Module 1: Assignment

Criminal Element Research

Most crimes applicable to citizens are covered under state or federal statutes. Upon completion of this assignment, you will be able to locate your state statutes, search within them a variety of crimes, and decipher their elements.

Tasks:
For the assignment, prepare a 10-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes incorporating researched content, summarized and paraphrased in your own words from the reading assignments for this module and material from your state criminal statutes. Do not cut and paste or otherwise copy content directly from the textbook or your state criminal statutes.

Statutes are the laws unique to the state where you live and are passed by the legislature. You are not to use the federal statutes passed by Congress. Start your research on your state home page on the Internet. Look for a link to the state statutes. Another alternative is to do a search, for example, for Colorado state statutes, on the Internet.

Once you have located the state statutes, you will search for crimes against property and crimes against persons. Another alternative is to search for the particular crimes after you have completed your reading assignments in the textbook.

In your presentation, include:
• Five slides on crimes against persons
• Five slides on crimes against property

You will establish the elements of each of the crimes and analyze, explain, and justify whether the crime is a felony or a misdemeanor.

In addition, you will include a slide at the end of your presentation for your references in the APA format, as is required for all Argosy assignments. Refer to your Argosy Handbook or APA materials to properly cite your text and your state statutes. On your state judicial branch home page, there may also be information on how to cite the state statutes.