Development of pathology and violent behaviors
Development of pathology and violent behaviors
Development of pathology and violent behaviors
For your final paper you will be analyzing an infamous criminal case.
First choose from one of the following cases:
David Berkowitz
Ted Bundy
John Wayne Gacy
Andrea Yates
Jeffrey Dahmer
Elizabeth Smart Case
Susan Smith
Dennis Raider
Or choose one of your own (if you choose this option please email your instructor for approval)
In your paper you should cover the following issues:
Description and background of case
Psychology issue(s) involved in the case
Life events that contributed to development of pathology and violent behaviors
Case law associated with the case
How offender was caught – what tools or strategies did law enforcement use?
Outcome of the legal case
A discussion of your view of the case and its outcome – do you agree?
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.