CPSC 1100 Assignment 3 Blog Post 2

Research Methods: Criminology

Research is key in the social sciences because Criminology is based on making the law, finding people that are breaking the law, and finding ways that we can stop that from happening. There are many research methods that are used to explore what is happening in our society. One of the ways we can study something is by doing a Cross-Sectional Study which means studying a group of people and base our observations that represent a single point in time. So if we decide to study a group of college students, we will ask them to survey once and never again will they be contacted. In contrast, a longitudinal study is one which is designed to permit observations over an extended period of time. An example would be, a researcher who observes the activities of a neighborhood anticrime organization from the time of its inception until demise. There are also Surveys of Offending which ask people about crimes they may have committed. These kind of surveys don’t always give the best results because very few people are ready to admit the crimes that they have committed. However, this is one of the best methods available for trying to measure certain crimes that are poorly represented by other techniques. Some examples of this may be prostitution, drug abuse, shoplifting or drunk driving. These are crimes that are not caught very often therefore these surveys do give us more information about them. These are some of the few methods of researching, there are many more. 

CPSC 1100 Assignment 3 Blog Post 1: Criminology

Legalizing Marijuana

Lets face it, we all know someone that smokes marijuana and as their friends, or family member we care about their well being. Since  marijuana is not legal, people find other ways to get what they want. What we need to remember is that those ways might not be the safest ways of getting it. Once a person is hooked onto these drugs it is very difficult to get away from it and stop. So they continue to do it, even when they know it is harming them in many ways. Also, the black market is at its peak because of all the illegal sales that happen every second of the day. In this black market, people are losing their lives each and every single day and all the money that is being put into these drugs is being used by the gangs. If marijuana is at least decriminalized, people like our friends who feel the need to do it, won’t have to find illegal ways to get that drug. They are going to do it regardless of what we say to them, so the least we can do is make sure that they are doing it in the safest way possible. This way they’re still harming themselves like they were before but they’re not getting in that extra trouble they would originally get in if it isn’t decriminalized.