SOCIOLOGY 250 – CRIME AND SOCIETY

FINAL EXAM OVERVIEW

Instructor: Dr. Dan Small, PhD, MPhil
Final Exam Date: 6 December 2019
Location: Biology 1000
Time: 8:30am

By way of review, there are three parts to the final exam:

PART I: Short-Answer (12 points)

PART 2: Mid-Length Answer (12 points)
PART 3: Essay (Cumulative)(16 points)
TOTAL: 40 points

Part 1
• 12 Points (Out pf 40)
• Choose 6 of 8 questions (Each worth 2 points). There will be extra
questions (choices) in order to give students the best possibility of doing
well
• Exams will be written on the exam in the space provided
• Drawn from readings and lectures from the midterm forward (Week 8
onwards)

Part 2
• 12 Points (Out pf 40)
• Choose 4 of the 6 questions listed. There will be extra questions (choices)
in order to give students the best possibility of doing well Answers will be
written in a separate exam booklet
• Typical length will not exceed one double spaced page or ½ of a single-
spaced page
• Each question that you respond to will count for 3 points
• Drawn from readings and lectures from the midterm forward (Week 8
onwards)

Part 3
• Please note: this part of the exam is cumulative in that it gives you an
opportunity to bring together ideas from across the entire term. There
essay questions can be drawn from across the entire term/course.
• 16 Points (Out pf 40)
 • You will choose 2 of 4 questions. There will be extra questions (choices) in
order to give students the best possibility of doing well.
• Each question is worth 8 points (total 16 out of 40 possible points).
• A good ballpark figure for the length of your response is 4-6 pages double-
spaced.
• The questions have been left intentionally open, as their aim is to give you a
chance to synthesize overarching themes.
• Provide a background explanation of the issue and draw on plenty of
examples from the lectures and the readings to support your argument.
• You will not be graded on a strict number of examples that you provide, but
on the quality and depth of the argument in relation to the examples that
you do provide.
• Please focus and organize your essays so that they include an introduction,
a body, and a conclusion.
• Answers will be written in a separate exam booklet.

LECTURES COVERED ON FINAL EXAM

All lectures after the midterm will be covered on the final exam (week 8 forward).
The exam will not be cumulative (for part one and part two). However, part three
(essays) will be cumulative in that students will be able to draw on themes from
throughout the term.

Week Eight Lecture: When Society’s Approach to Crime Fails: Sociological

Examination of Wrongful Conviction in Canada

Week Nine Lecture Sociological Examination of Restorative Justice Models as

they Pertain to Crime and Society

Week Ten Lecture: Illicit Drug Use, Crime and Related Societal Interventions:
Canada’s Supervised Injection Facility, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
and the Constitution of Canada

Week Twelve Lecture: Sociological Examination of Activism: Advocacy in the

Service of Social Change or Public Order Crime?

Week Thirteen Lecture: Overview of Key Themes in the Sociology of Crime and
Society
READINGS FOR FINAL EXAM: WINTERDYK (2016)

Winterdyk J. Chapter 9: Violent Crime. Canadian Criminology. Don Mills,

Ontario: Oxford University Press; 2016: 196-229.

Winterdyk J, Beke MB. Chaper 11: Organized Crime, Corporate Crime and
Cybercrime. Canadian Criminology. Third ed. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford
University Press; 2016: 259-93.

Winterdyk J. Chapter 12: Crimes against Public Order. Canadian Criminology.

Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press; 2016: 294-330.

Winterdyk J. Chapter 13: Emerging Crime Trends: Transnational Crime,

Terrorism, Human Traficking, and Cybercrime. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford
University Press; 2016.

Winterdyk J. Chapter 14: Future Directions in Criminology and Crime

Prevention. Canadian Criminology. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press;
2016: 362-86.

ADDITIONAL READINGS FOR FINAL EXAM: OUTSIDE OF TEXTBOOK

Anderson AS. Wrongful Convictions and the Avenues of Redress: The Post-
Conviction Review Process in Canada. Appeal 2015; 20: 5-26.

Boyd N. The History of Canadian Narcotics Legislation: The Process of

Criminalization in Historical Context. Dalhousie Law Journal 1984; 8: 102-36.

Drucker E. Drug Law, Mass Incarceration, and Public Health. Oregon Law
Review 2013; 91(4): 1097-128.

