Psychology of Criminal Behavior in the Media

Psychology of Criminal Behavior in the Media

The media frequently reports on recent findings from scientific journals. Their objective is to summarize original scientific work to make it accessible for a lay audience without background in the topic. For this assignment, you will find a recent news story from the last five years, reporting on the findings of an empirical research study relating to the psychology of criminal behavior. News sources may be, for example, CBC, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, The New York Times, etc. The article you pick will be summarizing and commenting on an empirical article published in a journal (e.g. Law and Human Behavior; Developmental Psychopathology).

For this paper, you should first describe the empirical journal article in detail, including the research questions, methods, results and conclusions. Next, evaluate the summary made by the media of this journal article. Did the media article accurately portray the journal article? Why or why not? What important aspects did the media article emphasize and/or ignore? To help support your argument about the important key issues that may have been simplified, ignored, or amplified, use at least 3 other peer-reviewed, scholarly, empirical journal articles.*** Finally, comment on the possible impact of any misleading portrayals of the research to the public (for instance, does emphasizing a certain perspective sway public opinion in a positive or negative way?)

Using APA format, cite your sources both in-text citations, and a reference list. It should be approximately 7 pages typed, size 12 Times New Roman font, double-spaced. Be sure to include:

• Write a brief introduction, listing the points you will be discussing. Include a thesis statement in the introduction
• A summary of the journal article
• A critical evaluation of the media article that summarizes the journal article. Support your arguments with empirical sources. Cite using APA.
• Conclusion: Summarize the points that were discussed
• Submit a copy of the first page of the media article describing the current research
• Submit a copy of the first page of the research article