Writing a Criminal Law Essay: Complete Guide

Writing guide
Posted on January 9, 2019

A Criminal Law essay is a kind of academic paper that is based on thorough analysis of legislation regarding the criminal world. This branch of studies is extremely difficult and specific because of laws’ significant role for the state and its citizens. Criminal Law essay is aimed at analyzing particular cases in which a legislative controversy appear. Specifically, criminal law is an operational branch of the state law that helps to maintain safety and confidence in the society. In modern conditions, the substantial amount of crimes and violence threatens a balance and comfortable living conditions of people, and exactly the criminal law is directed at regulation of this sphere. In addition, criminal law is a set of rules of behavior for citizens of the state that establishes limits of allowed actions. The variety of punishments shows people negative results of their unlawful behavior and is a prerequisite to the maintenance of discipline and safety. As a result, it is essential to consider the sphere of criminal law as a fundamental basis for the state development and provision of security and comfortability for citizens of the country.

The field of criminal law is essential for academic research because it allows comparing various legislative approaches to the consideration of a particular case. It is a common practice that courts of different countries or states of a federal country consider particular cases in different ways. Criminal Law essays are used to compare such cases and choose an appropriate judgment for every person. In fact, the process of the Criminal Law essay writing includes consideration of particular judgment propriety, comparison of different approaches to consideration of crimes, analysis of precedents, a study of the presumption of innocence, and also analysis of criminal legislation. The process of the Criminal Law Essay writing can become a challenge for a student because of the necessity for background knowledge of various systems of legislation in different states that can influence consideration of the particular case.

Writing Tips: How to Come Up With Cool Criminal Law Essay Topic Ideas

The choice of subject is the first step of the Criminal Law essay writing because it determines the further area of the research. The topic or the case for this essay type is provided by the professor or the instructor in most cases. In such a situation, a student is obliged to fulfill the given task in accordance with the instructions and requirements provided. Of course, you can consult the professor or the instructor regarding all the questions you have to write an essay that will be highly evaluated. However, in case the professor allows you to choose the topic or case by yourself, you have an opportunity to study the subject of your interest. Hence, the main criminal law essay writing tips for choosing the issue refer to its topicality and the area of student’s interests. First of all, you should analyze the whole course and highlight the most interesting spheres of criminal law and criminal cases analyzed during the studying process. This will help you to limit the field of interest and choose the topic that would help you to enrich or practice skills regarding particular aspects. Secondly, you should think about the topicality of the issue and its importance on the social level. The topic should analyze some current events, the consideration of cases approaches, or study some implementation to current national legislation. The third aspect of the Criminal Law essay topic refers to the necessities of the reader. You should choose the issue that will attract the attention of the reader and in such a way, provide a positive mark for the completed task. However, if it is difficult for you to choose the topic of the Criminal Law essay, you can choose one from the following list or ask essay writer online for professional help:

  • Violations of Human Rights;
  • Origin of the Capital Punishment;
  • Distributive Justice and Criminal Justice;
  • How Is Jury Selection Made?
  • Witness Protection Program;
  • Has the Identity Theft Reached Its Peak?
  • What is the Motivation Behind Crimes?
  • Parental Abduction Laws.

However, the most interesting kinds of the Criminal Law essay are the case studies. As a result, you can choose a particular situation and explore it from a legislative point of view. The most important advice regarding this aspect is a topicality of the case and its general negative or positive influence on the society and legal system of the state.

Choice of Basic Information for the Criminal Law Essay

Before you start writing the Criminal Law essay, seek information to base the whole research on. This will help you to highlight the most significant aspects of the topic and emphasize them in the essay. To do it, you should explore the problem either in the library or using the Internet sources. The main emphasis while choosing sources for a Criminal Law essay should be made on the requirements that sources should be relevant, current, and taken from credible websites. Types of sources for the Criminal Law essay can be different and include academic articles, textbooks, reports, interviews, and speeches. However, you should remember that analysis of a topic connected to criminal law should be based on such legislation as the Constitution, bills, laws, and international treaties. In addition to the listed sources, you can use statutes and ordinances, administrative rules with criminal penalties, appellate court decisions, and various case laws.

The importance of appropriate choice should be once more highlighted because it is a prerequisite for a successful essay. It helps you to find answers to your questions, develop a structure of the essay, improve weak aspects of the text, and also generally enrich knowledge regarding the field of the Criminal Law.

Tips and Tricks from Our Writers: the Prewriting Phase

After you have chosen the information for your essay, you have to complete some pre-writing activities. Specifically, it will help you to analyze the topic thoroughly, create the outline of the essay, develop ideas, and compose all findings. The first step refers to an accurate analysis of the information gained from sources. You should create a plan for the essay that will help to define the most critical aspects of the studied issue.

Secondly, you should brainstorm random ideas regarding the topic and write it on the shit of paper. As follows, this list can include valuable opinions that can become even a central thesis of the whole essay. Such creative thinking may help to establish interconnections with other spheres of knowledge and show the influence of a particular criminal law case on these aspects.

