The signature assignment for this course will require you to read the New York Times article,
“Hard Times, Fewer
Crimes”http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304066504576345553135009870 . In
the article the author, James Q. Wilson, discusses why crime has fallen in recent years despite
the economic downturn of the U.S. economy beginning in roughly 2010. This trend toward
fewer crimes is part of a larger trend that began during the early 1990s. The assignment will
require you to first (prior to reading the article) write on what they believe led to the large crime
drop. Then read the article and critically analyze the reasons given by Wilson for the crime drop
that have been offered by criminologists. Students will then be requested to write about the three
theories they believe best explain what caused the crime drop in providing statistical facts
relevant to their decision. Finally, you will be asked to write about the policy implications based
on their choice of what theories they believe best explain the crime drop. In doing so, you will
highlight what public policy choices should be made in the future to reduce crime, and will
provide relevant statistical support for their argument.
In completing this assignment, students will be required to communicate your ideas
clearly and concisely, as if presenting public policy research to practitioners of criminal
justice. You are also expected to make connections between your personal experiences and what
you believe reduces crime in light of the research conducted in the field of criminal justice,
research which may provide you with additional guidance on how to reduce crime that you may
not have considered before in your personal life. Finally, you will be expected to critically
evaluate the statistical information provided in the article using what you have learned in the
course. This will allow you to critically interpret the statistical information created by others and
use pertinent statistical information to make informed public policy decisions. These are skills
you can take with you as you go on to become practitioners in the field.
Students will be required to meet the following paper formatting guidelines:
This essay should be ( Cover Page, and
References do not count towards the minimum page requirement) pages typed, double
spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, normal 1 inch margins. Do not upload with word
perfect; only use an rtf. or doc. file. You will be graded on content, grammar, sentence structure,
and so forth. Be sure to check for misspellings. This essay should be written in APA format standard with appropriate title page, in- body references and an end of product reference page.
You should select references that can be accessed by others. Thus research journals; scholarly journals and books will be essential to the success of the essay. Resources referenced from media
sources should be documented appropriately with dates, authorship, companies and titles.
CRJS 3613 Statistics Course Essay Rubric
1. Read the article and critically analyze the reasons given by Wilson for the crime drop
that have been offered by criminologists.__________________30 pts.
2. Write about the three theories you believe best explain what caused the crime drop in
providing statistical facts relevant to your decision._________________ 30pts.
3. Write about policy implications, based on your choice of what theories you believe best
explain the crime drop. In doing so you will highlight what public policy choices should
be made in the future to reduce crime and will provide relevant statistical support for
your argument._______30pts.
4. Essay uses proper APA style citation, includes an adequate number of scholarly
resources, and contains a minimal number of organizational, punctuation, and/or spelling
mistakes, and meets minimum page number requirements.___________________10pts.