should focus on the assignment topic specifically
Arguments in favor of your topic (for example, arguments in favor of legalizing marijuana) – this will be a new section where each argument in favor of your topic is discussed in a new paragraph 1.5 – 3 pages
Arguments against your topic (for example, arguments against the legalization of marijuana) – this will be a new section where each argument against your topic is discussed in a new paragraph 1.5 – 3 pages
Conclusion – This should be a summary of the main points you made throughout the paper – this should be no more than ¾ – 1 page
This is not a paper regarding your personal opinion or what you think about your topic. All content should be based on reputable sources such as academic articles or other peer-reviewed sources. In other words, do not submit a paper on what you think about your topic. Instead, develop a logical position based on the materials you collect and read to develop your paper. As such, each paper will include at least 7 outside peer-reviewed (scholarly sources) sources for each side of the debate to support your discussion.
Websites such as Wikipedia, Ask.com, .org’s, .edu, etc. are not considered appropriate sources and will not be counted towards this requirement.
Textbooks, including but not limited to the one assigned for this class, are not considered appropriate sources. The assigned text can be cited if any information from the text is used in writing the paper, however, it will not count towards the required outside sources.
Do not include examples such as “Everyone I spoke with agrees…”, “In my opinion…” and “According to a conversation I had with (insert criminal justice employee here)…” Everyone you spoke with, your personal opinion, and criminal justice employee “Ted” are not considered appropriate sources
