Home

Instructions
Please Choose Topic 1 and use case law as well as Supreme Court and varies case 2009 and above. Your research papers are due at the end of Week 6. I recommend starting work on them during the first week of the course, as this paper will take some time to complete.
Your research paper will automatically go through Turnitin shortly after you submit it — each time.  I strongly recommend that you submit your near-final draft before the due date.  Doing so will allow you time to review your report, and if necessary, make corrections before your final version is due.  If the Turnitin Originality Report is yellow, orangeor red, you should review it close to see if you may need to insert some additional citations or paraphrase some material. If you do have a red or orange report, you should include a note to your instructor explaining why and how you mitigated it with citations, etc.
Write your paper on one of the following topics:
1. Research the case law and statutory law behind self-defense and the use of deadly force. What does the case law reveal that an average citizen can use in terms of self-defense and deadly force? How is that different than what a law enforcement officer can do? Provide a detailed analysis of the case law in which the courts have grappled with these issues. Focus primarily on the Supreme Court cases on this issue. At the end, give your opinion of what self defense laws should look like and whether they should be uniform across all states.
2. What is the current state of sexual assault law in the United States? Does it need to be revised? Is the law itself discriminatory or applied in a discriminatory manner in some jurisdictions? Use caselaw and statutes to illustrate your arguments.
3. Research the insanity defense and how it is applied. Which version of the defense do you think is the most appropriate? How well is our society handling mentally ill individuals who commit crimes? If you could change how we handle these individuals, what would you do? https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/mental_health/#:~:text=Percent%20of%20people%20in%20state,care%20while%20incarcerated%3A%2066%25%20%2B 
4. If you are very interested in researching another criminal law topic, please send me a message by the end of Week 3 to seek approval for your topic. Otherwise, please choose from among the three above topics.
No matter your selected topic:
• use effective, well-designed search strategies and tools to efficiently and creatively refine searches, on the fly as needed• apply multiple criteria to assess relevance, currency, authority, accuracy, purpose, audience and ideological perspectives related to your topic.• look for statistical evidence that either supports or detracts from the criminal law-related challenges that you address, and explain its relevance and value to your selected topic. • clearly and effectively communicate, organize, and synthesize complex and often contradictory information to advance graduate level scholarly knowledge about your selected topic. • Quote, paraphrase, and cite information correctly and consistently, always using information in ways that are true to the original context. 
Your paper should be 8-10 pages. Here are some general guidelines. Please use a clear (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial, Courier) 12 point font and one inch margins on all four sides. Please include page numbers. Please double space. I recommend using topic and sub topic headings to organize your paper.
Please apply Bluebook citation style (which uses footnotes) if you are a Legal Studies student.  
What I’m really looking for in the paper is graduate level cohesive writing in which you research and analyze primary legal sources, such as case law, statutes and the US Constitution.
1. Write an introduction, which clearly identifies the topic of your report and the issues which you seek to illuminate. The introduction should include the thesis statement (or basis of your report), and a very preliminary overview of the evidence you will use to support it. Finally, the introduction should include a statement that identifies why is the topic of your report important.2. The body of your report should be dedicated to supporting your thesis statement with claims gleaned from your research (into what others have written on the topic; data that you have gathered), readings from the course text, discussions, and/or case law, law review articles, etc. 3. Conclude your report by recapitulating your thesis statement and explaining in greater detail the significance of your findings. Include in your conclusion some questions or claims about the topic and/or specific which you’ve written. If you believe more research needs to be done on your topic, be specific about what kind of research and how you think it ought to be done.
Upload your papers in the Assignment section of the classroom. Your paper will automatically be processed through Turnitin.