Conducting Scientific Reserach in Criminal Justice - Research Proposal Example

Conducting Scientific Research in Criminal Justice Research topic: Demographic Traits And Crimes Although crime exists in all kinds of countries and cultures but there is enough evidence to show that it can be studied in context of demography. When we compare the statistics of crimes reported in any area, we will find certain patterns. If these patterns are analyzed, we can discover the root causes of the crimes. And subsequently find ways to eliminate them. This research topic proposes to study the statistics and find the hot spots of crime in our state.

By definition, a hot spot is a geographical area where the rate of crime is higher than the average crimes reported in a particular area. If a research is done to study the topography of the place, the demography of the population and their socio-economic circumstances we can definitely derive some clues of high crime rate in this area. We can extend this study to cover the Hot points, that is the specific locations like a particular building or complex where the crime rate is high. It can cover the Hot Places, that are wider areas than specific buildings.

These could be street corners or car parks where the incidents of car theft are frequently reported. There are also Hot Routes which are streets or roads along which more number of robbery or snatching is reported. These cases can be studied on identifying different factors involved and then analyzing which factors could be responsible for this trend. These factors can be divided into these categories:-1. The location of the Hot Point, Hot route or Hot place.- This helps us identify why this place is more prone to crime.

We can find out whether these factors can be changed or not. 2. The profile of the criminals:- This helps us study the age, sex, education, economic status and ethnicity of the criminals. We can find out if there is any common thread running through it. If there is any, what could be the possible reasons of such people's behavior. Again, we can find out whether these can be altered or not.3. The hot objects that were the prime attraction of these criminals:- This can give us clues why these items are the core attraction of criminals.

Once we find all these factors, we can look for inter-relation of these factors. Is it the combination of all the three that increases the rate of crime, or are there other factors also.We will need to collect crime data from the police and study it on the above parameters. to understand the psychology of the criminals we can conduct personal interviews with a cross-section of them. This information can be tabulated to give us the findings. I believe that conducting this scientific research in criminal justice and security management will help the society in general.

This has been a concern area in U.S. and this study will help the law enforcement and security communities in particular as they can pinpoint the root cause and take action to eliminate it rather than just catch the criminals and put them behind the bars which has been unable to bring down the rate of crime so far.Reference: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/dreveskr/RM.html-ssi http://www.sfu.ca/palys/crim320.htmhttp://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/toolkits/fa00.htm