I need to get started writing an EMPIRICAL research paper for a political science class. The general topic I am writing about is criminal justice with a possible emphasis on capital punishment and/or deterrence. I was originally going to go with a research question looking in to whether or not capital punishment is a deterrent to homicide but after looking into it, it seems that question has been asked (and answered) to death. Any ideas on a research question revolving around deterrence (whether it involves capital punishment or not) that is fresh and interesting, but one that would still have an ample amount of possible sources?
This paper will be 15-20 pages in length and is for a senior course at the undergraduate level. I must come up with an original hypothesis and include several references from scholarly peer-reviewed sources. Thanks in advance!
Jurisdictional waiver from juvenile court to adult court is premised on deterrence. Like the death penalty, courts can increase the severity of punishment, and, hypothetically, the deterrent effect of crime by waiving the jurisdiction from juvenile court to adult court for children under the age of 18.
In other words, states that allow jurisdictional waiver allow a juvenile to be prosecuted in adult criminal courts by way of a waiver. The goal of this policy is to decrease recidivism and increase deterrence.
This would be a good research topic because there are different forms of jurisdictional waivers and there is a readily available control group of those states that do not have jurisdictional waiver. The control group of states without jurisdictional waiver would allow you to compare recidivism rates and make a determinative statement as to the effect of deterrence, or lack thereof.
Just an idea. In any event, good luck!
Thank you for your input. I never even considered jurisdictional waiver as a form of criminal deterrence. I guess that I always assumed that every state had the ability to prosecute juvenile offenders as adults. I will do some research to see if I can find which states do/don't have these waivers and see if I can find some significant statistical data on the recidivism rates in those individual states. Do you happen to know if there is data out there regarding the recidivism of specific individuals who have been prosecuted and sentenced under these types of waivers? That could make for an interesting study. Again, thanks a lot for the help!
Every state has the ability to charge juveniles as adults. However, the method and frequency in which they do so, if at all, varies considerably. Here is a link that will provide you with a great starting place, including individual case studies, should you decide to use this. Good luck!
campaignforyouthjustice.org
My initial research has reinforced the interest piqued by your original post. Also, it appears that the link you provided will have some great information. Thanks again!
I have managed to find good sources of information regarding jurisdictional waiver, juvenile transfer, and concurrent jurisdiction. Do you think a research question of, "Has jurisdictional waiver been a deterrence to juvenile criminal behavior" is too broad, and/or has that research question been satisfactorily answered? If so, what would be a good way to narrow the research question to make it more workable and original?
A narrower topic would probably serve you best. As I learned in undergrad, you want your research to be elegant and intuitive. With that said, it is definitely advisable to narrow any topic so you can provide a take on a subject that is, in some respects, unique.
If you chose to go with this topic, there are several angles you can take. One that immediately stands out to me is a comparative analysis between the 3 methods of jurisdictional transferring you mentioned above. You could examine States, the method of transfer each employs (jurisdictional waiver, juvenile transfer, and concurrent jurisdiction), and see if one method in particular increases the frequency of juveniles being prosecuted as adults. You can then formulate your hypothesis or research question.
For example, if I were writing this I might say the following:
At risk of being permanently criminalized, jurisdictional waiver, juvenile transfer, and concurrent jurisdiction could effectively serve to deter juveniles from the commission of serious crime(s). This policy, though widely implemented, has received mixed reviews on its ability to impact the crime rate of juveniles to a degree of statistical significance. With that in mind, I seek to examine whether or not jurisdictional transfer of juveniles is partially or wholly flawed by exploring the difference in differences between the three methods of implementation. Does the method by which a State transfers juveniles to adult court increase the frequency of juveniles prosecuted as adults, and is that frequency met with a corresponding effect that is attributable to the deterrent nature of this policy?
Clearly this is just one of many positions you can take that may not be as thoroughly researched. The research question(s) you arrive at will probably differ from the example provided above. But, at the very least, hopefully this gives you an example of a direction you could take.