The goal of this assignment is to have you dig into some of the available data about the criminal legal system(s) across the US. You will download an available dataset (from a city, county, or state government “open-data” website, from an organization like Measures for Justice, from a federal government website like the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), or from an academic site like ICPSR: Institute for Social Research). You will then use that dataset to make one descriptive plot and explain what it shows us.
This assignment is due during week 8.
The details:
- The dataset you choose should pertain to some aspect of the criminal legal system: policing, courts, incarceration, etc. This might be a good opportunity to dig into some topics we haven’t covered much in class, like juvenile detention or mental health: your choice.
- You should use the dataset of your choice to produce one plot that describes something about the world. It can be generated any way you like: Excel is fine, or you can use R or Stata or Python or MATLAB or whatever other language you might be familiar with. It can be a simple bar chart or pie chart, or it can be a map, or it can be a scatterplot showing the association between two variables, or any number of other things. You’re welcome to get fancy, but assignment grading will not reflect how technically-complicated the plot is.
- You should submit a write-up about 2–3 pages in length that includes the following pieces:
- The plot you made, with clear labeling of any axes or symbols or anything else readers would need to interpret the plot
- A paragraph describing what we learn from the plot (not more than a few sentences: give us the key takeaways)
- A paragraph describing the dataset you used: where you got it, who made it, what it contains
- A paragraph describing how you produced the plot: what tools you used, what kinds of calculations you made based on the original dataset
- A paragraph considering the limits of the plot you made: What doesn’t it show? Are there concerns about the dataset you used? Is there a second plot you would have wanted to make if the assignment allowed for that?
- A paragraph discussing what you will take from this assignment: What did you learn? Was there anything that surprised you about this process? Do you have outstanding questions after doing this assignment?
- As with the first class assignment, this write-up does not need to be structured like a formal essay with an intro and conclusion, and you’re welcome to use the above list of components as an outline. But it should be written in complete sentences, it should be proofread, and it should include enough information for the instructor to go look at any sources you cite.
Student Example
“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Arrests on School Grounds” (PDF)
Note: This example appears courtesy of an MIT student and is anonymous by request.
