Requirement: Speak with a criminal justice professional

Requirement:

Speak with a criminal justice professional and hear their opinions about criminal behavior and for you to exhibit that you understand criminological theories and can explain and critique them. You must identify someone who works in the criminal justice field and ask them for a short interview to discuss their thoughts about criminal behavior. You must begin your interview with this question: “Why do you think people commit crimes?” Then, ask any follow-up questions you desire until you have a good understanding of their perspective and can relate it to an actual criminological theory discussed in this class.

Describe their response, using quotes only as needed. Then identify and describe ONE major theory that you think best fits with your interviewee’s response. And finally, critique their response and the theory. For instance, think about these types of questions–How does the theory help you to think more clearly about the interviewee’s response and professional experience? OR What points did the interviewee make that the theory fails to explain?