Ryerson University

Faculty of Arts
The Department of Criminology
CRM 102 INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
Winter 2015
Instructor: Christina Hollingshead
EXAMINING CRIME IN OUR COMMUNITIES
Essay Assignment
________________________________________________________________________
Due Date:
Late penalty:
Required length:
Worth:

Friday March 20th, at the beginning of class

5%, plus 5% per work day
5-6 pages (not including title page)
30% of your final mark

This assignment requires you to examine a criminal act/crime that has taken place in our
community and apply a criminological theory. For this you will collect a newspaper clipping that
discusses a criminal act/crime that interests you, then, you will write a critical/analytic/theoretical
paper about the crime, the medias influence, and societys response. The essay will draw links
between the article, the criminal act, the theories, and some of the concepts we have studied so far
in the course. At a minimum, the essay must draw on at least four (4) course readings focusing
on the criminological theories and concepts to provide context for and discussion of crime in
society and the study of criminology.
Instructions
1.

Look for a newspaper article on an issue pertaining to a criminal act/crime in Canada that
interests you: for example gun violence, domestic violence, robbery, mandatory
minimums for specific crimes (weapons), gang violence, drug use, child pornography
crackdowns etc.
Choose your article from either print or online versions of The Globe and Mail,
The National Post or The Toronto Star
Print, clip, or copy the article
You may look back as far as twelve months (January 2014)
The article should be at least 500 words long (one column of 60 lines)

2.

In your own words, briefly summarize the issue addressed in the article you have chosen.

3.

Examine the theories we have studied thus far in the course: Consensus Theory, Class
Conflict Theory (or other early theories of criminality), Feminist theories, Psychological
theories, Strain theories, or Conflict theories etc. In your own words, briefly explain the
criminological theory. (Do not copy straight from the textbook or lecture.) Which theory
do you think best applies to your article and why? Explain.

4.

In your own words, define what a crime and criminal law is. What is the crime being
addressed in your article? Is it a regulatory offence or a true crime? Identify the basic
elements of a crime: actus reus and mens rea for the crime you are looking at.
Is there any excuse for this type of crime? What type of defence might be raised
(or is being raised) by the accused? Choose only one defence. For example: not
criminally responsibly on account of mental disorder, mistake of fact,
intoxication, necessity, duress, provocation, or self-defence.
Do you think this crime could have been prevented and how?
In your own words, what is the Uniform Crime Report (UCR)? Would the
Uniform Crime Report (UCR) be a good measure of how much of this type of
crime is taking place in our community? Why or why not?
In your own words, define the State. Is the State doing enough to stop this type
of crime? What role should the State play to prevent this type of crime?
What can we do to make our communities safer from this type of crime?
Do you agree with the type of legal reform strategies being suggested? Why or
why not?

Formatting instructions
Papers must be word-processed and double-spaced, using a standard 12 point
font. Margins should be 1 inch and pages must be numbered.

Criteria for essay grading

Your essay will be graded using the following criteria, assessing, the quality of your
analysis/argument (this includes your comprehension, interpretation and critical analysis
of the course materials); the structure of your essay (how well you develop a clear,
coherent line of argument); originality and creativity; integration of course materials (this
includes direct references to and citation of course readings); and how well you follow
instructions. Problems with organization, logic and clarity, as well as errors in grammar,
spelling and syntax will figure significantly in the grading process, so thoroughly review
and edit your essay prior to submitting it.