Criminal Justice

Question #1:    Explain the following key term

 (a)    Applied research (p. 13)

It is any systematic inquiry that involves practical application of science

(b)    Conceptualization (p. 17)

 It is a process of making fuzzy and imprecise concepts accurate and precise by taking a bigger idea and turning it smaller.

(c)    Descriptive research (p. 13)

It is a scientific method involving observation and description of behavior of a subject without causing any influence on them.

(d)    Empirical (p. 7)

 It means verifiable or provable by way of observing or experimenting.

(e)    Methodology (p. 7)

It is a systematic and theoretical analysis of methods used in a field of particular study.

(f)    Operationalization (p. 17)

It is an act of specifying the specific operations used in measuring a variable or determining the way a concept will get measured e. g through the survey, salary after taxes, etc.

(g)    Aggregates (p. 33)

Aggregates are data points representing a group average, instead of individual information.

(h)    Attributes (p. 34)

They are qualities or characteristics defining an object

(i)    Deductive reasoning (p. 39)

It is a logical process where a conclusion gets based on concordance of many premises that get assumed as true.

(j)    Dependent variable (p. 36)

It is a factor or a trend that relies on other factors

(k)   Hypothesis (p. 41)

 It is a proposed explanation which bases on limited evidence as a commencing point for more investigation

(l)    Independent variable (p. 36)

It is an attribute or set of attributes that stands alone and not altered by the other attributes that are to get measured.

(m)    Inductive reasoning (p. 38)

It is a logical process where multiple premises that are believed as true or proved right many times get combined to create one particular conclusion.

(n)    Paradigm (p. 41)

 It is a typical pattern of something or a model.

(o)    Theory (p. 40)

Theory is an idea that gets used to account for particular situation or justify appropriate course of action

(p)    Variables (p. 34)

Variables are simply logical sets of specific attribute e.g. Ethnicity and occupation (Michael, Maxfield, and Earl R. Babbie 2015).

Question #2 – Scientific Inquiry about Crime and Criminal Justice

            The common errors of personal inquiry include overgeneralization, inaccurate observations, selective observation as well as illogical reasoning. Looking at the Mistakes in the Jon Benet Ramsey Investigation in the United States, the police did not get full statements from parents John and Patricia Ramsey the day of the crime and hence made an error of selective observation. Similarly, the police officers did not shut down the crime scene immediately to take statements leading to inaccurate observation. These errors can be prevented through mandating of conscious observation and advance specification of the number and types of observations to get made and having several scientists investigate the same issue.  Using systems of logic consciously and explicitly can also help to avert these errors.

Question #3 – Understand Myth and Reality

Death penalty

            The capital punishment is one of the controversial topics when it comes to criminal justice matters. When we look at attitudes toward capital punishment for people convicted of murder in the United States for selected years, many people does support the notion. However, there are those who are against it. In a common situation, justice is always given to those with strong defenses.  Therefore, it can be seen as absolute truth that someone committed murder when he did not.  The reason can include being a victim of circumstance, corruption or lack of strong defense. Therefore, some evidential observation can prove guilty when the reality is that the person is innocent. The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics presents a study between 1953 and 2013 on though the perception of the death penalty with almost equal share among those supporting and those against. From this point, I can refute that this punishment can easily do injustice to some people if they lack strong defense or corruption enters the judicial systems. 

References

Maxfield, Michael G, and Earl R. Babbie Research: Methods for Criminal Justice and       Criminology, 2015. Print.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/inside-mistakes-jonbenet-ramsey-investigation-noted-police-     chief/story?id=29247378

http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/tost_2.html#2_j

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in research paper services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for cheap research paper services.