Personality Theory

Each student will prepare a paper written in APA style that has six to eight pages of text (more is acceptable, text does not include the abstract, tile or reference pages). Select any crime problem or type of crime and after supplying an overview of the issue apply a criminological theory discussed in class that tends to explain the causes of the criminal activity. References should include a balance of journal articles, textbooks, and current popular literature. An example of a paper might include an overview of recent riots with a criminological explanation that the crime is so because people in authority are abusing their power. This is explained through the application of Conflict Theory. A more simplistic approach could be that according to Classical Theory people are making a free choice to riot and break the law. There will be several opportunities to discuss the research project during scheduled class time.
Students can opt to use the same crime problem as the one covered in their class presentation.
This is the project in the Administration of Justice program in which writing and APA Style is measured as a program competency. Students therefore, need to be aware that the conventions of appropriate writing style will weigh heavily in the grading of the paper.