In this assignment, you will apply the theories you have studied to a particular crime which will be assigned to each student by the instructor. Conduct an Internet search and find an article about the crime which was assigned by the instructor. Crime stories are in the news every day, so this should be easy to accomplish.

Then, analyze three theories from chapters 22-41 in terms of how useful they are in explaining the assigned crime. You may also choose to use other theories based on your own cited research.

For instance, if you were assigned a violent crime, such as rape, you would analyze how useful each of three theories (one from each category) is in explaining why the offender in the case you chose committed the crime.

Your paper should have the following sections:

Introduction (Introduce the topic and mission of the paper to your reader.)

The Crime (Describe the characteristics of the criminal incident you found, then describe what we know about this type of crime more generally. . . prevalence, trends, costs, etc.)

Theory I (Describe the main features of the chosen theory, then discuss how useful a specific theory from this category is in explaining the crime.)

Theory II (Describe the main features of the chosen theory, then discuss how useful a specific theory from this category is in explaining the crime.)

Theory III (Describe the main features of the chosen theory, then discuss how useful a specific theory from this category is in explaining the crime.)

Conclusion (Explain, in your view, which of the three theories is most useful in explaining the criminal incident you chose. Then, discuss the implications of this theory for criminal justice policy in general. What should the criminal justice system do to try to address the kind of crime that you were assigned in light of the explanation for the crime that you found to be most useful?)

The sources you use for this assignment should include the article on the crime you chose, the textbook, and two peer-reviewed journal articles, either from the article you researched in Project One (if applicable) or other articles you identify to connect theory to crime. Significant amounts of information from peer-reviewed journal articles and your textbook should be incorporated into your paper.

In addition to presenting information from your sources, do some significant critical thinking in applying the theoretical material we have covered to the real case that you select.

Textbook:

http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/criminology/n22.xml