Does the criminal justice system represent an effective deterrent against crime? Are punishment mechanisms determined based on partisanship rather than interest in maintaining public order? Why do Republican-dominated states tend to have higher incarceration rates than Democratic-dominated states? Why does proximity to an election increase incarceration rates?

Find a public setting where you can practice your hand at field observation to answer a question that you find interesting. For example, it could be studying who does and does not properly return shopping carts at a grocery store. Or, are men or women more likely to hold a door open for someone when entering a building. Plan on spending at least 30-minutes making observations. Write up what you observed in a 250 – 350 word essay. In your essay, include what you learned about field research in doing this exercise. Here is a link to the grading rubric. For this discussion everything should be in your own words, there shouldn’t be any quotes.

Does the criminal justice system represent an effective deterrent against crime? Are punishment mechanisms determined based on partisanship rather than interest in maintaining public order? Why do Republican-dominated states tend to have higher incarceration rates than Democratic-dominated states? Why does proximity to an election increase incarceration rates?

Everything should be original and written in your own words.