Criminal Offense Punishment

After you select your punishment-related topic address the following questions…
Summarize the selected topic.
Include a brief history of the topic; why is this topic important to understand and explore further; why did you select the topic.

NOTE: You can use course materials and outside sources for information to summarize the topic. Cite all of your references in text and on the reference page.
Empirical Research.
Find 2 empirical journal research articles that study your selected topic in ANY capacity. For example, if you are writing about mass incarceration, you can find a research article that studies women and mass incarceration specifically, and that would qualify.
For each article: summarize the article; explain what the main research question and key findings are; explain what data they used to answer the research question. AND
For each article: highlight something you learned, what the biggest takeaway for you was, and anything surprising. Feel free to share any other thoughts that come to mind about the articles.

NOTE: News articles, books, website articles, blog posts, etcetera, do NOT qualify. It NEEDS to be an empirical journal research article.
Course Reflection.
From everything you learned this semester, what stood out to you the most? What did you enjoy learning about? Is there anything that angered and/or motivated you in some way, from the topics discussed? Are there any questions/topics that were left unanswered that you would have liked to learn about more or get answers to? What does penology mean to you? Answer the questions in this prompt and use this space to talk about anything else course related (i.e., how you feel about the course overall) and so forth.

NOTE: Selecting a topic to address this prompt, does not have to be the same penology topic you used to answer the first two prompts. It can be a different one if you so choose (or it can be the same).
Each paper must:
Include a title page, introduction, body, conclusion, page numbers, sub-section titles, and bibliography
Title page should include: full name, full course name and information, professors name, school name, date, paper title.

Reference page, paper format, and in-text citation should be in APA format
Include at least three (3) additional sources (i.e., journal articles, books, book chapters, reports, news articles) in your research paper. These can be utilized to complete prompt #1 and/or prompt #3. The 2 research articles that you need to find for prompt #2 do not count toward the 3 additional sources. In total, you should have 5 references in text and on your reference page at a minimum – 2 research articles plus 3 additional sources.
Be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, 1.5 spaced, with 1-inch margins.
Run 4-5 pages long at a minimum, not including the cover page or bibliography