Moss A. Responding to retributivists: a restorative justice rejoinder to the big

three Desert theories. Contemporary Justice Review 2013; 16(2): 214-27

Decision of Justice Nakatsuru (pp. 1-10). R. v. Armitage. Ontario Court of

Justice; 2015.26 *This is considered by some to have been one of the most
poignant legal decisions ever written.

Wilson R. The Necessity of Activism. Solutions; 3(4): 75-9.26

PEER-TO-PEER STUDY TIPS

I asked students that scored very well on their midterm exams to share their
approaches to studying. Of course, everyone has a different style for learning.
These tips were kindly shared for the purpose of peer-to-peer learning.

Student One: Study Tips

• Note Taking: Notes that were taken during lecture were mainly what was
said out loud in class. Occasionally there would be some notes from the
PowerPoint. These were typed out given that there was a lot of
information delivered in class!
• Studying by Chapter: I would write the chapter objectives down at the
top of my notes to help guide my readings and assess if I was meeting
those objectives. Later on I would summarize the chapter in one
paragraph. I tried to condense my notes as they were no more than a
page and written out rather than typed. I only paid attention to what the
learning objectives were and how this could be tied back to the in-class
lectures. My paragraph summaries were reviewed after I had completed
all my readings.
• Quizlet: After I took down my notes, I made a Quizlet full of potential
questions that I feel would make good exam questions. In total I had 169
terms from the class notes and lecture, but the main focus was on the
textbook material as I had a good understanding of what was discussed
in lecture. I used the Learn function to help familiarize myself with the
concepts.
• This student further noted: "I don't believe that the duration of my
studying played a huge factor in this midterm as I was on time crunch. I
do believe that I had fairly effective studying strategies and did my part
in paying attention during lecture which helped me understand the
material a lot more. Hopefully the class can find some of these strategies
helpful!"

Student Two: Study Tips

• Start studying early. With the midterm, even if it just reviewing my notes
as they were taken in lecture, I tried to do that 2-3 weeks before the test.
Also, don’t read them in order. You develop high fluency leading to the
fluency effect where you feel like you have everything understood and
 don’t need to review, just because you’ve memorized the next lines of
the notes. Reading old notes after newer lectures really helped me
connect concepts and understand things in more nuanced ways.
• From lecture, I tried to take notes just by typing almost every word you
said and maybe a bit from powerpoints if I had time and I needed
something defined in words I couldn’t put it into. But after that, my first
place to start studying was condensing all of those notes to about half a
page of key points. It started with fixing grammar errors and typing
things into proper sentences that made sense as my first “draft”, then
narrowing more and more till I had at most, 3/4 of a page. Even if it
means coming back again and again, try to condense your notes (but
make sure you also keep the old, long form notes in case!)
• For the textbook, I tried to do similar things. Looked at learning
objectives to guide my reading, made sure I could answer them by the
end, looked for and took note of key, bolded words. In condensing the
chapters, notes will be longer because the chapters are dense, but once
you focus on the big ideas, similarly you can go to your long notes and
make a master copy cutting to only they key points
• Think of things you will be tested on! Whenever reading your material,
think of potential questions. You have the answers, so invert that to think
potential ways this information may be used to answer a question.
• Psychology tips for studying: take breaks and alternate between subjects
aka alternate between material for different finals. Study actively -->
don't just highlight, try to apply things to your own life, come up with
your own examples. Try to test yourself such as by jotting down as many
things you can think of when you think of restorative justice. Make sure
you get sleep!
• Hopefully this proves useful for my fellow classmates!

Student Three: Study Tips

• Besides writing down most of what you say in the lectures, I would also
selectively draw down information from the slides. I note down key
points and expand on them from memory after class if I can. As for the
videos and clips are shown in class, I would also take briefs notes,
especially if they reinforce lecture materials well. For workloads outside
of class like textbook chapters and readings, I would read them once,
then again a second time where I would summarize key points on a doc.
• Like many others, I believe in study groups, for this course I was lucky
enough to meet a group of talented people (from the presentation
project). Before an exam, we would aggregate our notes from the
lectures and all of the readings on a chat, divide up the work and create
a final study package for everyone. Usually, the notes are condensed
into 2-3 pages for lectures and 3-4 for the readings assigned. This is
super effective as repeated materials are highlight into key points but
missed information and different perspectives are also presented to
create a well-round study package. Overall, I think working hard and
attending class is important, but knowing how to work with others in the
class can also be beneficial. :)