Paper Topic & Paper Overview Topic Your paper must address all of the points outlined below. Do not write your paper on any other topics. 1. How do criminologists approach the study of decision-making? Provide examples. 2. How do behavioral economists approach the study of decision-making? Provide examples. 3. Explain how ideas from behavioral economics could be applied to better understand how criminals make decisions. 4. Explain how ideas from behavioral economics could be applied to develop policies that could better respond to crime problems. Learning Outcomes Students who successfully complete the paper are expected to: 1. Be able to identify and discuss the differences between the behavioral economics school of thinking and the classical tradition that has dominated criminological research (e.g., rational choice models). 2. Be able to identify and discuss the modern approaches to the study of decision-making. 3. Be able to identify and discuss the types of decision-making errors that humans tend to make. Paper Overview As a discipline, criminology has been dominated by theories that assume humans are rational actors. In other words, most of our theories of crimeincluding those that make policy recommendations assume criminals are rational actors who weigh the costs and benefits of their actions before committing a crime. Folks who study crime, therefore, assume that criminals commit crimes because the benefits outweigh the costs. But what if that isnt always the case? What if criminals dont carry out the crime calculus like we expect? What would that mean for crime policy? And what would that mean, more broadly, for our understanding of human (antisocial) behavior? These are the types of topics we will explore in this course. With that as our backdrop, I would like you to write a paper that will explore the ways in which (1) traditional criminological theories about criminal decision-making can be integrated to incorporate ideas and evidence from behavioral economics and (2) how behavioral economics be used to make progressive and potentially effective policies to reduce criminal activity in the future. Paper Organization The general questions/issues to be addressed in your paper are outlined above. In order to address these points you will first have to cover a number of specific topics; therefore, your paper should be around 20 pages in length (excluding the title page and references section) and will be arranged in the following manner: I. Introduction and overview of the paper In this section you will outline, in broad strokes, some of the ideas and concepts that stem from the behavioral economics literature you have read (., the assigned readings). II. Overview of classical criminology In this section, you will provide a detailed description of the classic view of human behavior that has guided criminologists thinking. That is, describe the traditional rational human model that assumes criminals weigh the costs and benefits of their actions before committing a crime. Describe how this idea has impacted criminological research and especially how it has guided policy discussion. For instance, you might consider whether this idea has led to more punitive policies. III. Integration of behavioral economics into criminological research This section will allow you to make direct links between the behavioral economics research you were assigned for this course and the classical models that criminologists have relied on for so long. In other words, this is your chance to be creative and put on your behavioral economics hat and come up with new ideas for criminologists to consider. IV. Policy implications Finally, you will end the paper with a discussion of some progressive and realistic policy implications that can be drawn from your ideas that were outlined in the previous section. In other words, what sort of policies could a criminologist develop to help stem antisocial behavior in American society? By progressive and realistic I mean for you to derive policies that are humane and that could reasonably be incorporated into law without any harm to human life and without imposing exorbitant costs on American taxpayers. You may find it useful to focus on one of the three broad aspects of crimethe opportunity, the motivated offender, or the potential victimwhen developing your policy discussion. V. Conclusion In this section you will provide a summary of the main points of your paper and some concluding statements about the policy implications of the approach you chose to discuss. Paper structure The arrangement of the sections outlined above must be followed in your paper. It is, how- ever, up to you how you want to structure each section. I highly recommend the use of headings and subheadings (those provided above are fine) to provide structure and readability to your paper. In addition to the sections outlined above, your paper should include a title page, page numbers, be composed using 12-point Times New Roman font, be double-spaced, include a reference section written in APA style (see this website for help with APA style https://owl. ), and have 1-inch margins around the entire document (left, right, top, and bottom of every page). Writing and referencing The ability to clearly communicate ones ideas via the written language is a key component of illustrating/demonstrating expertise in any topic. In order to help improve your writing, the course will proceed in a three-step process (see below). At each step I will provide comments and suggestions to improve your manuscript. It is expected that you will follow these comments. Additionally, the University provides a number of resources to help with writing and referencing styles (see below). Given the numerous sources available to ensure clarity in writing and proper referencing, it is expected that the final version of your paper will be free of grammar or spelling errors and will possess proper APA referencing. Required Reading Book Thaler, Richard H., and Cass R. Sunstein. (2009). Nudge. New York: Penguin. *read Part I, IV, and V Articles Traditional Criminology *These papers paper will give you an idea of what classical criminology has to say about decision making Jacobs, Bruce. (2010). Deterrence and deterrability. Criminology 48: 417-441. Nagin, Daniel S. (2007). Moving choice to center stage in criminological research and theory: The American Society of Criminology 2006 Sutherland address. Criminology 45: 259272. Nagin, Daniel S., and Raymond Paternoster. (1993). Enduring individual differences and rational choice theories of crime. Law & Society Review 27: 467496. Behavioral Economics *These papers paper will give you an idea of what behavioral economists have to say about decision making Dur, Robert, and Ben Vollaard. (2017). Salience of law enforcement: A field experiment. Working Paper. Pickett, Justin T. (2018). Using behavioral economics to advance deterrence research and improve crime policy: Some illustrative experiments. Crime & Delinquency 64: 1636-1659. Pogarsky, Greg, Sean P. Roche, and Justin T. Pickett. (2018). Offender decision-making in crimi- nology: Contributions from behavioral economics. Annual Review of Criminology 1: 379-400. Whichard, Corey, and Richard B. Felson. (2016). Are suspects who resist arrest defiant, desperate, or disoriented? Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 53: 564-591.
Hide
