Introduction to Criminal Justice

JPS 101

Writing Assignment

Your writing assignments in this class will vary. You will be writing three papers from three to five pages in length.

Your first and second assignments are to write in a convincing fashion a reasonable justification for a law pertaining to a controversial issue that has moral ramifications. For instance you may write upon the legalization of prostitution, the legalization of drugs, euthanasia, gay rights, or restrictions of paternal laws. The emphasis here is upon being convincing and reasonable. What is logical for me is logical for everyone or it would not be logical. It is not sufficient to write a paper explaining your subjective opinion and justifying because there may be others who believe as you do. Your paper is not to convince just anyone, but to convince everyone.

There are two topics that you may not write about, death penalty and abortion. The evidence on the death penalty makes it clear that the death penalty is not a deterrent. Further attempts to justify the death penalty are so subjective that they cannot be convincing. Therefore, writing papers against the death penalty becomes superfluous, and your time can be better spent countering more meaningful arguments.

There are no objective arguments about abortion. We do not know when life begins and when it ends. I hope you have the opportunity to exercise these arguments in other classes.

Your Third writing assignment will be on an assigned topic from Billy Budd.

There are a couple of arbitrary rules for these papers: I) No first person. Anyone writing in the first person must rewrite the paper. First person includes: I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours. There maybe other references about which one must be careful, for instance, 'let's.' You may use first person reference if you are relating a personal experience. 2) All paragraphs must have at least three sentences. I realize some may think this is merely arbitrary, but a better paper will be produced with more coherent and complete thinking if these rules are followed.

Grades on these papers will be determined as follows'

A- an excellent paper that is well written in a convincing style. This paper should be relatively free of grammatical errors. It should demonstrate competence with the subject and entertain opposing points of view.

B -a good paper that satisfies the assignment but lacks either the style or substance of an A paper . This paper should clearly present the writers case and convince the reader the writer has a meaningful position.

C -an acceptable paper that satisfies the assignment, but could have been presented better either in style or substance.

R- a paper that must be rewritten. Credit is given for attempting to satisfy the assignment, but clearly the assignment was not fulfilled by either failing to adhere to logical standards, or not writing at a college level. Many of these papers may receive an S that means SEE ME. You will not be permitted to receive any grades for any test or other assignments until you SEE ME about your paper.

I take writing seriously. If you take it seriously, your grade will reflect your effort.

Paper Topics