Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer 

To prepare for this Discussion:


•    Review Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in the course text.



Post by Day 3 (Wednesday) a response to the following questions from Chapter 1 and 2:

This text emphasizes the theme of social problems versus individual responsibility. How would you describe both perspectives? How might social policy decisions based on these perspectives differ?
Do you think you might want to become a criminologist? Why or why not?
Are there any crimes today that you think should be legalized? If so, what are they? Why do you feel this way?
Can you think of any advances now occurring in the social or physical sciences that might soon have a significant impact on our understanding of crime and criminality? If so, what would those advances be? How might they affect our understanding of crime and criminal behavior?
How would you describe the various participants in a criminal event? How does each contribute to an understanding of the event?
In what way is contemporary criminology interdisciplinary? Why is the sociological perspective especially important in studying crime? What other perspectives might be relevant? Why?
How does contemporary criminology influence social policy? Do you think that policy makers should address crime as a matter of individual responsibility and accountability or do you think that crime is truly a symptom of a dysfunctional society? Why?


Chapter 2

This text emphasizes the theme of social problems versus individual responsibility. How might a thorough research agenda allow us to decide which perspective is more fruitful in combating crime?
What does it mean to operationalize a hypothesis? Why is operationalization necessary?
Why is the task of criminological theory construction so demanding? How do we know if a theory is any good?
What is a meta-analysis? For what purposes might a meta-analysis be conducted?
What are the various types of data-gathering strategies discussed in this chapter? Describe them. Is any one technique “better” than another? Why? Under what kinds of conditions might certain types of data-gathering strategies be most appropriate?
A few years ago, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced findings that male military veterans were less than half as likely as nonveteran men of the same age to be in prison (the rates reported were 630 versus 1,390 per 100,000 male prisoners, respectively). Does this mean that we can say with confidence that military service decreases a man’s likelihood of committing a criminal offense? What other influences might be operating to lower the likelihood of crime commission by military veterans?


Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the textbook in APA format (page # included).