Topic has been chosen already.
Topic has been chosen already. Decriminalization of marijuana and its effects on crime rates.
Because this course deals with crime and public policy, your research project is designed to give you a deeper understanding about a particular type of criminal justice policy, program, or law and its overall effectiveness.
For this research project, you will be required to select a contemporary criminal justice policy, program, or law issue to research more in depth. You will be required to apply information you have learned during your criminal justice coursework at IUE. To this end, you will need to describe this topic in depth (Course: CJUS P100), apply criminological theories and concepts (Course: CJUS P200), assess the credibility and validity of criminal justice research and data methods (Course: CJUS P295), and explore the overall impact of this criminal justice policy, program, or law on the criminal justice system. You will then be conveying your findings in a logical, cohesive manner that will present a clear and evidence-based argument to myself and the class.
This project is designed to meet several Undergraduate, Program, and Course Learning Outcomes – including acquiring knowledge in the discipline and applying knowledge creatively. This project will also be testing skills that a criminal justice professional is expected to have (data gathering, reporting, communication, assessment/synthesizing, and presentation).
Investigate and describe your topic in depth (3). This means explaining your topic so that someone without a criminal justice understanding or background (ie. your mom, dad, or grandparents) would understand this topic, why it’s a problem/issue, who it’s affecting and who is involved, how big it is, and where it’s taking place.
This will typically require some statistics or data-gathering in order to prove your points. You will be allowed to use visual representations of your topic to make these same points, but you will need to make sure to thoroughly explain their presence in your presentation. See the Tables, Charts, and Graphs – Oh My! Page of the Research Resources for the Portfolio module for more information.
Explore the history and current state of your topic (3-5). This will be related to the first point, but it’s more of the “how” part of the question – how has this problem been typically handled by the criminal justice system (if it has), and how is it viewed now?
This discussion will also likely focus heavily on policy, program or law development – what has been done in the past regarding your topic and what is being done currently on your topic.
This will typically require data-gathering, statistical information and information on law/statutes/criminal proceedings and cases. Again refer to the rules on using charts, graphs, and other visual elements like Videos in your Portfolio Presentations.
Complete your Theory Section by describing the relevant theoretical background on your topic (2-3) This next portion of the portfolio will be exploring the theoretical background of your topic – or why it should work (theoretically) to reduce criminal behavior and victimization. This portion will be your review of P200 – Theories of Crime and Deviance.
To complete this section, please do the following:
You’ll need to explain the criminological theory in depth – to the point where someone who does not have criminal justice knowledge would understand what the theory is and is used for – do not skimp here. You may want to rely on P200 – Theories of Crime and Deviance materials to complete this section – theories need to be criminological in nature because this is a criminal justice course/capstone seminar.
You’ll need to provide empirical support for the theory as well. You’ll also likely need to find external supporting evidence for the theory from empirical research articles. This will provide information into how useful the application of this theory is in general. This will be tied to your Source Check writing activity, but also Policy discussions can be useful here too.
You will then need to apply your chosen theory to your assigned topic. This application means using the theory to explain your given topic. You’ll be using information gained from your theory course to explain how your topic happens and why this policy, program, or law should theoretically reduce crime and victimization! Like everything else, you’ll need to support your ideas with empirical, scholarly evidence and citations (so no personal stories here)!Complete your Theory Section by describing the relevant theoretical background on your topic (2-3) This next portion of the portfolio will be exploring the theoretical background of your topic – or why it should work (theoretically) to reduce criminal behavior and victimization. This portion will be your review of P200 – Theories of Crime and Deviance.To complete this section, please do the following:
You’ll need to explain the criminological theory in depth – to the point where someone who does not have criminal justice knowledge would understand what the theory is and is used for – do not skimp here. You may want to rely on P200 – Theories of Crime and Deviance materials to complete this section – theories need to be criminological in nature because this is a criminal justice course/capstone seminar.
You’ll need to provide empirical support for the theory as well. You’ll also likely need to find external supporting evidence for the theory from empirical research articles. This will provide information into how useful the application of this theory is in general. This will be tied to your Source Check writing activity, but also Policy discussions can be useful here too.
You will then need to apply your chosen theory to your assigned topic. This application means using the theory to explain your given topic. You’ll be using information gained from your theory course to explain how your topic happens and why this policy, program, or law should theoretically reduce crime and victimization! Like everything else, you’ll need to support your ideas with empirical, scholarly evidence and citations (so no personal stories here)!
