Your second assignment will be to write a 2000 word essay. The topic is:
Choose an example of a criminal event (e.g. break and enter, shoplifting,
domestic violence, assault in the CBD, illegal fishing or hunting, drug dealing
etc.) for which you can find offenders’ accounts of what motivates their
behaviour. From these accounts (confessions, excerpts from academic articles or
police interviews, court transcripts, autobiographical material, newspapers, etc.),
outline the criminological theory which best reflects various offenders’
viewpoints, as well as any possible shortcomings of your chosen theory.
Be sure to make explicit the specific concepts which resonate with what you find
in your literature review (i.e. it is not enough to say, for instance, that Strain
Theory holds relevance to your chosen crime. Instead, you would need to match a
specific concept within Strain Theory (such as ‘innovation’), to what offenders are
or appear to be saying).
You can choose a single specific criminal event (e.g. a particular assault or other
crime) or a closely-related set of criminal events (e.g. a series of similar crimes
committed by the same people).
The purpose of the essay is to develop the capacity to construct a criminological
argument by:
- Identifying relevant criminological issues and case studies;
- Reviewing the relevant literature;
- Analysing data (in this case offender accounts) within appropriate
criminological perspectives;
- Presenting the argument in a well-structured and lucid form.
You will be marked on the following criteria:
Structure and organisation:
- Is the introduction clear and relevant?
- Is the argument logical and coherent?
- Is the conclusion clear and relevant?
Understanding of offence/offender narratives:
- Is there evidence of appropriate research?
- Is there a clear understanding of the offence?
- Are the offender narratives presented clearly?
Theory and Analysis:
- Is there use of relevant theory?
- Is the theory critically analysed?
- Is the argument substantiated by evidence?
- Is the discussion innovative?
Form:
- Is there a proper bibliography?
- Is the written expression adequate?
- Is the word limit adhered to?
- Is the referencing appropriate?
Also will you be doing the jerrod Murray case? I believe it is edge work theory, the teacher did suggest that you should use one theory and go deeply into it and in conclusion you can state the limitations of the theory too and see if there is any other theory that adds to it or limits the observation.
You can consider adding closely related criminal events if it makes sense in describing your point.
Essentially it should flow like this:
Introduction
Details of crime; analysis of offence
Theory
Limitations
Conclusion
Referencing (min 8): look up key theorists (how he defined and came up with the approach), secondary texts, confessions, court transcripts, offenders account, no YouTube
