The following narrative case provides details of several fictional crimes committed by an individual. Your final paper should focus on identifying why this crime occurred. You should identify key elements from numerous theories to help explain, from your perspective why this individual committed his crimes.
When discussing these elements, you should identify the theory which they relate to and how this theory specifically predicts that these elements contributed to the offending of the individual. For example, if this hypothetical individual had weak commitment to school, you might write the following:
“This individual reported getting poor grades and having weak commitment to school. This is consistent with Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory, which posited that this would result in a weakening of the social bond to normative institutions in this way would free an individual to engage in crime. If this individual was more invested in school, he would have had less freedom to engage in his crimes.”
Beyond just theory, you need to back up your assertions with empirical citations. If you feel that a certain characteristic was a reason why the offender committed his crimes, you need to cite the empirical literature that indicates that the theoretical element that you are claiming contributed to his offending propensity. For example, consider this addition to the above example:
“Hirschi’s social control theory seems to be a good predictor of crime in this case, as research indicates that weak commitment to school is a risk factor related to offending (Agnew & Brezina, 1997; Sprott, Jenkins, & Doob, 2005).”
You can follow this up with a brief example of findings from a study you cite if you so choose, but do not turn your entire paper into a long list of study summaries. This is meant to support your claims related to theory, not serve as a space waster to reach the minimum paper length.
There may be many factors that you feel contributed to the crime. It is fine to discuss any and all of these factors, but you MUST link them to theory. For example, the individual may have been under the influence of drugs when he committed the crime. If you are going to consider this as a factor in committing the crime, you need to relate it to theory.
Your paper should be divided up into several sections. You should first spend a page introducing the issue, that is the crimes of the individual and outlining what you will discuss in your paper. You should then delineate each of the sections by the specific theory that you are discussing at the time. This is to say, that if you are talking about social learning theory, mainly keep that discussion in your section focused on social learning theory. This will make the flow of your paper much cleaner than if you are bouncing back and forth between theories. You may also discuss the presence of protective factors if you identify them and consider why they may not have been prevented this individual from committing his crimes. You should also spend several pages discussing potential treatment that could help reduce the likelihood that this individual will commit crimes again in the future. This should be consistent with the contributors to crime that you identified in the previous section and empirical research on programs for addressing those contributing factors and you should cite research accordingly. Your paper should end with a conclusion section that should be about a page long that sums up your overall view on why this individual committed his crimes. The outline of what your paper should resemble is:
Introduction: 1 page; 5 points
Identification of Contributing Factors and Relation to Theory: 3-4 pages; 25 points
Suggestions for Ensuring that this Individual Doesn’t Commit Crimes in the Future 1-2 pages; 15 points
Conclusion: 1 page; 5 points
Bibliography (Plus grammar and professional presentation; 5 points)
These are not suggestions on page length. You need to adhere to the minimum page length for each individual section. The scoring rubric may be found on the last page of this document.
The profile of these crimes and the criminal are below:
Profile of Individual C
Crimes Committed: 1 charge felonious assault
1 charge crack-cocaine possession
1 charge methamphetamine possession
1 charge breaking and entering
Demographic Characteristics of Individual A:
Caucasian male, 29 years old
Mental Health: ADHD; diagnosed in childhood
Oppositional defiant disorder, diagnosed in childhood
Criminal History: Possession of marijuana charge at age 14, underwent diversion program,
charge expunged from record.
Circumstances of the Crimes:
Mr. Individual C (henceforth identified as “C”) was caught breaking into a neighbor’s apartment around 3:00am several nights ago. The neighbor (henceforth described as “N”) is a 35 year-old male. N awoke to the sound of commotion in his living room. N entered the living room and turned on the light to find C rummaging through the drawers of his desk. N yelled at Cand told him to “get out.” At that point, C became violent and threw a lamp that was on a nearby table, striking N in the head. N was disoriented, but was able to see C flee out his window. N then went to the window and saw C flee down the fire escape. N immediately called the police and informed them of the incident. N was able to see C flee down the street to the north. Police in close proximity to the area and spotted a man running down the street. Upon seeing this man running, the police approached the man and asked him if there was an issue. C stopped and began speaking very quickly and jumping from topic to topic. As the officers were talking to him, the call came in regarding the burglary of N’s apartment. C fit the description and the police detained him. Upon identification by N and hearing N’s story, C was arrested for burglary. The police found methamphetamine and crack cocaine on C’s person, thus, he was charged with all of the above crime.
N reports never having met or seen C in his life. However, it turns out that C lives in the apartment building across the street. When asked about this, N indicated that “I’ve lived here for awhile, but people are always moving in and out, so it’s hard to keep track of who’s who.”
When asked about why he broke into his neighbor’s home, he said “I needed money, it was wrong.” C reported feeling angry about being caught, resulting in him throwing the lamp and committing assault. C reported that, “I thought no one was home, I was really motivated to get some money, and when I looked through the window, I saw some expensive stuff inside that I thought I could sell.”
Current/Recent Living Situation:
C lives in a low-income neighborhood on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, Michigan. C reported that he had recently moved into his apartment. C lives alone, but up until the past year, he had been living with his parents. He moved out of his parents’ home in Northeast Michigan to attend college in Grand Rapids. This was the first time that he had lived on his own.
C reported a progression in his drug use since moving to Grand Rapids. He had long been an occasional marijuana user, but became a more frequent user when he moved to Grand Rapids last year. He said, “it’s easier to get in the city.” However, in the past four months C reported a progression to harder drug use. When asked about this, C reported that he had become depressed and began abusing harder drugs. He had been expelled from college due to poor grades and reported becoming depressed. This is when he reported progressing to harder drug use to deal with his depression.
