JCriminal Justice
Topic:
Juveniles tried as Adults and the Death Penalty
Assignment: Check out some of the datasets collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ (Links to an external site.) Select a dataset and describe the sampling procedures used to collect data. What type of sample is it? Probability sample? Non-probability sample? What type of random sample? How representative is the sample? Is the sample generalizable? Explain with examples.
Assignment: Propose a sampling design that would be appropriate for your research proposal. (Juveniles tried as Adults and the Death Penalty) Define the population, identify the sampling frame(s), and specify the elements and any other units of analysis (e.g., individual, group, institutional) at different stages. Indicate the exact procedure (step by step) for selecting individuals to be included in the sample. What specific type of sample is most appropriate for your research topic? Is your sample a probability random sample or non-probability sample? Explain the exact procedures that would make it random or not?
Assignment: Explain your sampling design approach in detail for your research proposal. Specifically, what type of sample do you plan to utilize in your research proposal? What is your sample size? Explain your rationale clearly. How representative and generalizable is your sample?
Juveniles Tried as Adults and the Death Penalty
Select a dataset and describe the sampling procedures used to collect data. What type of sample is it? Probability sample? Non-probability sample? What type of random sample? How representative is the sample? Is the sample generalizable? Explain with examples.
The dataset being used in this study is about juveniles who were charged with felonies in state courts by 1998. The sample of the study includes 7,000 juveniles from 40 populous counties. Simple random sampling was used in the study implying that the 7,000 were randomly chosen from a wide population of juveniles who had been charged in the adult courts within the 40 counties (Scott, 1998). The sample is generalizable as it includes juveniles both girls and boys facing different types of punishments for different cases.
Assignment: Propose a sampling design that would be appropriate for your research proposal. (Juveniles tried as Adults and the Death Penalty)
For my research proposal, stratified sampling which falls under the probability random sampling procedure is most appropriate. The study will explore the issue of juveniles being tried in adult courts and punished with death penalties. Therefore, this sampling technique will include the stratification of the study population (juveniles) by the crimes that influenced the death penalty ruling. Equal sample sizes will then be collected from each stratum (Hamed, 2016). For instance, since 1973 there are 226-juvenile imposed death sentences with 22 juveniles having been executed and 82 awaiting their execution. Therefore, the stratified sampling will categorize these juveniles into groups of their type of crime to determine the types of crime that influenced these charges.
This sampling procedure is most appropriate as it allows a more accurate analysis of juveniles being tried in adult courts, unlike the simple random sampling that would have resulted in an over-representation of the sample population. It will help in reducing bias making it easy to include accurate data for the study. For instance, in this study, it will be easy to explain the different reasons why the juveniles were imposed death penalties despite not having reached the legal age that requires one to be tried in an adult court.
References
Hamed, T. (2016). Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research. , 2016, 5. International Journal of Academic Research in Management (IJARM), 5, 1-11.
Scott, K. (1998). Juveniles in Criminal Court. Retrieved 2022, from Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/juveniles-criminal-court#documentation-0
