For your final assignment, you will apply what you have learned about criminological theory and practice to write a paper on some specific applied issue that is both relevant to the field and germane to your own interests. In general, I have asked you to choose either a type of criminal phenomenon (e.g. “Ponzi” schemes, intimate partner violence, the age-crime curve, “match-fixing” in sports, a “crime panic” such as “the knockout game”, etc.) or a type of crime prevention/response effort (e.g. “broken windows” theory, “three-strikes” laws, “zero tolerance” policies in schools, “hate crime” punishments, mandatory minimum sentencing laws, etc.). You may choose something other than one of these types, but please run it past me for approval. Whatever you choose, you should write a comprehensive overview of how that topic is (or might be) addressed in criminology. This can be structured something like an encyclopedia article, with headings and subheadings to organize major themes and empirical contributions. You should describe the topic/phenomenon itself; clarify how it might be portrayed or explained by some of our major criminological theories; present any major empirical findings or patterns with respect to its occurrence or consequences; and discuss the implications for crime, crime prevention, law enforcement or the legal system, inequality or social justice, or any other macro-level repercussions. You may draw, to some extent, on the theory outlines you wrote earlier in the course, but the paper will need to go beyond re-summarizing these points. This will require you to conduct a sizeable amount of outside research to develop some expertise about your topic. Please cite all sources, both course readings and outside texts, to which you refer. Also, please limit yourself to reputable academic or journalistic sources.