One more effective technique of pre-writing activities is freewriting. Using such a method, you can write the lion’s share of the essay or merely create the structure of the future report. What is more, with the help of the freewriting technique you can create even a draft of the paper that, after editing, can be successfully passed.

One more aspect of pre-writing techniques relates to the development of the essay plan or outline. Such a method is useful because it shows strong and weak points of the essay and helps you to figure out what information should be added to the text. It can even assist in developing a map of the future essay. A plan of the Criminal Law essay will help the student to stay focused and keep attention only on the central ideas of the study. Sticking to a created plan, you will not distract your focus on less essential aspects and use all resources to analyze the case successfully. What is more, writing a plan can help you develop various ideas in the outline that can be expanded and added to the Criminal Law essay. Finally, doing all offered pre-writing activities, you will create a set of various ideas and successfully write the essay.

The Main Components of the Criminal Law Essay Structure

criminal law essay structure

The reality is that the student should follow the requirements of the professor regarding the structure and formatting of the Criminal Law essay. However, the traditional structure of an essay includes the following components:

  • the title page;
  • the abstract (if required);
  • the introduction;
  • three or more body paragraphs;
  • the analysis of sources used for the essay;
  • the conclusions;
  • the reference page.

Every part of the Criminal Law essay should include specific information that corresponds to the format of the essay and the requirements of the instructor.

Simple Tips to Write Stronger Introductions

In this part of the paper, you should provide a general overview of the studied issue including also necessary background information. Specifically, you should describe the situation, legislative case, depict the main idea of the study, state the central question and a thesis. The thesis statement is one of the most significant parts of the essay because it provides the reader with the central idea of the essay, and there are several tips for its successful writing. First of all, the thesis statement should be clear and understandable for the reader. It should attract the attention of the reader and help him/her to understand the general aim of the whole paper. The thesis statement should depict the central issue, state a specific assumption, represent an opinion to prove or refute. The thesis statement should answer the reader’s question if it is an interesting and useful academic work.

Writing the Body Paragraphs for Your Essay

This part of the paper represents all ideas and findings regarding the analyzed case. Criminal Law essay may include three or more well-developed paragraphs that describe separate arguments connected with particular aspects of the issue. You should remember that all ideas of other authors should be marked through in-text citations. What is more, the referencing should be organized in accordance with the required formatting style. Generally speaking, the main body of the essay should represent all your ideas and explain your position regarding the explored issue. It is necessary to write this part logically and gradually providing extended explanations of all ideas and statements.

End It Up Properly

This part of the essay should include restated thesis statement and main findings of the criminal law case analysis. The conclusion should be one paragraph long and include precise information about the results of the study. This part should be strictly connected to the whole paper and appropriately related to opinions represented in the essay. The conclusion paragraph should sum up all your work and possibly provide the question for further research.

Post-Writing Recommendations When It’s Almost Over

In fact, the written text of the essay cannot be considered as a final version to pass because it should be accurately edited. First of all, you have to proofread the paper accurately to check grammar, misspellings, too complicated sentences, and inappropriate words. All mistakes should be precisely corrected to make your paper properly academic. Secondly, you have to check the structure of the essay and its correspondence with the plan written as the pre-writing activity. Specifically, every paragraph should be dedicated to one separate idea explaining it with strong arguments and vivid examples. Moreover, you should pay extra attention to citations and stated facts because it is the most solid argumentation for the Criminal Law essay.

One more significant aspect of the Criminal Law essay writing refers to plagiarism and the importance of avoiding it. Various online plagiarism checkers can help you with the issue. Moreover, you should remember to cite all quotations and paraphrased ideas of other authors to avoid plagiarism in the paper.

Finally, read the paper once more to get the general opinion of the work and check if all ideas are reliable and well-argued. You should remember that in the process of the essay writing you can consult the professor regarding the aspects you do not know or do not understand. It is always better to ask a professional and get useful advice.

The process of the Criminal Law essay writing will become simpler and more interesting with all described tips. What is more important, you will get a positive mark for such an essay.

References

  1. Criminal Law Essays. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/criminal-law/.
  2. Free Criminal Law Essay & Essay topics | Researchomatic. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.researchomatic.com/law-school-criminal-law-essay/.
  3. How To Write a 1st Class Law Essay. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.lawteacher.net/law-help/essay/a-guide-to-first-class-law-essay-writing.php.
  4. Oxford University Press: Online Resource Centre. (2018). Retrieved from http://global.oup.com/uk/orc/law/criminal/huxleybinns_concentrate4e/resources/outlines/.
  5. Tips from your Tutor: How to Write the Perfect Law Essay Introduction | Survive Law. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.survivelaw.com/single-post/1439-tips-from-your-tutor-how-to-write-the-perfect-law-essay-introduction.
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