500 words written assignment
CCJ 210: Intro to Juvenile Justice – Written Assignment 2 Guidelines (Winter 2020)

Written Assignment 2

For your second assignment, imagine you are an intern for the Governor’s state-wide

Commission on Juvenile Justice. The Commission on Juvenile Justice has just spent the previous

legislative session reviewing the empirical literature on best practices in juvenile justice and is

preparing to issue recommendations to the public. Your task is to write an op-ed essay1, to be

published in the Oregonian, in which you craft an original argument advocating for an evidence-

based policy, practice, program, or other strategy to address the problem of juvenile

delinquency2. In making your case, you should draw on class and outside materials3 to provide

evidence in support of your thesis, with the greatest emphasis on rigorous empirical (e.g.

scientific) evidence reflecting scientific consensus.

To pass this assignment, your essay should do the following:

? Content: o Contain a clear thesis4

? A thesis contains an assertion and makes a debatable claim o Support thesis with evidence and logic

? Empirical, or scientific, evidence is the most credible ? Anecdotal evidence can be used responsibly if it provides additional

insight or understanding and is consistent with empirical evidence

o Demonstrate critical thinking and consideration of alternative viewpoints

? Form: o Is organized

? Structured so that ideas flow logically and coherently o Contains an introduction, body, and conclusion5

? Introduction engages audience ? Conclusion concisely summarizes arguments, reiterates thesis

o Contains professional, academic language o Cites outside sources o Contains minimal (less than 5) language errors (e.g. grammar, spelling,

punctuation, use of abbreviation, incomplete or run-on sentences)

o Is formatted double-spaced, 12-point font and minimum 500 words

Revisions will not be permitted for this assignment. Instead, you may bring a completed draft of

your paper for review (in hard copy) to my office hours (appointment recommended).

Assignments must be submitted to the Dropbox on D2L by March 4th – Wednesday of Week 9 –

11:30am. Remember you must get permission to submit past the deadline.

1 An op-ed, or opinion editorial, is a narrative essay that presents the writer’s opinion or thoughts about an issue. For

details see https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/college-relations/news-office/op-ed-guidelines 2 See week 6. You are encouraged to be as narrow (e.g. specific program) or broad (e.g. rehabilitation) as you prefer. 3 I will provide details on how to identify this in class. A recommended source to identify evidence-based practices

and programs for delinquency, are “effective solutions” for Juveniles under CrimeSolutions.gov:

https://www.crimesolutions.gov/TopicDetails.aspx?ID=5 4 https://www.pdx.edu/writing-center/guided-tour-step-three-developing-a-working-thesis 5 https://www.pdx.edu/writing-center/guided-tour-step-seven-expanding-and-improving-ideas

https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/college-relations/news-office/op-ed-guidelines
https://www.crimesolutions.gov/TopicDetails.aspx?ID=5
https://www.pdx.edu/writing-center/guided-tour-step-three-developing-a-working-thesis
https://www.pdx.edu/writing-center/guided-tour-step-seven-expanding-and-improving-ideas
CCJ 210: Intro to Juvenile Justice – Written Assignment 2 Guidelines (Winter 2020)

Checklist

? Thesis_________________________________________________________________________

o Does it make a debatable claim?

? Yes

? No

? Does evidence support thesis? Cite below.

?

?

?

?

?

? Does it consider – and resolve – alternative viewpoints? Cite below.

?

?

?

? Introduction

? Organized body

? Conclusion

? Professional language

? Cites outside sources

? Minimal language errors

? Sufficient length