PSY-5114 v1: Policy and Justice in Forensic Psychology : Assignment: Apply Theories of Crime

Purpose

This week, you were introduced to the leading sociological and psychological theories of crime, which include control, strain, social learning, intelligence, personality, psychopathy, and cognitive theories. For this week’s assignment, you will select one of these theories and apply it to a specific type of crime that you are interested in exploring throughout this course.

Instructions

As you prepare this assignment, reflect on the following questions:

1. What type of crime are you interested in exploring throughout this course? Be as specific as possible. For example, you may be interested in murder, assault, stalking, rape, sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, theft, drug offenses, or financial crimes, such as fraud or embezzlement.

2. What theory do you believe is the best explanation for the type of crime that you have selected?

3. What high-profile case in the local or national media represents the type of crime that you have selected?

You will use your responses to the above questions to create a fact sheet for your assignment. Your fact sheet should include:

• A general explanation of the theory you selected
• An identification of the type of crime in which you are interested
• The definition of the crime by either scholarly sources and/or federal or state law
• A discussion of the high-profile case you found in local or national media.
• A discussion of how the theory you selected explains why the individual in the high profile case engaged in that crime

Length: 1 to 2-page fact sheet, not including title or reference pages.

References: A minimum of 3 references. At least one scholarly source will relate to the theory you discuss, one source will relate to the definition of the crime you selected, and one source will relate to the high-profile case you discus