Start your Research Section by clearly stating your research expectations (1). To begin your research section, you’ll want to bridge theory and research by stating your own expectations about the research you will be conducting on your question. Do you think the research will follow what theory has suggested should work? Why or why not?You will also want to acknowledge any biases you may have, motives you have for exploring this topic, as well as what you hope to find as you conduct the literature review.
Continue your Research Section by conducting a literature review of prior research on your topic (3-5). For this section of the portfolio, you will find five (5) scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic articles geared toward your specific topic and its effectiveness as a criminal justice policy.Prior research should be within the last ten (10) years. Older articles are generally not considered appropriate for a literature review (as you’re trying to find the most recent and relevant articles to support your arguments), but they can be used as general or supporting articles for your research portfolio.For each article, put its title, authors in APA format, give a brief summary of the article, give a brief summary of the methods used (with a special focus on measures, samples, and causal design), and give a brief summary of the results of the article.You may find it easier to list out each article on its own slide or to list out the title/author information and then talk about the summaries in your recorded speech (either is okay).
Synthesize the findings of your literature review (2). An important part of the literature review is coming to a consensus on what different articles have to say about your topic. I want you to touch upon the main findings of the literature review and state what they mean for your topic overall.You’ll want to assess the overall quality of the literature review and make a judgment call about the methods used. What are the main issues you see? Do the conclusions make sense to you? What do you think could be improved upon?
tart your Policy Section by evaluating effectiveness at local and global levels (2). In this section, you’ll bridge research and policy by evaluating the effectiveness of your topic at both the global and local levels.The research you’ve gathered from the literature review should assist you in this regard and you should be able to make a judgement about the overall effectiveness of this policy, program or law as it relates to crime and victimization reduction/prevention. You will want to cite this research accordingly in APA format.There are many ways you can interpret “effectiveness” – I leave it up to you as the student to make your case in this regard.
Continue your Policy Section by performing a SWOT analysis (1-2). Continue your policy section by performing a SWOT analysis – I give you resources to do this in the policy portion of this module. We will also be discussing SWOT analysis during introduction to policy. The research you’ve gathered through the literature review should assist you in this regard and allow you to isolate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for this policy, program or law. You will want to cite this research accordingly in APA format.There are many ways you can interpret the elements in a SWOT analysis – I leave it up to you as the student to make your case here as well.
Complete your Policy Section as you advocate for improvements/changes (2). Lastly, complete your policy section by advocating for ways to improve your topic as a criminal justice public policy.Using the SWOT analysis you have completed, how do you address weaknesses and threats to improve this public policy, program, or law? How do you capitalize on strengths and opportunities to make it more effective? What (if any) changes need to be made?The research you’ve gathered through the literature review and for the portfolio should assist you in this regard and allow you to advocate for changes/improvements. Our course text may also help you here as you make your case. Any sources should be cited in APA format.
Assemble the above items into a visual presentation. You will notice by each item listed above there is a number in parentheses. This is an estimate of the number of slides you will use to address each issue which is noted in the main slide count of the portfolio below. This DOES NOT include a front page to your presentation or the references slide(s).You are free to use PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi, or any other presentation software you’d like to actually assemble your Portfolio. You can include charts, graphs, pictures, tables, videos, or any other items – just make sure that it is interactive, integrated, and explained within your presentation. You also need to make sure I can access your portfolio using whatever medium you’ve chosen – so make sure links are publicly available or that I’m added to the file. If I can’t see your work, I cannot grade it!Your presentation will contain about 20-25 main slides addressing the above points. All of these elements will need to be in your portfolio in order for you to receive full credit!Any source you use must be cited on the slide in APA format. You will also need a References slide at the end for all of your sources. You will need a MINIMUM of 10 sources for this project. 5 sources must be your literature review and must be from academic, scholarly journals.Sources should be academic and empirical in nature – see the Finding Sources resources, but official sources of statistics and statutes, academic/scholarly journals, and research institutes are a good place to start. My lectures and modules count as a source as does your text for this course. Google Scholar and the library databases offered through LibGuides do a good job of pointing you in the right direction for many sources. You may find that you need to find more sources in order to fully address and empirically support the questions asked by this assignment.AVOID “unsubstantiated sources” like Wikipedia, newspaper sources, or online websites of questionable content (like blogs, pop science webpages, YouTube, or Reddit). Though these sources may be a good place to locate other academic sources, you will not want to rely upon them. Follow the Research Resources for the Portfolio guide that I’ve given you – your presentation should be legible, well-organized, and creative. Make sure you keep font to a size and shape that is easily readable. The same goes for charts, tables and graphs – make sure the font is easy to read. If I cannot read the items in your portfolio or your portfolio at all, your grade will suffer!
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