For this assignment, you will be selecting and discussing a contemporary criminal justice issue to pursue as part of your criminal justice research paper for this capstone course. The topic that you select will be the focus throughout this course, so please select your topic wisely. When considering topics, think about the courses you have taken in the criminal justice program, issues that you have studied, and topics for which you developed an interest. You will not want to select a topic that is too broad, such as crime statistics; rather, consider a specific topic, such as how the collection and reporting of crime statistics could be modified to better account for the dark figure of crime.

Prepare 3–4 paragraphs that present your topic to your peers and instructor. You should include the following based on your selected issue:

• Draft a thesis statement on your issue.
• Provide a brief explanation of why you selected this topic.
• What aspects of the topic do you anticipate pursuing in your research?
• What sources do you anticipate using in your research?

When commenting to your peers, provide constructive feedback for their topic. What questions come to mind on the topic? Does the topic appear to have a clear focus? Are there resources you have encountered in your studies that may be useful to them that they may not have considered?