C indicated that his friends reinforced his drug habit and he greatly enjoyed the high he got. While C had previously only been a marijuana user, his close friends had been methamphetamine and crack users since he before he had known them. C’s friends had peer pressured him into trying drugs for a long time, but C had just remained a marijuana user. When C decided to try methamphetamine for the first time, he reported that he really liked the feeling. C’s friends told him how great it was that he “finally wanted to party.” They praised C for trying the harder drugs. C would then go on to try crack and also enjoyed the high he got from the drug and the praise that he received from his friends. This led to him wanting to do drugs more often.
However, this harder drug use resulted in C engaging in increasingly risky situations. C reported passing out at an acquaintance’s home after a drug binge. He reported waking up to an unknown individual robbing him. The unknown individual fled out the door with C’s wallet. This led C to become angry. This feeling lasted up to the present day, as he indicated that he was still mad about the incident. C said, “you just get victimized like that and it makes you so angry. You know?” C indicated that this was why he needed money. He also indicated that “it just felt like one thing after another this week. So, when that dude spotted me, I just got even madder and threw the lamp instead of just running.”
C reported that he had not had any romantic relationships since moving to Grand Rapids. C reported that, “maybe I just need a girlfriend or something, maybe that’d be a reason to stop doing drugs and doing dumb stuff like this.” C reports that he currently spends most of his time with his drug using friends.
Past Living Situation
C indicated that he came from a “good family.” He reported that his parents were great and always kept him out of trouble. C reported a marijuana possession at age 14, but his parents were “able to pay for me to get a good lawyer and get me out of trouble.” C grew up in a small town. It is not on his official record, but he was caught joyriding by police when he was 16. He was brought home to his parents for punishment, as his father was the sheriff. This allowed C to, as he puts it, “stay out of any real trouble as a kid.”
C has a reported history of mental health issues. He was diagnosed with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder in childhood. This led him to have trouble in school. C reported that, “I’ve always hated school. I just don’t see the point.” When asked about his current college enrollment, C said that, “I only came to college because my parents made me and said that they would pay for it. I thought it’d be fun to party too. I didn’t work hard in college at all.”
C reported that he was, “kind of a risk-taker. I guess I always have been and I always will be.” C reports having low self-control and not thinking before he acts. C reports that his parents were always, “getting on my case for doing dumb things. They would catch me about to do something bad, like spray painting something or blowing something up with bottle rockets, and then they’d stop me.”
When asked about his friends growing up, C indicated that, “I came from a small town, so I didn’t have a big choice in friends. I had friends, but they didn’t really do the stuff that I did.” C reported that he enjoyed smoking marijuana, but when his friends found out he got in trouble for marijuana possession they got mad at him. C reported that, “they just got mad at me and told me how dumb it was. It made me not want to do it anymore. I did it very occasionally, but not with those friends.”
C reported that his friends reaction made him feel bad, but they also welcomed him back into their friend group. C reported that, “they made clear that they were mad about it, but they didn’t want to see me get in more trouble. So, they kind of welcomed me back and we hung out and did stuff that wasn’t bad.”
In talking about his hometown, C reported that, “it’s a small town, so everyone knows each other and looks out for everyone’s best interest.” C reported that, “there’s a neighborhood watch program and all the adult neighbors make sure that kids aren’t getting in trouble. If they see some teenagers doing something wrong, they will yell at them or call their parents.”
Rubric
Credit
100%
50%
0%
Introduction
Completely introduces the crimes committed by Individual C and the purpose of this paper. Meets minimum length requirements.
Only briefly discusses the crimes committed and/or the purpose of the paper. Focus of paper is unclear. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Crimes committed not identified, purpose of paper not identified. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Identification of Contributing Factors and Relation to Theory
All components of theoretical frameworks are accurately defined and related correctly to the crimes committed by Individual C. Complete review of the existing literature. Meets minimum length requirements.
Components of theory identified but explanations not complete, some definitions of theoretical concepts are inaccurate. Relation to the crimes of Individual C is not totally clear. Only partial review of existing literature. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Author shows poor understanding of criminological theoretical concepts, most are defined inaccurately. No clear connection between any of the identified concepts and the crimes of Individual C is made. Incomplete review of existing literature. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Suggestions for Ensuring that this Individual doesn’t Commit Crimes in the Future
Suggestions for treatment of Individual C are connected to the contributing factors identified in the previous section. Suggestions are based on sound empirical research and this research is cited. Meets minimum length requirements.
Some of the suggestions for treatment of Individual C do not match up with contributing factors identified in the previous section. Some suggestions are not linked to empirical research and/citations are missing. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Suggestions for treatment are inconsistent with contributing factors identified in the previous section and are not based on empirical research. No citations present. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Conclusion
Full summary of paper is provided. A recap of each section is present in the conclusion. Meets minimum length requirements.
Conclusory summary is missing recap of discussion in one or more sections. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Conclusory summary is missing entirely. No recap of the paper provided. Does not meet minimum length requirements.
Grammar/Professional Presentation
APA citation used correctly throughout paper/ bibliography, no grammar/spelling errors, good sentence flow and readability
APA citation used correctly sporadically throughout paper/ bibliography, some grammar/ spelling errors, somewhat confusing sentence flow and slightly problematic readability
APA citation not properly employed in paper/ bibliography, many grammar/ spelling errors, extremely confusing sentence flow and poor readability
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