CCJ 2020-0001,6

Introduction to Criminal Justice

Fall 2017

Stanford Prison Experiment Supplemental Instructions

Introduction to Criminal Justice is part of FSU’s Liberal Studies for the 21st Century curriculum and qualifies for the “Social Sciences” general education requirement. As part of this curriculum, students in all sections of CCJ 2020 are required to complete an assignment on the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment and its relevance for understanding other events and social contexts. Specifically, you will be connecting the events that occurred during the experiment to the events that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003.

The assignment will begin with students viewing an hour-long documentary about the Stanford Prison Experiment. Due to time constraints, students will watch the documentary outside of class (the link to the video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUZpB57PfHs). Students will then address the following three components in an essay of 5 pages. Some directions on how to approach each component are included below.

Assignment Instructions:

Your paper should answer the following questions and include the following things:

Question 1. "From reports and studies of these two events, please gather evidence, using journal articles, and other reputable media sources that can be used to compare how the abuse is similar to or different from what took place in the Stanford Prison Experiment?"

What should your answer include?:

Compare and contrast the abuses that occurred in Abu Ghraib to the SPE.

Students might consider the following questions when writing this section:

  1. What occurred in each event?
  2. How are the behaviors exhibited by the individuals involved in the two events similar? How are they different?
  3. How are the contexts in which the two events occurred similar? How are they different?

Requirements for Question 1:

1.  This question should be addressed in no more than 2 pages.

2.  You must include at least four citations in your answer.

·  Specifically, students will find one at least one reputable news article about the Stanford Prison Experiment, at least one reputable news article about the events at Abu Ghraib, at least one academic journal article about the Stanford Prison Experiment, and at least one academic journal article about the events at Abu Ghraib.

·  News articles must be from a reputable source and should not be opinion pieces. Possible news article sources include national and major city newspapers (e.g., The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post), news magazines (e.g., Newsweek, The Atlantic, TIME), and other media/newsgathering associations (e.g., NPR, BBC, ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC news). Articles from Wikipedia or other non-reputable sources (e.g., Buzzfeed, The Onion, blogs) cannot be used for this assignment.

·  The news articles should provide some background information about what occurred in each event. Academic journal articles are articles that appear in scientific peer-reviewed publications, and these can be found through the FSU Library system.

Question 2. "Using the evidence you have obtained what arguments, assumptions or conclusions does the evidence support?"

What should your answer include?:

Based on the citations you find (from Question 1), this part of your paper should include answers to the following questions:

1.  Whether the incident at Abu Ghraib and the Stanford Prison Experience supports one of the following two statements:

1.  Good people in “evil places” will maintain their humanity OR

2.  Good people in “evil places” will display negative/bad/evil qualities

Your answer does not have to be the same for each incident.

2.  Is there a single criminological theory that can explain the incident at Abu Ghraib and the Stanford Prison Experiment? If so, which theory? Briefly describe the theory and explain why it can explain both incidents.

a.  If you do not believe that only one theory can explain both incidents, discuss which theory you believe best explains the human behavior exhibited in SPE and which explains human behavior exhibited in Abu Ghraib. Briefly describe each theory and explain why each theory applies.

b.  Use only the theories discussed in class and your assigned textbook.

In this section, depending on the source(s) you find, some authors might draw explicit connections between the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib, while many others will not.

Requirements for Question 2:

1.  This question should be addressed in no more than 2 pages.

Question 3. "Based on the information collected from watching the video and the news sources gathered during your research, what other historical events could the Stanford Prison Experiment help us understand?"

What should your answer include?:

Your answer to this question should briefly describe an event that the Stanford Prison Experiment can help explain.

Specifically, students will select one other historical event that can be related to the conclusions made about the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib. Much flexibility is allowed in the selection of this event, but the most useful events for this assignment will be those in which people in positions of power exercised coercion over others.

Students might consider these questions when writing this section:

  1. What occurred during this event?
  2. How is the situational context of this event similar to the contexts of the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib? How is it different?
  3. What do you believe to be the root cause(s) of the behaviors shown by the participants in the event? In other words, which theory can explain the behavior exhibited by the participants in the event?
  4. Can the behaviors exhibited during this event be understood using same theoretical explanations used to understand the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib? If not, what alternative explanation(s) might be used to interpret this event?

Requirements for Question 3:

1.  This question should be addressed in no more than 2 pages

2.  Use at least two additional citations in your answer to Question 3.

·  Select at least one other reputable news article and at least one other academic journal article that discuss this historical event. The same guidelines presented above regarding selecting appropriate sources apply.

Other Requirements

  1. Include only a brief introduction and conclusion (no more than 3 sentences each)
  2. Address the questions in the order presented above
  3. No more than 5 pages double-spaced, excluding reference page
  4. Times New Roman font
  5. No contractions
  6. No first person writing (“I”)
  7. Use APA format for all citations
  8. Include a reference page (this is not part of your 5 pages)

In addition to addressing these three components, your paper should include a brief introduction and conclusion. The introduction should include a thesis statement in which the paper’s primary argument is made. The thesis statement should mention three things: 1) whether the root causes of the events of the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib can be understood as similar or different, 2) the specific way(s) in which these events can be interpreted in theoretical terms, and 3) how the additional event you have selected can be interpreted in light of the discussion about the Stanford Prison Experiment and Abu Ghraib.

In your paper, please address each of the three components of the assignment in the order in which they are presented above. Your paper should be structured like a formal essay, and the three components should not be numbered in your paper. For purposes of organization, however, I strongly encourage students to use subheadings that designate each of these three sections. After your conclusion, your paper should include a “References” page that includes the proper citations for the six sources used in your paper. Please use APA-style formatting throughout your paper, including for your in-text citations and references.

This assignment is worth 50 points out of the 450 points assigned for this course. Please refer to the syllabus for the breakdown of points for each section.

The papers must be submitted online via course Blackboard site under “Assignments.” Instances of plagiarism will be detected using the Turnitin.com function. The paper is due by 11:59 PM on Monday, October 16.

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